Chapters and Pages Covered:
The last chapters of Fast Food Nation that I read were chapter 9, chapter 10, and the epilogue. I started at page 191 and ended at 283.
Main Topics:
In chapter 9 the main topics that were talked about were food-borne pathogens, specifically focusing on E-coli. During the 1980's changes in the meatpacking industry lead to increased risk of widespread contamination, leading to many people being affected by E-coli. Eric Schossler interviewed a man who had eat a frozen pre made hamburger and had gotten sick from it. He ended up having E-coli, but by the time that it had gotten traced back to the hamburger he had eaten, other people had gotten E-coli from those meat products. Many other outbreaks have occurred and the main people who have been affected by it have been children. Something sad that I found out in this chapter is that if a company puts out a meat product that has to be re-called they are the one's who get to decide how much they recall. The main way that E-coli is passed to meat is actually through cattle manure. Something very disturbing to learn. However, today many fast food companies have agreed to have microbial testing done to their meat before it is given out to the public.
In Chapter 10 the main topics were the globalization of fast food restaurants, specifically looking at McDonalds and it's effects on other companies such as the food processing industry. Mr. Schossler traveled to Germany only to find that even in the most remote places McDonald's restaurants were popping up. Something that really hit home with me was reading about how just three miles away from the Dachau concentration camp a McDonalds was built. This is disturbing to me in so many ways, but especially because I have personally been to that concentration camp and it just does not seem fitting that a McDonalds be right next door. Dachau was a terrible place were thousands were killed. It is sad that a McDonalds is just put up there as if it is a normal everyday location where people should come to enjoy a nice fast food meal. I feel that it is a place where people should come to remember the past, not indulge in a greasy hamburger.
The last part of this book that I read was the epilogue entitled Have it Your Way. This chapter started on a more hopeful note, by describing a family owned business who does not believe in the McDonalds way of running things and is pretty environmentally friendly. They raise their own cattle, feed them organically, and form their own hamburgers everyday. This is what the fast food industry should be like! Basically the epilogue pointed out that we can have it our way, we can either take it or leave it. The way that we advertise for fast food companies, the many costs that we pay because of eating fast food, and this is not just financially but personally as well. Food safety should be important to all Americans especially congress who can control laws around food safety. This was a great way to end this book, basically putting it in the readers hands. Mr. Schossler has presented all kinds of information throughout this book, and it is now the readers turn to choose whether or not to do anything about it.
Terminology/Things I Learned:
Again there wasn't really a lot of terminology in this section of the book, but there was plenty to learn. I think that the main thing that I took away from this part of the book is that the fast food industry has just become such a part of the entire world's view of the American way of eating. This is sad to me, but I know that it is true. Also when it comes to E-coli and it's relationship with the fast food industry I learned that a single plant can produce 800,000 pounds of hamburger, and just one animal infected with E-coli can contaminate 32,000 pounds of that meat simply because of how ground beef is made these days.
Implications:
Everyone is affected by the fast food industry whether they like to believe it or not. The fast food industry is inter-connected with so many other industries that it is hard not to feed the fire. There are many implications for the widespread growth of the fast food industry, it is literally taking over the world! Individuals are working in poor conditions, people are becoming sick from the food, and lines are being crossed by the building of fast food restaurants in various locations. I have found so many implications from this book, which has been very eye opening for me. I truly wish that everyone in class could have read this book, I want everyone to learn what I have learned!
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