This, I feel, is now a classic book in the 'wrongs going on in the food-making world'. Although this is from 2001, I feel many of the revelations are still true, unfortunately. It is US-centric, yet at least some of the facts appear worldwide, depending sometimes on the country. But it did make me feel wary about eating fast food if I was traveling in US.

This book of 3 years of research talks about the industry of fast food, and its consequences on people, animals, and nature. There are notes and a bibliography at the end, and two afterwords. The city of Colorado Springs, and some other places near it, are the example-centers for many stories within.

This is not a story merely of dangers within food, and on treatment of animals, but also on people suffering because of it. Some of the people are given here as examples of this, and one is left with great sadness after reading their fate. I will now go on to list the chapters. The book is divided in two: first part talk mostly about the business and people behind the counter, the second part focuses on food and global business.

1. Beginnings: history of many fast food companies, including the influence of car culture, and looks of each place
2. Getting to the kids: Disney's involvement, advertising, the toys...
3. The staff: in US often teens - part-time, unskilled, low-pay; causing dropping out of school sometimes; the stricts rules, unpaid overworking, lack of unions, violence in the workplace
4. Being a franchisee (incl. history, rules): success not guaranteed, conflicts with the franchiser (Subway esp. bad)
-
5. Potatoes = french fries: how it is done, how farmers suffer (esp. smaller), where the good taste comes from: 'natural flavor' (not necessarily healthier than the beef tallow used before). Here we find the often-quoted ingredients list for stuff in strawberry milkshake - long and hair-rising).
6. Cattle business: here we find ranchers suffering just like the potato farmers above, small plots merging into bigger ones. Similar is also going on with poultry growers. Some ranchers commit suicide, like the example of Hank here.
7. Meatpacking industry: workers often (illegal-sometimes) immigrants, often illiterate and unaware of any rights; high turnover rate (usual lasting time 3 months); creating poverty-and-crime/drug-ridden areas around; the smell from feedlots (the shit); history: from urban to rural, away from unions.
8. Health risks of workers in said industry: from 'knife cut scars' to 'DEATH'; the working conditions are dangerous, especially because of the speed demanded; many accidents go unreported (and injury reviews are often falsified); abusive supervisors, especially for women who get verbal/sexual abuse also from male workers; especially bad for sanitation crew who work with chroline-mixed, hot water: poor visibility, heath, hit with water by other workers, falling risks, etc. Later the author tells us that while the places he reported about were bad, it was *worse* in Texas.
9. Contaminated food (you might refrain from eating when you read this chapter): the e.coli, salmonella, listeria. The meatpacking systems' lax food safety pratices does not help. What bad can be introduced in the meat besides those mentioned: many, but especially SHIT. Children being vulnerable also through school food (which gets cheap meats). Feedlot issues: worn-out dairy cattle, all the shit around, what they eat (other animals, incl. cats and dogs). The industry goes for denial, inspection-avoiding, recall-avoiding/hiding. The meat also can end up in the home freezers.
10. Fast food globally: rise of obesity, less use of traditional food, agricultural production imports, advertisement for kids, spying on protesters. Global conquest especially post-Cold War, causing protests.
Epilogue 1: Different ways of raising beef; Conway's Red Top (closed in 2012) and In-N-Out (still going strong); what good influence can come from McDonald's power; what even the ordinary consumer can do.
Epilogue 2 (added after first prints): on Mad Cow: from feeding other animals to cows (same sort of feeding happens in other places - poultry, hogs, pets, zoo animals). Reaction to the problem: not addressed well at first. This shows that contaminated food appears in other countries too; although US has avoided serious Mad Cow stuff, who know what will happen? Also addresses reaction to the first prints of the book.

