home



**Fast Food Nation** **By: Eric Schlosser**

**Plot: ** McDonalds starts out as a small restaurant with a speedy service. They set trends and basically start the ever growing competitive fast food industry. One trend both Ray Kroc (founder of McDonalds Corporation) and Walt Disney started was to aim marketing toward children, which has become very successful for both of the salesmen. Another way McDonalds is smart is who they hire for jobs and what they allow them to do as employees. Most of their workers are teenagers who will work bad hours for low wages. None of their workers are allowed to form unions, if they do, they will be fired immediately. McDonald's franchisers aren’t teenagers though, they are adults who got into a great business. Franchisers make tons of money for themselves, their restaurant(s), and McDonald's as a corporation. One of McDonald's trademarks would be their fries. Which are shipped to them frozen, then are deep fried in their special cooking oil. And just like fries, beef is also sent to McDonalds. Much of the cattle that is made into hamburger beef has the pathogen E. coli in it. It is a dangerous and deadly pathogen that many Americans consume from fast food hamburgers. The E. coli pathogen is spread in may feedlots and slaughterhouses. Slaughterhouses are very dangerous jobs that pay low wages, most workers consist of new and illegal immigrants. Many people have died and been injured working under these brutal conditions. McDonalds has gone not only nationwide but worldwide with many other fast food chains. This is good for the corporations, but not very good for countries. America, Germany, and Japan have all become very obese since fast food is so affordable and quick. New generations are growing up with too much fast food and too little exercise.

**Chapter Analysis and Prediction: ** **Chapter 1: ** Carl N. Karcher opened up his first hotdog stand after moving to California. Since the automobile was growing everyone was now on the go and wanted food fast. So as he made money he opened more hotdog stands. With World War II ending the economy grew and so did the idea of drive-in restaurants. Carl even opened his own drive-in BBQ restaurant, which was doing great until a self service restaurant called McDonalds opened. They sold food that was quick, easy, cheap, and that everyone loved. And of course since everyone loved the self service system every other restaurant became like that including Carl's called Carl's Jr. Many chains opened up that are still around today like: Taco Bell, Dunkin' Donuts, Burger King, Wendy's, Domino's, and KFC. McDonalds and other chains went nationwide, and the number of McDonald location went from 250 to 3,000. While McDonalds was going nationwide and doing great so was Carl's Jr. Until he went into major debt causing his own company to fire him. Having the power he did Carl was able to go back to work for his chain. Buying Hardee's and becoming the fourth largest hamburger chain in the nation. **Prediction: ** I think that in the next chapter they will discuss how fast food chains seem to come off as nice. With smiling mascots, happy jingles, and delicious, quick food. They seem like they care about you as a customer but all they really care about is your money becoming theirs.

**Chapter 2: ** Ray Kroc sold many different products all his life until he founded the McDonald's corporation. Both Kroc and Walt Disney were from Illinois, started huge corporations and they were both terrific salesmen. This was because they were the first to aim marketing towards children, they started the trend. Since Walt and Kroc knew each other Kroc had asked to put a McDonalds in Disney Land. The only way Walt would agree to it would be if the price of fries was raised. Kroc couldn't do that to his loyal costumers so he backed out. After Disney was built they started to become very futuristic, and TomorrowLand was created along with many other technological products. With all the Disney characters McDonalds had to come up with a mascot of it's own, they came up with Ronald McDonald. And with all the rides and amusement parks Disney now had McDonalds had to come up with something just as fun but smaller. So they put Playlands in restaurants nationwide. To keep business coming they had to keep getting kids to nag parents. McDonalds soon came out with toys in every kids meal, this made kids and both collectors go crazy. Disney finally signed with McDonalds and one was built inside the park. Not only was McDonalds doing well but many other companies and restaurants were as well. So schools put advertisements up to make more money for themselves and the products. **Prediction **: I think the next chapter will tell us how the workers are really treated. From how little they are paid to the hours they have to work to all the gross things they have to see and do. We will learn what it is like to be a McDonald's employee.

