This book was really sobering. Talk about corporate greed! Big Meat fighting laws that would make meat healthier and safer for consumers, including SCHOOLCHILDREN. Why anyone would fight such laws is beyond me (except for greed) and I am glad that I read this book. I'm reading this book about 15 years after its publication, and it's encouraged me to research into what has been done then. THis book was timely when it was published and still is.

so basically i’m becoming a vegetarian after reading this

Fast Food Nation is a really interesting and eye-opening book about how fast food affects our health, the workers, and the environment. Eric Schlosser does a great job showing the hidden problems behind cheap and quick meals, like unfair working conditions and the impact on small communities. The book is easy to read and keeps your attention, even when the facts are shocking. Sometimes it feels a bit one-sided, but it still makes you think about where your food comes from. A great read. 4.5/5 stars.

I am already a vegetarian, but reading this book would make anyone think twice about consuming food sold in fast food restaurants. Larger ethical issues are addressed as well, along the lines of who has the power to regulate food. I was shocked at what I read here, and I already assumed it was pretty bad. I'm now questioning purchasing processed food at all. Blech.

As always, some quotations:
 “After closing my eyes, I suddenly smelled a grilled hamburger. The aroma was uncanny, almost miraculous. It smelled like someone in the room was flipping burgers on a hot grill. But when I opened my eyes, there was just a narrow strip of white paper and a smiling flavorist.”

“Each steer deposits about fifty pounds of manure every day… The amount of waste left by the cattle that pass through Weld County is staggering. The two Monfort feedlots outside Greenley produce more excrement than the cities of Denver, Boston, Atlanta, and St. Louis – combined.”

“The market is a tool, and a useful one. But the worship of this tool is a hollow faith. Far more important than any tool is what you make with it. Many of America’s greatest accomplishments stand in complete defiance of the free market: the prohibition of child labor, the establishment of a minimum wage, the creation of wilderness areas and national parks, the construction of dams, bridges, roads, churches, schools, and universities.”

“Much like the workings of the market, technology is just one means to an end, not something to be celebrated for its own sake.” “No society in human history worshipped science more devoutly or more blindly than the Soviet Union, where “scientific socialism” was considered the highest truth. And no society has ever suffered so much environmental devastation on such a massive scale.”

Rating - 8.9

The most disturbing read to date, as it is appalling to fins out how the fast food and related supplier operate in the name of profits - North America is suffering from homo-economicus

Unskilled labour, poor working conditions, children advertising, obesity are all issues that N America will have to be addressed in the very near future - a self-imposed boycott is in order

Interesting Thoughts
McDonalds was started in 1940 as a drive-in business - San Bernardino

Turnover in staff and teenagers changed the format to burgers and standardized processes. Hired only young men to keep away teenagers

Hell’s Angels formed in the 1940’s from disgruntled war veterans

Walt Disney and Ray Kroc perfected the art of selling to children, turning them into a demographic group that is avidly studied

Disney was an ass that kept his workers repressed, over-worked, and underpaid

McDonald’s Bill - Passed by Nixon that allowed FF to pay teenagers 20% less than minimum wage

Willard Scott introduced the Ronald McDonald concept and image - original mascot was a chef named Speedee

1991 - almost all six year olds could recognize Joe Camel - power of advertising on children

25% of children between 2-5 have a TV in their bedroom

Playlands and toy promotions bring in children who bring in parents who bring in $

Parents bring in their children so they feel like a good parent - psychology

McDonalds brand image is to be a trusted friend

1993- Corporations start marketing in schools and becoming sole suppliers

Adult market for soda is stagnant - growth is coming from kids. 300% growth in daily cola consumption by kids - 21% of caloric intake

20% of two year olds drink pop

Corporate sponsored textbooks are skewing reality - P&G, American Coal, and Exxon have re-written books to erase their negative image - 80% are biased

30% of high schools offer branded fast food

Population of California is less than 50% white - first time in 150 years

McDonalds uses satellite photography to predict urban sprawls and where schools will be built

20% of FF workers do not speak English as a first language

National Restaurant Association opposes any rise to minimum wage at federal, state, or local level

Corporate executive bonuses of the same restaurants are in excess of $100M

In one case, a McDonalds that had voted to join a union was shut down and one opened across the street

Kids who work long hours are more apt to cut class, drop out of school, and develop substance abuse problems

Five FF workers are murdered each month - not a rarity that it is a former employee involved

Typical employee steals about $218/year

Costs about $100M to open a Subway

1965 - McDonald’s switches to cheaper frozen fries - JR Simplot

Fry processors are putting the pinch on potato farmers

Fallacy of Composition - a mistaken belief that something that is good for one individual will still be good if everyone does it

Flavor industry is highly secretive. They do not divulge precise formulas on how they are made and compounded. Companies want the consumer to believe that the tastes are made in their kitchen, not in a distant lab

Aromas are made through the manipulation of volatile chemicals to produce a scent

Flavor is nothing more than the smell of gases that have been released in your mouth. Goes through the mouth and up the nose

Flavor industry has revenues of $1.4B

FDA does not require the disclosure of how flavors are made. Hides the fact that the flavor will have more ingredients than the food product itself

A natural flavor is a flavor that has been made w an out of date technology

P126 - what is in artificial strawberry flavor

Sherman Antitrust Act - regional division, price-fixing, and shared supplier information

