The Benefits Of Potato Farms

In 1987, IBP (Iowa Beef Processors) fined 2.6 million dollars to a Dakota City Plant for underreporting injuries, then another 31 million for a high rate of cumulative trauma injuries. The book spoke of the dangers and the “behind the scenes” event behind the making of fast food, such as the process of the food and workers undergo. Eric Schlosser spoke about fast food, showing us what we’re really eating and the tragedies behind the closed doors of the slaughter houses. The book explains fast food in another sense. He wrote the book because he wanted to inform the reader of the reality of fast food and the way the workers put their lives on the line. In Fast Food Nation, Schlosser’s purpose is to get the word about the terror in the fast food industry as demonstrated by his use of rhetorical strategies such as, repetition, figurative language, and pathos.

Schlosser describes the environment of the meat packing plants serving fast food companies in a startling straightforward narrative of his visit through a meat packing plant. He describes a brutal, and sometimes unsanitary environment. The rights of animals are a very broad and complex subject, but Schlosser touches on this as he describes the slaughterhouse floor. He describes animals in various states of disembowelment. Sometimes the animals were dead or stunned; sometimes they were thrashing about wildly in the last throws of death. The slaughter room floor was described as being covered with blood and feces. Employees worked at a furious pace to meet the day's quota. What bothered me most was the fact that this meat is not only prepared for fast food companies but also contracted out to serve our children's schools.

Our nation’s industrial farming has become more than just feeding people; it has become a way for the food industry to make more money as human population continues to grow. Jonathan Safran Foer in his book Eating Animals, illustrates the effects factory farming has had on animals meant for human consumption. Furthermore, Foer asks many questions to the reader on what will it take for us to change our ways before we say enough is enough. The questions individuals need to be asking themselves are: how do we deal with the problem of factory farming, and what can people do to help solve these issues? Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, also illustrates the animal abuse that goes unseen within the food industry as well as Bernard Rollin and Robert Desch in their article “Farm Factories”, both demonstrate what is wrong today with factory farming. Foer gives such examples of employees who work in slaughterhouses giving accounts of what goes on in the kill floors, and stories of employees who have witnessed thousands and thousands of cows going through the slaughter process alive (Animals 231). Namit Arora in the article “On Eating Animals”, as well as Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, both address some of the issues that animals face once they hit the kill floor. The food industry has transformed not only how people eat, but also the negative effects our climate endures as a result of factory farming as illustrated by Anna Lappe in “The Climate Crisis at the End

Throughout the articles, each one discussed the author’s perspective on food industries. Two articles argued whether the food companies should be blamed for the health epidemics or it should be a personal responsibility for consumers. While others discussed how food industries manipulate consumers into buying more of their food. Along the same lines, all the articles mentioned how the health epidemic is increasing and who must be fault for the growth. As well as finding a solution and who should help. Although the articles emphasize how obesity rate has grown, the public seems to blame food companies for manipulating consumers and others insist it is a consumer’s personal responsibility.

In “The Way of All Flesh” the author Ted Conover describes his experience working as an undercover USDA inspector in a meat packing plant. He shows how extremely grotesque the industry really is by providing numerous examples on the health and treatment of animals, the conditions of the meat, and the health and treatment of the employees. Conover shows the reader what it is really like in the slaughterhouse by using descriptive language. Throughout the article Conover brings up the treatment and the conditions the animals are put in. Conover supports his arguments by appealing to the reader’s emotions, by making the readers feel sympathetic for both the animals and workers.

The dependence on meat and meat products in the United States is at an all-time high. Despite the great need for healthy and ethical meat, the procedures in meatpacking facilities have not been improved much in the past century. In Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser outlines some of the most important facts and realities facing slaughterhouse workers today. The problems with the food can be fixed with chemicals and the like, but the value of human life cannot be improved without the influence of government actions. There are still such injustices to the workers as sexual harassment, injuries that go unnoticed, and horrific treatment of sanitation workers.