**Chapter 3 **:Colorado went from being a unique, quiet, and rural area to identical subdivisions and fast food chains one after the other. The population grew and the area changed dramatically after California residents migrated to Colorado. Many McDonalds are built there as well as nationwide, and location is key. There is a big thought process and many technologies put into the choice of where a McDonalds is built. Technologies aren't just used to find locations, they are also used in kitchens. To help make food, and prepare food faster and more efficient. Everything must be done fast and correctly. Workers who are usually adolescents must be friendly to customers so they can try and get them to order a larger portion. There are both pros and cons to having teenagers working. On the positive side they are easy to motivate and they can be paid very little. On the negative side they have to work long hours so they become tired and don't do as well in school. The one other huge disadvantage to working at places like McDonalds is robberies, so it is unsafe. McDonalds corporation won’t allow unions either, there are no unions in 15,000 of the United States McDonalds. Since there are no unions they just encourage teamwork. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Prediction: ** Many businesses have different key things to be successful. I think the next chapter will talk about what has made McDonalds successful for so long. How things have kept them making money through the world's changes.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Chapter 4: ** Feamster was lost and didn't know what to do with his life. He only had $15,000 in the bank, but he decided to invest it all in a Little Caesars franchise. Buying franchises become more popular, even for fast food chains. And McDonalds had one of the best techniques in the business just like many other things. They started out selling the franchises for very cheap. Once they sold a lot, tons of money was made for both restaurants and franchisees themselves. What made a lot of cash was product revenue. With all this money McDonalds started building new restaurants and they started going away from the traditional look. To not pull away to fast, they kept the golden arches and put them as the letter "M". Even though the franchises made lots of money they caused many problems as well for the franchiser. Problems like bankruptcies and increased supplier charges. With all the new money making ways, they learned at the end of the day that it takes a lot of work to keep a business going. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Prediction: ** I think in the next chapter they will talk about how fries and other foods go from naturally grown to frozen. And we will learn about all the little secret ingredients they add to give their food special flavors.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Chapter 5: ** J.R. Simplot Plant produces around one million pounds of potatoes each day. Through all the machines the potatoes go through they are washed, sorted, peeled, sliced, blanched, blow-dried, fried, and flash-freezed by the time they are done. Dunlap came up with the idea of selling frozen french fries, because they were way easier for restaurants to prepare. McDonalds bought them and began to sell them but customers didn't notice any difference in the taste. So it was a big money maker, and it saved a ton of time preparing them. Now a days the top two frozen fry companies besides J.R. Simplot are Lamb Weston and McCain. There aren't many potato farmers left in Idaho, they either have to join together and become big or they go out of business. McDonald’s special cooking oil gives their fries the great taste, that no one can remake. Many of the food consumed by Americans today is made in some factory far away with preservatives. Much of the food is made with artificial flavoring and different chemicals to produce natural tastes. Both color/appearance and smell of food can have a huge impact on its taste. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Prediction: ** In the next chapter I think they will take about where the meat comes from. How McDonalds gets so much frozen meat. And it will probably talk about the way they prepare it and how healthy it actually is for you.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Chapter 6: ** Ranchers now a days are very rare. This is because of tons of costs, scares about healthy meat, and lots of taxes. Around 90,000 acres a year of ranchland is disappearing. McDonalds is still purchasing beef though, they are the largest purchaser in the U.S. Later in 1983 McDonalds finally came out with the chicken nugget. They called them McNuggets which they still call them today. And just like Ranchers there are chicken growers. Meat packing industry in the U.S. takes advantage of the ranchers, causing much stress on them. They don't share much information with them, and can cause them a lot of money. The suicide rate for independent ranchers and farmers has increased by three in the United States. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Prediction **: I think that in chapter 7 they will talk about how little towns and areas gave up their old lives to make money. How little towns lose their unique qualities just to make it big, and to make lots of cash.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Chapter 7: ** ConAgra Beef is the nation’s largest meatpacking company, it is located outside of Greely, Colorado. You probably eat one of their meat products everyday even though many people have never heard of the company. This company runs both a beef and sheep slaughter house, and processing and rendering facilities. And most of its workers can't even speak English because they are immigrants from Mexico. These workers don't stay for long though, because they hire new employees very often to cut costs and save money for the company. There are no unions as well because of this high turnover rate, they have it set up just like fast food chains. IBP was another meatpacking business that did everything for less, but they soon got caught up in the New York City mob and the two owners were convicted for bribing. They later opened another slaughterhouse in Lexington, Nebraska. In 1979 workers for another slaughter house named, Greeley Slaughterhouse, went on strike from a pay cut. When the company reopened with none of the same workers and without a union the pay was cut another forty percent. All of these slaughter houses smell terrible for the people living and working around the factories. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Prediction: ** In the next chapter I believe they will talk about how dangerous it is to work in a slaughterhouse. About all the injuries workers have faced and can face every day they go to work.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Chapter 8: ** Working in a slaughterhouse can be a very gruesome job. You have to stand in cattle’s blood all day while you do yours specific job. Whether that’s actually killing the steer or slicing it apart after its a piece of meat hanging from the ceiling. Not only is a job in a slaughterhouse just gross but it is also very dangerous. Most of the work still in modern slaughterhouses are done by hand with a very sharp knife. Since so many people get hurt at work they are encouraged not to report them or go see a doctor. They will just put a worker on an easier job for a little while they heal. They don’t want injuries because they hurt profits, so they are also encouraged to just quit if they are injured. Not only are the assembly line wokers hurt but so is the sanitation crew. Tons are killed from being sucked into machines and other tragedies. Hardly any of these workers deaths are ever reported at IBP. After being caught by OSHA for not recording deaths or even injuries they got fined tons of money. Since they didn't make the work environment safer the IBP was finally shutdown. The slaughterhouse was later reopened then shut down again by USDA. In Greely, Colorado the Greely Slaughterhouse became fair and gave injured employees workers' comp. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Prediction: ** I think they will talk about how healthy the meat at fast food restaurants really is. If the beef they use is real or if it is very bad for you. The process they use is probably just like their chicken, which is unnatural.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Chapter 9: ** Pathogens present in bad meat and other foods can cause lots of problems. From kidney damage to heart disease to even death. E. coli is a pathogen that is usually present in fast food hamburgers and make people suffer after consuming. Specific symptoms from E. coli are usually diarrhea, vomiting, and a fever. Once E. coli has entered your body it is hard to do anything to help. Antibiotics can't even help. This pathogen is very dangerous and deadly. A tiny uncooked particle of a hamburger has enough of the E. coli pathogen in it to even kill you. This pathogen is a very serious matter. It comes from feces of animals like cows, horses, flies, dogs, and deer or just their infected meat. And in slaughterhouses and feedlots today it is very easy for pathogens to spread between cattle and into the hamburger grinders. Since one hamburger contains meat from dozens of different cattle E. coli can be easily spread. The USDA soon invented the Streamline Inspection System for Cattle to help stop the spread of pathogens. Slaughterhouses don't care if they are spreading it as long as they are making their money, and not getting fined lots of money. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Prediction: ** In the next chapter it will talk about how people have realized how bad fast food is for you. How obese America has got from unnatural and unhealthy foods made in factories. How people are starting to cut back and become more healthy for themselves and generations to come.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif';">Chapter 10: ** McDonalds aren't only just in America, they are also overseas in other countries. In Germany they are everywhere just like America. And with all these fast food restaurants this generation of children is not fit, they are fat. Not just children are obese, many adults are as well. There is no other nation that as gotten so fat so fast. We aren't getting better either, the rate keeps increasing. Children are having heart attacks and dying from being too obese. The fat intake from fast food is enormous and since its so easy and cheap to get, people eat it a lot. And of course since there are so may fast food chains in other countries they are becoming obese as well. People in other countries had tried to make a stand against fast food. Striking and destroying chains. Both Japan and Germany have been Americanized and have become obese.

