Lots of horrible stuff in this book. Lots of interesting facts too. It’s more about the corporate side of fast food than the actual health and food science side, but I didn’t dnf it so that’s something. The book is also outdated— many laws and regulations have changed or been added in the 20+ years since it was written. The Jungle comes up all the time both in the book and in reviews of it, but there’s a clear comparison. Read this like the Jungle— a snapshot of the meatpacking industry at a certain point in history (again? Why didn’t they learn their lesson the first time?)

Fantastic book. Why did I take so long to read it? Published in 2001. What has happened in the last 20 years. Do food producers care so little about people that they allow these things to happen? The processing is so fast in meat packing plants that 1 of 3 workers get injured every year? That the producers fight laws that make food safe to eat? That the government allows bad meat to be delivered to schools? That proper training is not given to workers? This book is an eye opener to me and should be a must read. I knew that Fast Food eating leads to obesity. But it is ridiculous what some fast food chains are putting on their menus now. Let's pile on the calories. Hope there will be a sequel giving us an update on this situation.

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.

McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, and more...they all have the friendly, bright exterior, with the fast, cheap, addictive food. But behind the bright colors, the mascots, and the friendly clerk smile is a whole different world of fast food. Eric Schlosser peels back that wrapper to show the real world of fast food - big corporations using people and people's ignorance to rise in power, drive out the little guy, and make more and more money for themselves. Oh, yeah, and the food is gross too.

I think by this point most people have heard of this book or the "Super Size Me" movie or many of the other pieces that have swarmed the media mind in the past decade. (Yes, decade. God, I feel old.) That was what drove me to buy this book years ago - that, and it was used.

This year has been the year of non-fiction reads for me. Finally, almost five years after graduating college, I can read non-fiction again without tensing up and going into melt-down mode. One of the many non-fiction topics that has interested me is the fast food industry and the America meal. That is why I took this book off my shelf and finally read it.

I didn't really expect to learn much that was new. I had read the news articles about how bad fast food is for you. I saw "Super Size Me" and the McDonald's hamburger and fries that looked good after weeks of sitting out on a counter exposed to the elements. And I've experienced first hand the affects of fast food - how it makes you gain weight, become lethargic, etc. So I figured this book would be pretty much more of the same.

If you open this book expecting only to hear about how bad and unhealthy the fast food itself is, you will be surprised to find out that is only a small portion of what Schlosser focuses on. Sure, he does bring up the quality of food (SPOILERS: It's gross), but he focuses a lot more on other areas: how these seemingly cheery companies treat their workers, their competitors, and the food industry itself.

One of the images that stays with me is the life of a worker in a slaughterhouse - not because of seeing a cow gutted (though, admittedly, that sounds absolutely disgusting). But how these companies drive their employees like draft horses. Pushing through 40+ cattle an hour. Forcing employees to lie about injuries. Refusing to pay worker's comp. Letting employees work in terrible conditions, exposed to dangerous chemicals and gases. Not training the employees enough to do the job well. And then paying these employees the absolute lowest amount they can get away with.

All the while, these companies tightly grasp the curtain and shout to the government, "Nothing to see here! Everything's all good!" Even as employee after employee dies in a tragic, mostly preventable manner. Even as meat is exposed to dangerous diseases (E.Coli anyone?). You want to know what one company got fined after several people died of hydrogen sulfide poisoning? $480 PER PERSON. For a company making billions in profits per year?! That's absolutely ridiculous!!

There were moments that I found rather dry and pointless. The prologue introduces us to a military compound in Colorado to make us imagine how future explorers may find fast food wrappers in caves and wonder what these weird people from the 1990's are like. And that's pretty much the entire point of bringing up this base in intricate detail. A lot of time is spent detailing the background of Colorado's growth, key fast food giant's backstories, and more. And while a good portion of it does make sense (learning about Ray Kroc or Carl Karcher's background IS important to the "narrative"), sometimes it got long-winded and meandering.

The other "problem" with this book is how dated it already is. This book was written in 2001, with an updated forward in 2002. A lot has happened in the 10 years since this book was written. A lot of fast food companies aren't doing the "Super Size Me" thing anymore. McDonald's has included apples and milk to its Happy Meal menu; most of the fast food companies have hurriedly added coffee drinks to their menus to draw new customers. And that doesn't include how most menus have a lot more salad and chicken options (Okay, so they aren't all that healthy, but it's certainly better than it was before!). I personally would love to see a "sequel" that explores some of the changes that the fast food industry has been forced to make and how much farther they have to go.