The ending of the book shows the authors' optimistic views about the future of fast food industry; it might be different now. But anyway, this book did make me think, even if some points vary by country. I have some trust in my country's meat industry so that doesn't worry me here. Still, it did raise my awareness of workers' rights, what cautions I might use while traveling, and of favoring more my country own burger chains, I guess *lol*
This is a classic book, one that makes you think, one that might make you lose your appetite for a second, and maybe make you grateful for some things that you don't have (bad working conditions, ill health). It seemed first a bit frightening to read this, but I was glad in the end for the experience. Well worth it.

I need there to be an updated version of this please. I need to know what has happened in the 15 years since this was published. If you know of a book that does this please let me know!

3.5. To be completely honest, the first maybe 1/3 of this book was kind of boring and I was very close to simply quitting. I’m glad I persevered. Though this book is more than 20 years old, the horrible truths it exposes in the fast food and industrial agriculture settings are if anything even more relevant now. Not an easy read, but an important one.

After reading this book, I gave up all fast food in the likes of McDonalds, Wendy's, etc.
TONS of info that can be quite difficult and boring to get through, but still very eye-opening. The author goes into extensive detail about the workers in the meatpacking industry. He presents the inhumane treatment of animals as a parallel to the degrading, dangerous, unhealthy jobs of the humans who are slaughtering and processing these animals.
Overall, this is a worthy read if you are leery of anything involving the American food industry.

Oh wow, this was very interesting. I expected it to go more into why fast food is bad for people, but it's more about how fast food companies are building up their empires. This is a well researched book that presents the history of fast food in a non-boring way. It's easy to read and I feel the tone is non-condescending. Definately recommended!

Another title for this entertaining book could have been "Our disposable society: How our utter disrespect for our selves, each other and our environment created the world we live in today."

The automobile's destructive force on American life was been well documented in other works. But Schlosser extends that work specifically as it relates to the food industry. Not just fast food. But the entire food industry. And it's scary stuff.

Bottom line: we're killing our selves. Yes, fast food is bad for you. But its not just the crap they serve at the chains. The influence of fast food is so pervasive that it effects all aspects of our nation's food supply. And it does so adversely.

Our nation's food supply is now a full blown public health crises. Food poisoning is epidemic. Food supply recalls from corporate farms, meat plants and canneries are a weekly occurrence. Each episode worse than the previous.

Schlosser doesn't offer solutions. He sounds the alarm.

Far from being yet another one of these easy thrashing of thrash food sold in fast food, the journalist Eric Schlosser delivers here a well-researched investigation of everything surrounding the manufacturing of such junk. From jobs on offer in such 'restaurants' (the sadly infamous 'McJobs') to the consequences of such 'food' upon our health, the picture offered is frankly worrisome, even sinister.

Thank goodness, here in Europe we have at least stricter regulations when it comes to everything pertaining to food! In the USA, though, the situation is far from being the case, and the impact upon people's health and even the economy is, well, quite catastrophic. Farmers cultivating potatoes are subjected to the dictate of powerful industrials; the beef meats which were once raised by cowboys in ranches is now a national identity on its way out; working conditions in slaughter houses are absolutely deplorable, with a foreign labour (at times illegal immigrants) being exploited mercilessly; the poultry industry is absolutely dreadful (a concerning fact considering that chicken remains the favourite meat sold to children -occasional cases of E-coli, sadly, are a telling issue...)... Scandals after scandals and at a time when fast food and their consequences (farming, meat industry, working practices...) are clearly negative, a question will face the reader over and over: are they sustainable, at least being the model they are now?

Personally, it's been more than a decade that I haven't set foot into a McDonald, and, as a vegetarian, I kind of knew most of the issues outlined in here. Nevertheless, even when you might think (as I kind of did) that you know it all, such read still manage to lift the veil upon even more shocking practices from a whole highly profitable industry; practices which are as dangerous as they are disgraceful. It's shocking, scandalous, and even gross at time for sure; yet it's also what we allowed to happen for junk to end up in our plates...

An eye-opener.

This was a fascinating in depth read about how the fast food industry developed and how it has literally changed the landscape of our country and the health of its inhabitants.