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">**<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Authors Goal: **The author is trying to show what fast food has done to our country. How they started out sweet and innocent but have become mega corporations that just want to make a dollar. Piece by piece he showed us one more reason to why McDonalds isn't the best. He showed us from what the workers are treated like to what kind of meat they use. Every little bit of McDonald’s big picture he showed us. It revealed how it has a negative impact on everyone’s life. For both the slaughterhouse workers and the teenagers behind the register. Mainly to the public though. To everyone worldwide consuming their food. With unnatural ingredients that make people sick, unhealthy, and obese. The friendly smile that they show to the public is only a mask to what really happens behind the scenes.

**<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">Muckraking Theme Connection: **<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">The author uses different techniques to reveal information, but there is a one he uses the most. He talks about many things in a negative way. In a way that makes everything seem McDonalds fault. He shows statistics and different studies to try and make it more effective. He writes in a way that makes McDonalds look like the bad guy, but still gives a little room for you to think about it yourself. This is after he has already brought everything out in a negative manner so you already know who you think is bad and who is good. He uncovers a lot of information like how slaughterhouse workers are treated, which makes McDonalds look bad. How there is E. coli in hamburger beef that fast food chains serve, which makes McDonalds look bad. How America and other countries are obese and blames it on McDonalds. He gives a lot of details about topics that make McDonalds look bad, and ignore most of the good ones. The author brought concealed information to the surface through very negative ways that made McDonalds the bad guy.