Mcnugget not only changed the American diet but how processing poultry is made - from whole to pieces

Chicken grower earns about $12M/year

Upton Sinclair ‘The Jungle’ - described the working factory conditions - a man fell into a vat and was turned into lard which was sold to the unsuspecting public

Organized crime is big in the meatpacking business

A high turnover rate in the meatpacking business makes it harder to unionize and more profitable (benefits, vacations) - all cheap immigrant labor. Accidents are frequent and serious. The cleaner has the worst job

Females regard sex with their supervisors as a way to get either an easier job or a path into America

Everyday 200M people are sickened by a food disease, 900 hospitalized, and 14 dead

Why eating a hamburger can make you ill - there is shit in the meat

Jack in the Box e. coli outbreak - over 200 hospitalized and 4 dead from undercooked hamburgers

McDonald’s had the same in 1982, however they denied the issue to the media

Rising grain prices have led livestock to be fed w dead cat and dog remains and other inexpensive waste products - the cause of Mad Cow disease in the UK

Republican administrations cut spending on health measures - bought off by the industries. Newt Gingrich opposed an increase to minimum wage

Industry wants to use irradiation to kill foodborne pathogens - invented as a Star Wars technology

US Education bases supply on lowest price which will generally have pathogens. Dateline exposed the corruption of selling dead and diseased meat

You are better off eating a carrot stick that fell in your toilet, then one that fell in your sink

In ten years, McDonalds grew from 3M stores outside the US to 15M stores outside the US

IBP has control of the beef industry in Canada

The US has the highest obesity rate of any industrialized nation

McLean deluxe had seaweed in it

Kids cannot shake the addiction of fat greasy foods - stays with them into adulthood

280M Americans die every year from being overweight

McDonald’s plant spies in groups that protest against them

Cattle that grow old and weak are eaten by coyotes - natural food chain

Annual cost of obesity is twice the cost of fast food revenues

Have to find a balance between efficiency and amorality

There is a struggle to curtail excessive power

Need a ban on advertising of unhealthy products to kids

Eliminate tax breaks and subsidies that are being manipulated by corporations

Fix up the slaughterhouses so that lives are not injured or lost

McDonalds uses the polysterene overseas - no care for the environment at all - North American strategy was a response to bad publicity

I'm not entirely sure if I can really say that I read this, because I only read around three quarters of it, but I do know I'm not going to continue it.
I read this for a class, so it was never going to be the most captivating choice, but I did actually find some interest in it. By the title, I assumed that this was going to be more about obesity and things like that, but it was more about big corporations and greed, which is a conversation I do enjoy participating in. That being said, it was a little bit boring, and I unfortunately don't want to commit more time to it. I did like Schlosser's commentary, though.

Although a little dated, this book takes a good look at the fast-food industry and what effect it has had on people's lives--starting with the history of how it all began.

Some of the issues that Schlosser is concerned with here are: good nutrition, food safety, animal welfare, worker rights and sustainable agriculture. What also is of concern is the Americanization of food around the world, bringing food of questionable nutrition and its accompanying health issues, such as obesity and heart disease.

#2016-aty-reading-challenge-week-47: a book with a type of food/drink in the title.

I read this back when it first came out, and then it was a major hit and it was really bringing something to the table. Now..I suspect its a bit dated, as with us all being very health conscious, hipster juice joints popping up all over the place like popping popcorn! This is great! I love hipsters! I love juice! But I'm gonna give it a 3 star as Its not fresh in my mind.

This book opened my eyes and scared the shit out of me. Just the description of how meat is produced in slaughterhouses was enough to make me quiver and question our entire 'food system'.

This book answers questions that you didn't even know you needed to be asking. The glut of (disturbing) information is easily digestible (see what I did there?) and the knowledge contained here is important for *everyone* to know in our modern era of 'so called food' and 'nutrition'. -Jen from Quebec :0)

WARNING: Depiction of cruelty towards human and animal

I knew that fast food was bad, I just didn't realize how bad it was. It was not just that the food is bad for you, the fast food companies themselves (and the suppliers that cater to their whim) were rotten from top to bottom.

From the cattle that were fed abominable things (chicken manure, cattle and poultry body parts, even dead cats and dogs), to the slaughterhouse that care naught about the safety of the workers or of the hygiene of the process (resulting in meat sprayed with shit, etc), to the fast food joints that also care naught for the welfare of the workers or for the well-being of their customers, I really really underestimated the atrocities a businessman is capable of.

The author said that the CEOs were not evil men, only businessmen, I disagree. A decent human being would never enabled such atrocities, as a few good fast food chain that the author mentioned proved. As it seemed that the bigger the companies, the more amoral they become, it would be better to spend your money on small local business instead.

P.S. I'm pretty sure that fast food companies aren't the only one screwing us. Any suggestion on books shedding light on other multi-billion companies' evil doings?

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!

This is one of those books that should open the eyes of most readers to the food and flavor industry in America.

As with so many aspects of American life, Schlosser deftly examines how humans are studied and then manipulated into following our drives, both conscious and subconscious, and how those that profit from learning about our behavior, continue to do so.

In reading this book, people will see food, production of food and the marketing and selling of food, in a new light.