The Food Industry Is Ruining Its Society

1. “Hundreds of millions of people buy fast food every day without giving it much thought, unaware of the subtle and not so subtle ramifications of their purchases. They rarely consider where this food came from, how it was made, what it is doing to the community around them. They just grab their tray off the counter, find a table, take a seat, unwrap the paper, and dig in” (Schlosser 10).

In today’s society a huge issue is that we constantly hear about the food industry in America. We often hear in the news that obesity rates have increased, or that Americans have many diseases that contribute to being obese. “What You Eat is Your Business” by Radley Balko expresses that people are at fault for making such unhealthy food choices. Others argue that the food industry is to blame for being so unhealthy. According to David Zinczenko in “Don’t Blame the Eater” he blames the fast food industry as well as the consumer. Zinczenko asks “shouldn’t we know better than to eat two meals a day in fast food restaurant’s?” (392). So, who is to blame for American’s eating so much unhealthy food? Should it be the consumers’ burden or the fast food companies? On one hand, as consumers we continue to purchase foods that we know are making us overweight. On the other hand, fast food companies continue to offer high in calories foods.

"We provide food that customers love, day after day after day. People just want more of it”(Ray Kroc, Founder of McDonald’s). Coronary Artery Disease is a type of heart disease and the most common cause of heart attacks. Plaque from eating unhealthy foods, builds up in the arteries, the arteries harden and begin to become narrow and can cause chest pain and heart attacks. Fast food popularity is the amount of customers a fast food establishment has and retains. Popularity is important to fast food establishments because it’s what keeps the company going. The environment is affected by the fast food industry because of the amount of pollution and trash they produce on a daily basis. The fast food industry has a harmful affect on society.

The food industry has a large impact on individuals and will affect wider communities in the future. The rush of today’s society has pushed food production to become more commercialized with prepackaged/premade based foods. For numerous reasons such as time, work and costs of living, people are wanting meals that are cheap, fast, easy and don’t require much effort. This is due to many obligations and priorities in life that are put above

Many feel that the fast food industry is providing a valuable service by catering to consumer needs; that it is inexpensive and easily accessible. For people who don't have time to prepare meals, for households in which both parents work, there's no question it provides a service. But what is the true cost of this convenience? In the book, Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser reveals that the cost is the lives of the people who work in the meat processing plants. Meat packing is now the most dangerous job in the United States.

Over the last decade, fast food restaurants have incremented at a much rapid pace compared to other restaurants in the industry. Fast food is now served in stadiums, airports, schools and even hospitals. The abruptly growth of the fast food industries have been propelled by fundamental changes in the American society such as women entering the workforce. Schlosser argues the unethical process the meat goes through to become a burger and mentions how this lead to harmful consequences to humans' health. At the same time, the author states that fast food industries are a major factor in causing obesity and poor health conditions of Americans.

The story of the fast food industry and its effect on the world is well told in the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Schlosser makes the claim that, what started out as a special treat for the kids eventually ended up defining a way of life. During a brief period of time, the fast food industry has helped transform not only the American diet, but also our countryside, economy, workforce, and popular culture. The book thoroughly describes how important the two factors of money and power are in today's society. The book clearly establishes the broader thesis that as consumers, we should know what we eat even if it makes us uncomfortable by the knowledge.

Knowing what is in your fast food might make you think twice the next time you devour it. As the rise of the fast food nation in America has increased to an all-time high, so has the weight and waists of Americans all around the country. Not only has the United States grown to love the acquired taste of greasy golden fries and juicy burgers, it has also grown ignorant to the way their food is prepared. In the novel, “Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal”(2002), by Eric Schlosser, he makes compelling points in his position against the fast food industry.

We live in a world that is in a continuous process of transformation, considering that progress manages to control all the aspects of individual's life. Being part of a society which is always changing makes it essential for people have to adapt to all these aspects. One of the biggest problems for the American society is that it has no time to eat, since it is always on the run. Fast food came as the greatest solution for this problem. Since the process of modernization of the American society is accelerated day by day, the fast food industry has gained its place on the market. Even if individuals are well aware of the problems they can and will encounter if they eat fast food, they are forced by the circumstances to fall back on it.

Fast Food Nation explains significant events that have lead to injuries that all occurred on the meatpacking territory. Fast Food Nation provides the reader with evidence from workers who actually have seen and survived the horrific accidents. Coming to work every day was stressful knowing that they were about to enter a high risk environment, this was nerve-racking and a frightening. These workers had to attend work everyday not knowing if they were coming back home with a limb less, or one risk of being hurt. At one point, the meatpacking business was the most dangerous job. These conditions were seen as a normality to the owners who ran the factory. These unsympathetic owners just wanted the work to be done, and finished fast. The faster the more money was their motto. They tried everything in their power to hid the reality of how they were running our food process, this secret allowed them to make more profits from those who had no idea. There were always those who would want to visit the factories and the owners would show them what they wanted to see,taking them to the welcoming and unblemished areas, again, putting up a barrier between us and the reality of how they run their factories.

The moment that processed food items hit schools and fast-food chains the diets of American children changed forever. Allowing anyone to go one of these locations and have a cooked meal in a matter of minutes was revolutionary. For instance, “In 1965, a married women who did not work spent over two hours per day cooking and cleaning up from meals. Later in 1995, the same tasks took less than half the time. The switch from individual to mass preparation lowered the time price of food consumption and led to increased quantity and variety of foods consumed.” (Cutler, p.3) After the increase in quantity and the price dropping. Fast-food chains quickly became a place to have a fast meal. Working in the fast pace world not time to sit and cook a

Global influences of the fast food industry are shown in the health problems in society today. The cheap production of meat and grains for the fast food industry cause harm to the environment, humans, and animals. The fast food that is consumed is not only bad for the health of people but also for the environment. As food provides more than just sustenance; it increasingly has come to shape and mediate our understanding of ourselves and our culture.

All aspects of fast food have been criticized significantly, especially since the health food trend craze came around. An argument by culinary Luddites that is often thrown around is that our ancestors never had the access to these options and lived a much happier natural lifestyle. Rachel Laudan brought these points to the forefront to be critiqued in her writing “In Praise of Fast Food”. Rachel Laudan brings the argument that individuals have always participated in the consumption of convenience based foods, the goal in growing and producing food has always been to alter produce to make it more convenient as well as better tasting. Fast food is not as new of an invention as many believe it to be. Modern mainstream media outlets have pushed the belief that processing food has been the worst thing for the well being of the human body. Rachel Laudan makes some very solid points in the fast food debate that should be noted.

The development of fast food was revolutionary; however this revolution was corrupted by big business and their desire to maximize profit. With fast food being a staple for society, due to its convenience, the consumers fail to realize what is inside that burger they are eating. These cost effective additives may be justifiable in a businessman’s perspective but what about the consumer?

Today’s society is obsessed with speed. People want faster cars, quicker internet connection, speedier athletes and now more than ever, more rapid food service. It seems that the saying “quality over quantity” is now just a tired old expression. People want cheap food that they can easily access, and want to have little to no cleanup. This has created a generation of customers that now expect their food almost instantly. Besides the consumer being an advocate of a quick meal, the industry its self is the real speed demon. Workers safety is the least concern when it comes to the big executives of these corporate giants; the main concern is how much product can they make in the shortest amount of time, and in short, how much money can they make.