I've read several books on the evils of the food industry but this one goes into incredible detail about many of the things only glanced over in other books (the source of "natural flavors" was more than a little shocking) and takes a look at both sides of the story. It goes in depth into the history of the industry and taps into the emotional human side of things by outlining the little guys who started it all with high hopes and lots of determination.

The one story that I can't seem to get out of my head is that of the illegal immigrant who went to work at a slaughterhouse in order to make a better life for his family. After giving his all to the company including charred lungs, a broken back that never healed correctly and countless other broken bones and horrifying health ailments he continued to support the company because he believed in them. His commitment left him with a completely broken and useless body and he was then fired when he had nothing left to give. But the greedy, heartless wusses couldn't even dredge up the nerve to tell him personally. He realized he was no longer an employee when they stopped cashing his health insurance checks and he called to inquire as to the reason. Awful, just awful that this kind of thing is allowed to happen.

The afterward goes into detail about Mad Cow disease in relation to the fast food industry. I already know way too much about BSE as it's a minor obsession of mine but I'm very glad he included the updated information in this version for those unaware of the ongoing problem. Agri-industry still has a firm hold on how animals are cared for and are still practicing dangerous feeding habits that endanger not only the animals (the "food" animals and our pets) but the future well being of our society.

I haven't eaten beef since reading Mad Cowboy and this book. Read the book and make up your own mind. I doubt you'll come away from it unaffected.

I thought that this book was going to be like Super-size Me only in book form. Not that the author would eat McDonalds everyday but that he would talk mostly about the unhealthiness of fast food.

I was wrong.

The author barely touches the "fast food is full of fat and fattiness" deal. He mainly talks about the greed, power, and evilness of fast food companies. I would read this book in the mornings as i drank my coffee and I would get so mad at how only a few people can make so many people miserable. I would cry at the working conditions of the meat industry (and trust me, i'm not crying over the cows. it's the workers that have it so bad that i just want to take them all away from that horrible job and give them all sacks of money and comfortable chairs to sit on.)

He discusses the ranchers, the feedlots, the slaughter houses, and the packaging companies. He talks about the potato farms. He talks about minimum wage. He talks about how our government is supposed to regulate and keep us safe from unhealthy meat and that it not only doesn't do that, but CAN'T do that, legally. The USDA cannot recall meat that is unhealthy. It has no rights to do that. The meat companies can voluntarily recall meat, but they can't be forced to, even if the meat is infected with epidemic proportions of e. coli 0157:H7, which, as far as i can tell, is like ebola, it turns your organs into mush.

The meat industry is so corrupt and has bought so many republican congressmen that it has no watchdogs, no police. OSHA is not allowed to investigate a factory unless the injury records show above the national average. The meat companies hire doctors to lie about the severity of injuries and, and, and they keep two injury logs. the real one and the one they turn in to OSHA. This is illegal. And when the companies are caught they have to pay a piddly fine.
The FDA doesn't care about the food you eat. They only care about prescription drugs.
The USDA is not allowed to police the thing it was set up to police. (This is not new and it's also the reason i don't drink milk.) The author also says that the government will not change any of this. That the only way to make some change is if McDonalds will make the change. So if enough people complain and make bad press about McDonalds using nasty beef instead of clean, grass-fed cows...nothing will change.

He discusses the franchise/franchisee relationships.

He discusses the hisory of fast food and the american west. It's amazing.

This book was so interesting. If I were to become a vegetarian it would not be because I had a problem with the way cows are treated. Nay, it would be because of the treatment of humans.

Look what they've done to my cow, lord
Look what they've done to my cow.
They ground him up, feces and all Then they fed him to us all
Look what they've done to my cow.

Look what they've done to our souls, lord
Look what they've done to our souls
We're getting fat, we're getting sick Can't even pick up a stick
Look what they've done to our souls

If I could, I'd leave this earth
Go to a planet where the food is good
But I'm stuck here on this greedy earth
Look what they've done to my cow
Look what they've done to our souls.

