My English class read the book Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser for an
assignment. This best-seller traces the evolution of fast food, its corrupt
business practices, and its cultural influences.
A large part of the book discusses how workers in the chain of supply are
treated. Schlosser gives examples of ranchers forced to sell their cattle
with nearly no profit, the immigrants who slaughter the animals for little
pay and no job security, and the exploited teenagers who sell the final
product.
Another big topic of the book focuses on the workings of huge corporations
like IBP (Iowa Beef Producers) and ConAgra foods, which are the largest
suppliers to fast food chains. It reveals their political activities such
as lobbying to keep the government out of food safety inspections and for a
lower minimum wage.
Other than ending with an epilogue about mad cow disease, the book mentions
little about animals (Schlosser does make an incorrect reference to "humane"
slaughter in an earlier chapter, though). This fact makes the case against
meat production even stronger; those uninterested (or even opposed) to
animal rights will find it unsettlingly hard to ignore so many human rights
violations within the industry. When first beginning to read this book in
my English class, I tried to explain how slaughterhouses were some of the
most dangerous workplaces in the world, but most of my classmates did not
believe me. By the end of the book, they were all upset about the almost
non-existent safety standards.
Fast Food Nation makes vegetarianism more appealing and really backs the
claim that it is the healthiest and most all-around responsible diet by
exposing how unethically the big food corporations deal with everything, not
just their cattle.