A lot has changed in the world since the Mad Cow Disease and E.Coli outbreaks scared many people into reconsidering their food choices. This book lead the forefront into bringing awareness and change. And for that reason, this book has an important place in our history. Even if you think you know what this book says, I recommend picking it up and checking it out. You may learn a thing or two.

A horrifying and entertaining travelogue, indictment, and sermon against the evils and spoils of fast-food, and the American quick fix. Somewhat preachy, and problematic (you just can't tell a whole population of people, especially those who are impoverished to eat healthier), it's full of pathos that makes this text move like the latest potboiler, yet it truly is insightful and affecting.

Varför suger alla skolböcker

Fast Food Nation: The Biased side of the All-American Meal: A review.
Sporting an eye-grabbing cover and an interesting title, Schlosser starts off telling you this unimaginable truth: Fast food doesn't equal health food. His catchy, clever tagline makes you laugh: Do you want LIES with that?
And lies he delivers.
He claims the book is non-partisan, un-biased, with just the facts, and then says that if it WERE biased, (which it's not), it would point out that Democrats are good (only 2 mentions, both positive--including the one on the Clinton Administration. [I don't know anyone that doesn't have at least one complaint, even if it is about the former President's inability ot keep his trousers in place. But I digress]) and Republicans--along with business, money, profit, and omnivores--are evil (14 mentions, and not a positive one among them).
The other huge lie (besides his blatant statistic-twisting) is that this book is about Fast Food. This book is about the horrors of meatpacking, the horrors of capitalism, managers who hire at-risk youth (I still don't get that one), potatoes (So. Much. About. Potatoes.), Disneyland, and the people who started the industry (the only viable subject out of all of these). What promises to be exciting (by the title and tagline) turns into something that is alarmist to the core, and yet as dry as a stale sesame seed bun.
I did not read this book for fun. No one reads this book for fun. This is a supposed 'reference' book, but good luck finding anything worthwhile to 'reference'. The Hastings I bought (ugh) it at shelved it almost correctly--'Political'. It would've been fantasy for me.
Being the optimist I try to be, however, there is something positive to say here: Schlosser has one heck of a publicist. This book is EVERYWHERE.
Fast Food Nation, for ages 14+ for graphic descriptions of animal slaughter and illusions (or outright references) to political and social events since the 90's (or so), rated .05/5 stars.
Stupid English Homework.

Just finished Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. Love your burger?, big fries?, large coke? all served in 2 minutes and tasting the same world over? How did it all happen? Well Eric Schlosser lays it all out starting with the birth of fast food, the first drive thru, and the first McDonalds. And the industry evolved to serve it to us. You'll feel what it's like at the giant meatpacking lines, the huge potato factories, and with the soft drink syrup sellers. Henry Ford started the assembly line and the fast food industry applied it to food with teenagers manning the stations with low wages, no benefits, and E. coli lurking everywhere. Hold on to your sesame seed buns for a ride through the darkest side of our fast food world. The typical American eats 3 hamburgers a week? - you won't after listening to this book.

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

Where I got the book: purchased on Kindle.

I’ve pretty much given up fast food over the years, with a very sharp decline in visits to such restaurants in about the last three years. This was due to my chronic gastric problems and the gradual realization that they were linked to preservatives and additives in food—fast food doesn’t sit well with the moves I’ve been making toward eating quality, preferably organic, food. Discovering that American bread was one of the culprits in my case also made it difficult to eat hamburgers, and since I’ve now been told by my holistic doctor that I need to avoid grains and dairy altogether, I’m pretty much done.

And a good thing, too. Because after reading Fast Food Nation, I don’t think I’ll ever eat a fast food hamburger again. Schlosser’s book is as much about the cultural and economic effects of fast food as about the food itself, but the long chapter on food poisoning (introduced into the beef chain by the conditions under which the animals are kept (which also raises many ethical issues) is pretty much enough to turn you vegetarian.