Today, the food industry has not just altered the American diet, but it has also had a negative effect within the labor sector as well as the animals meant for consumption and the lack of government oversight. Eric Schlosser in Fast Food Nation, and Jonathan Foer in Eating Animals, illustrate the mistreatment of labor workers as well as the animal abuse that goes unseen within the food industry. Foer gives such examples of employees who work in slaughterhouses giving accounts of what goes on in the kill floors, and stories of employees who have witnessed thousands and thousands of cows going through the slaughter process alive (231). Eating meat does not have to be so inhumane for example, Foer quotes Frank Reese, who does not permit inhumane practices on his ranch that are cruel, and Reese believes that there are other ways of having a sustainable humane animal agriculture instead of the methods of the large corporate meat industry (238). Namit Arora in the article “On Eating Animals”, as well as Michael Pollan in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, address some of the issues that animals face once they hit the kill floor. The food industry has transformed not only what people eat, but how the government has neglected the issues of the wellbeing of labor workers and the animals that are processed for consumption.

Jonathan Foer, the author, uses “Eating Animals is Making us Sick” to illustrate his goal of how dangerous food is to the audiences health. Foer explains how there is a large quantity of zoonotic diseases in the food Americans consume and shows how much it can actually affect the consumer. Jonathan Foer argues animal consumption is hazardous to the health of Americans successfully because he uses the rhetorical appeals ethos, pathos, and logos to show how much zoonotic diseases are in the meat. Jonathan Foer’s intended audience includes: parents, Americans, and people who have/ are sick due to a “food borne illness.” Everyone is not aware enough of how bad meat is treated before it hits the table.

The weather and land in the southern colonies was ideal for growing crops and ideal for farming. The climate in the southern colonies had plenty of rain and the weather was warm most of the time. Slaves were able to work all year long due to the climate. The plantation owners were able to produce large amounts of tobacco and cotton. Having slaves do the work gave plantation owners free labor, which made them rich Southern plantation owners. Without slavery the plantation owners would not have become rich and they would not have had the money to purchase more slaves. In the Northern Colonies the climate did not allow for farming all year long. The North needed slaves with multiple skills that for slave labor was much less due to the type of work that was being done in the North.

"This is no fairy story and no joke; the meat will be shoveled into carts and the man who did the shoveling will not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw one." (Sinclair “The Jungle”). When it comes to having safe and approved food, our esteemed nation does not have the greatest reputation. Ever since the use of slaughter houses and meat packing plants began, people have been getting severely ill and even dying

“Fast Food Nation” written by Eric Schlosser is an interesting, philanthropic read that was produced to promote the welfare of others in a benevolent way (1). Schlosser does this by informing society of the horrific events, mistreatment, and heartless doings for which the meatpacking industry has inflicted upon society. Throughout the read, Schlosser elaborates on the health situations regarding the workers by listing numerous stories and factual information. While supporting his claim, this information captures the reader’s attention and demonstrates how genuine the read actually is.

The paper is a review of Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Schlosser has been investigating the fast food business for many years. He has interviewed someone from slaughter house workers, farmers, and employees about their experiences and the food being served at fast food restaurants. Schlosser tells the history of the fast food nation after WWII and examines the fast-food industry including conditions of the meat industry and the chemical they put in meat they serve to the people of the world.

Schlosser also provides the facts of Salmonella appearing in the cooking of the infamous greasy meals, “A tiny uncooked particle of hamburger meat can contain enough of this pathogen to kill you.”(201). Schlosser’s verification of insecurity in the daily meals American’s consume can tug of the heart strings of the readers. Fast food and its eye opening facts is a reminder to the audience that not only are they hurting themselves, but that the effects are also affecting the family members and the ones who care most about the individual. What’s in the meat is not only a major concern, but also a major safety issue.

The popularity of this plant may be related to its relatively low maintenance in planted and growing. It also provides a good source of nutrition. The seeds or tubers of the potato plant are easily planted and or can be stored for use at another time. This provided farmers the ease or regrowth when potatoes supplies would begin to diminish. There are thousands of varieties of potatoes, which today can be found all across the world.

The government’s role in the food industry seems as if it is to protect the reputations of these companies instead of the well-being of its workers and consumers. This statement is made clear in the “What’s In Meat” chapter