Wow, so much information! I found this very readable yet also very disturbing - which is exactly what I believe Eric Schlosser meant to do. This was first published in 2001. The edition I read was published in 2002 and included a new afterword where Schlosser discussed some of the feedback and results from his book. I would love to read an edition updated to 2010. I'm sure much of what he discussed has changed in that amount of time.

My favorite part of the book was his section on the flavors, colors and smells of processed food provided by "natural flavor," "artificial flavor," and color additives. That section alone was worth reading the entire book - although it made me very suspicious of all sorts of food I eat and not just fast food! Schlosser says: "For the past 20 years, food processors have tried hard to use only "natural flavors" in their products. According to the FDA, these must be derived entirely from natural sources--from herbs, spices, fruits, vegetables, beef, chicken, yeast, bark, roots, etc. Consumers prefer to see natural flavors on a label, out of a belief that they are healthier. The distinction between artifical and natural flavors can be somewhat arbitrary and absurd, based more on how the flavor has been made than on what it actually contains."

Just a few other things I found interesting and/or disturbing:

"The Golden Arches are now more widely recognized than the Christian cross."

"America's fast food restaurants are now more attractive to armed robbers than convenience stores, gas stations, or banks. Other retail businesses increasingly rely upon credit card transactions, but fast food restaurants still do almost all of their business in cash."

"For years, some of the most questionable ground beef in the United States was purchased by the USDA--and then distributed to school cafeterias throughout the country."

"Having played a central role in the creation of a meatpacking system that can spread bacterial contamination far and wide, the fast food chains are now able to avoid many of the worst consequences....The enormous buying power of the fast food giants has given them access to some of the cleanest ground beef. The meatpacking industry is now willing to perform the sort of rigorous testing for fast food chains that it refuses to do for the general public. Anyone who brings raw ground beef into his or her kitchen today must regard it as a potential biohazard..."

I'm sure I won't stop eating fast food altogether, but this book will certainly make me think about it first!

Gaya penulisan seorang jurnalis iaitu menyuguhkan maklumat yang agak banyak dan padat dalam setiap perenggan bukanlah satu bentuk penulisan yang menarik perhatianku. Mujur, Eric Schlosser berjaya mengadun topik yang hangat mengenai industri makanan segera ini menurut perspektif sejarah, budaya dan sains dengan cukup baik.

Secara keseluruhannya, penulis ingin membawa pembaca melihat sejarah perkembangan industri makanan (KFC, Buger King dan khususnya McDonald's) yang bertambah bilangannya bagai cendawan tumbuh selepas hujan, diikuti dengan proses pembuatan daging-daging burger tersebut yang mengorbankan ramai orang dan banyak perkara serta kesan-kesan industri ini terhadap pekerja, pelanggan dan masyarakat yang menggunakannya.

Saya menyarankan anda untuk menonton filem Modern Times lakonan dan arahan Charlie Chaplin mengenai kesan Revolusi Industri terhadap pekerjanya. Walaupun ianya agak klasik dengan warna hitam putih dan dialog yang amat tipis, ia berjaya melakarkan secara kreatif dan sinis akan kesan Revolusi Perindustrian di Barat terhadap buruh-buruh di kilang. Dengan kewujudan mesin-mesin dan teknologi canggih, nilai-nilai kemanusiaan sedikit demi sedikit terhakis dan manusia mula menjadi robot. Keselamatan pekerja banyak dikorbankan demi melunaskan sesetengah pekerjaan yang berada di luar batasan kemampuan pekerja tersebut.

Ini jugalah yang turut digambarkan oleh penulis apabila beliau menceritakan dengan cukup ngeri akan penyembelih-penyembelih yang terluka jarinya setiap tiga saat, pekerja-pekerja yang dibancuh oleh mesin pengisar, penggunaan pisau tumpul yang memberi kesan kepada tulang belakang mereka dan seumpamanya. Di sini, penulis sangat bijak dalam mencipta hiperbola walaupun ianya benar.