Schlosser describes the development of the fast food industry from the growing popularity of hot dog carts in the newly mobile California of the 1930s and 1940s, through drive-in restaurants, to the moment in 1948 when the McDonald brothers decided to eliminate carhops and silverware and sell hamburgers created on an assembly-line basis, giving working-class families their first shot at affordable restaurant food. The beginnings of the world’s largest restaurant chains were, it seems, marvels of innovation and inventiveness, and over the next 40 years entrepreneurs applied the new ways of thinking to other easy-to-eat foods such as pizzas and fried chicken. One of the great innovations was marketing these products to children, who would then carry their love for these trusted brands into adulthood. I feel like I should cue the Jaws music here, because we all know where this is going—supersized people sipping from 40oz buckets of flavored, diluted corn syrup as they waddle around Wal-Mart . . . .

Schlosser goes on from his recounting of what, after all, were some pretty amazing examples of how to grow a business to get into what fast food has done for American industry. Among other things, it’s consolidated food processing to the point where most of our meat comes from a very few processing plants, created a huge workforce of mostly teenaged employees, resisted unionization so effectively that most employees barely earn enough to eat (and resort to robbing their own workplaces to supplement their income) and industrialized the production of food to the point where we’re eating a frightening combination of low-quality carbohydrates and proteins masked in chemical flavors. What’s more, this commercialization of eating is supported by public money—and has driven the traditional kind of farmer off the land.

And then things get truly gross. Schlosser describes conditions in meat processing plants (one of the things I learned was that while chickens, that can be grown to uniform size, are processed by machine, cattle have to be slaughtered and butchered by hand by people up to their ankles in blood and shit) that raised the hair on my head. These jobs, mostly held by immigrants (not all legal) are some of the most dangerous you’ll ever read about, and cleaning up the plant at night is just as risky as swinging a knife by day as the cattle rattle by at speeds of up to 400 per hour. Having shown how the meat is processed, he then goes on to describe what happens when you eat a hamburger with shit in it as a result of these processing methods, and that’s the point, dear reader, where you might toss your cookies. I have a strong stomach, but that chapter was hard to take.

And finally, Schlosser describes how America’s fast food corporations are exporting all of the above issues, including obesity, to countries around the world. Fortunately, the world does appear to be a bit more resistant to American corporations than are Americans themselves, and there are stories of triumph.

This book was published in 2001, so the examples tend to be from the 90s—but Schlosser notes in his recent afterword that not much has changed since. He does, however, cover some stories of hope—the growing interest in quality, organic, locally-sourced food and particularly in combating childhood obesity is providing farmers who resist the corporate lure with a way to survive. But I think we all know that the corporate greed that’s at the root of everything Schlosser describes is still there, and that Americans, en masse, don’t seem to be able to resist buying food that they know is bad for them. That’s a pretty dangerous combination.

Originally, I thought this would be about how the 'fast food' franchises have impacted the way we eat in America and it did go into how the founders of the big franchises work and persuade and convince children to cajole parents into buying what really isn't that nutritious. That Americans are becoming more obese and their health is degrading the more of the deep fried, greasy and salty food that is on most of the big corporations. Yes, that's there but the author goes into the background of the massive agricultural conglomerates that grow and process some of the major items on the menu.

Namely the beef, the potatoes and the chicken. The mega-farms and the natural verses artificial flavorings that tempt our tastebuds. The feedlots and meatpackers and poultry farmers - who often don't own the birds that they are raising, they're owned by the mega corps who provide the birds, feed and determine the price they'll pay for each animal they take.

The pathogens that are found in meat (and other food commodities) that are toxic and can be fatal - the E.coli, the salmonella, and others that are becoming antibiotic-resistant.

The franchises which are selling a dream and squeezing every penny out of the businesses that they authorize. The tax breaks that they get for hiring - which translates into having high employee turnover as they get another credit for hiring another new employee. Of course, the turnover is high since they pay low wages and have questionable violations of OSHA and state labor regulations especially for teens who can be made to work more hours regulated or are off the clock and thus not getting paid for. And don't even consider what owners and managers would do if the rumor of union consideration starts to whisper through a store.

And federal regulatory departments are handicapped by the fast food industries gaining concessions, removing surprise inspections by the USDA along with placing employee safety records and pathogen testing placed under corporate control rather than outside government oversight.