Daripada sudut sains, penulis menggambarkan bahawa sesetengah syarikat makanan meletakkan rasa ramuan yang terkandung dalam pewarna lebih daripada rasa daging atau makanan itu sendiri kerana deria bau pada hidung manusia sangat sensitif dan kompleks. Manusia normal biasanya mampu menghidu ribuan bahan kimia yang berbeza-beza ketika menghidu bau kopi dan daging panggang. Begitu juga dengan bau strawberi yang datang daripada interaksi lebih daripada 350 bahan kimia.

Daripada sudut sosiologi pula, bagaimana syarikat-syarikat ini mampu mereka menarik pelanggan untuk melariskan jualan mereka sehingga menjadi cukup terkenal di seluruh dunia? Di sinilah fungsi media massa khususnya televisyen dalam mengiklankan produk-produk mereka walaupun ianya tidak baik untuk kesihatan sehinggakan sesetengah iklan mereka diharamkan daripada penyiarannya di kaca televisyen.

Apabila kanak-kanak tertarik dengan produk mereka, maka banyak cara yang akan kanak-kanak ini gunakan untuk mendapatkan makanan yang mereka hajati sama ada dengan cara:

1. Memujuk (pleading)
2. Kekal bertanya dan meminta (persistent)
3. Memaksa (forceful)
4. Protes dengan cara menangis, tidak mahu meninggalkan kedai tersebut (demonstrative)
5. Memuji atau mengampu (sugar-coated)
6. Mengancam ibu bapanya (threatening)
7. Merajuk (pity)

Cara-cara ini mungkin berlaku serentak tetapi kebiasaannya kanak-kanak ini akan menggunakan satu cara sama yang diyakini berkesan kepada ibu bapa mereka. Bukankah kita semua pernah mengalaminya?

Hal ini tidak terhenti di situ. Apabila hati kanak-kanak tersebut berjaya ditaut, secara automatik syarikat tersebut mendapat dua lagi pelanggannya iaitu ibu dan bapa kanak-kanak tersebut.

Ini terbukti sejak awal pengasasan McDonald's (sekitar 1920) itu sendiri apabila Ray Kroc yang merupakan pengurus syarikat tersebut menyasarkan kanak-kanak sebagai salah satu sumber pelanggan mereka apabila melihatkan kadar kelahiran bayi di Amerika yang mencanak naik pasca Perang Dunia Kedua. Selain itu, dia juga turut mengupah freelancer untuk menulis di dada-dada akhbar. Ketika itu sebagaimana kelazatan rasa makanan itu begitu signifikan bagi sesebuah syarikat, begitu jugalah pengkomersialan terhadap kanak-kanak itu begitu signifikan. Katanya,

"A child who love our TV commercials and brings her grandparents to a McDonald's gives us two more customers."

Dan seperti yang dijangka, penulis menyeru pembaca untuk memboikot industri-industri yang berasaskan keuntungan ini - sebagai langkah paling minimum kerana kuasa beli akhirnya terletak kepada pelanggan - dengan mengajak pembaca memikirkan semula sisi-sisi gelap industri tersebut. Kongres yang membantah pengiklanan produk-produk yang tinggi kandungan gula dan lemak terhadap kanak-kanak juga harus digiatkan kerana pada setiap bulan, 90% daripada kanak-kanak di Amerika bertandang ke McDonald's.

Kongres yang membantah pengiklanan rokok di corong-corong radio dan skrin-skrin televisyen pernah diadakan dan membawa keputusan yang positif terhadap statistik rakyat yang merokok di negara mereka.

Akhir sekali, piawaian keselamatan terhadap makanan harus diperketatkan dan pekerja-pekerja perlu mendapat kawalan keselamatan dan perlindungan daripada kerja-kerja bahaya dan melibatkan kecederaan serius.