I know that this was published a number of years ago but somehow, I don't think things have changed much for the better. Well, maybe now, with the demand for higher wages. But it is still likely that the immigrants and workers in the meatpacking plants are still forced to process questionable quality meat under hot, humid, dangerous conditions.

Maybe this isn't just about the dark side of the meal itself but the dark side of what it costs - and it's not just the dollars and cents - to provide it to that next car at the drive-in.

2022-114

Oh, America. When will you wise up?

In 1998, the seed of Fast Food Nation appeared in Rolling Stone Magazine. Schlosser's expose has since been expanded to a book and then a movie, and still international love affair with fast food continues. The latest edition also contains an afterword addressing 'mad cow disease,' or bovine spongiform encephalopathy. In it, Schlosser accomplishes the almost Herculean task of weaving together the birth of the fast food industry, the growing connection with car and highway culture, the growth of kid-targeted marketing (McDonalds and Disney were early leaders), the developing connection between the industrialization of our food and family farmers (particularly chicken, potato and beef), the anti-union connection and the development of the engineered food product. I liked it more than I thought it would; expecting a didactic cardboard entree, I was provided with a seven-course meal.

He shows true journalistic roots by beginning sections with a human-interest angle, from the beginning with Carl Karcher (Carl's Jr.) and Richard McDonald, to the potato kingpin J.R. Simplot, to a Colorado rancher fighting to protect his ranch against enroaching suburbs, to a union representative fighting for safer conditions in slaughterhouses. If there was any weakness in the book, it would be the challenge in bridging the stories from the individual to the larger philosophical and systemic issue. I understand the human face helps a reader create meaning, but for me it occasionally felt contrived, particularly in the international settings.

For me, there was an especially powerful moment of revelation when Schlosser points out the drawback of dealing with corporations, not local owners:
"The nation's meatpacking firms, on the other hand, have proven themselves to be far less committed to remaining in a particular community. They have successfully pitted one economically depressed region against another, using the threat of plant closures and the promise of future investment to obtain lucrative government subsidies. No longer locally owned, they feel no allegiance to any one place."

Doesn't that just about sums up the state of industry in the U.S.? The only times a corporation can't cut and run is when it depends on a highly skilled workforce. It's one reason the "create jobs" political platforms make me a little crazy.

I found myself wishing this was required reading. It's not that I'm opposed to fast food; I'm opposed to a lack of informed choice. Full disclosure should include understanding some important points from Fast Food Nation:

1) Flavor experts are utilized to create the optimal taste combination that hits our salty-fat-sweet spot. Thus chicken pieces contain an average of 30 different ingredients, of which salt has been added in at least three different steps and an artificial strawberry shake contains over 28 ingredients (http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnut...)
2) the industry has been key in fighting against food regulation and testing, even when known outbreaks of E.coli in school lunches have killed children
3) the burger is sourced from cattle feedlots, where 75% of the pre-cooked meat contained microbes normally found in fecal material
4) companies specifically target children so that they can manipulate their parents into taking them against parents' better judgement
5) potatoes and chicken come from marginalized farmers who are basically one step up from indentured workers, buying raw ingredients from the company and selling the 'grown' product back to them, and insulating the company against risks such as weather, crop failure or disease
6) companies target teens and non-English speakers as workers because they are less liable to demand 'rights' or 'living wages,' and still the company gets a tax break for 'training'
7) absolutely, positively, there is no way to eat healthily at McDonald's with the exception of: a side salad (no dressing), fruit and yogurt parfait (5.2 oz), grilled premium chicken classic sandwich, apple slices and egg whites. (http://nutrition.mcdonalds.com/getnut...)
You may be healthy in spite of the food, but not because of the food.

Again, not saying I condone the choice--I have my once-a-year Shamrock shake, and an intermittent fry craving, proving just how great childhood marketing is and the lure of salty-sweet carb goodness. Less than 5 stars is because for me, the journalistic style over-reached, especially on the section on the German McDonald's, both in Eastern Germany and the one near Dachau as well as Gorbechev speaking at a Las Vegas convention of franchise owners. But overall, it was an excellent book, entertaining and insightful. Reading it gave voice to my intuitive feeling that there is something rotten in the system.


Cross posted at http://clsiewert.wordpress.com/2013/0...