Chapter 9

I was really surprised that the hamburger used to be thought as "food for the poor". I know friends who will only eat meat in a hamburger or pasta (i.e., no steak). So you can bet they consume a lot of hamburgers. I probably eat one a week. Either from a fast food chain or a frozen one from Costco.

White Castle really helped out the budding burger business (try saying that three times fast) by grilling their meat in front of the customers. They also sponsored an experiment where a University of Minnesota ate nothing but "White Castle burgers and water" for 13 weeks. I barely see White Castle's anymore, so McDonald's show some love. Without them, there would be no hamburger.

I was also surprised of how many people die from E Coli poisoning every year. I thought that stuff only lived in spinach. That was the recent recall I heard. I figure it's too late by the time the USDA finds out about contaminated meat because it's already been eaten and that can't be undone.

I find it funny that the author tries to make the Reagan and Bush Administrations the bad guys. If it's anyone's fault, it's the companies that produce the meat. THEY should be checking regulations, and making sure beef isn't contaminated. The President has more things to do than just make regulations all day and inspect from head to toe every Agricultural Cooperation in the nation.

Just because the USDA's Food Marketing and Inspection Service used to be V.P of the National Cattleman's Association doesn't mean he's trying to kill us. I'm pretty sure they eat the same beef you and I do. President Obama smokes and he's trying to get a Healthcare bill passed.

Sometimes I wonder who Schosslar is for. He will say something about the Bush or Reagan Administration, through a little Bill Clinton in there, and then say a conservative, cattle man judge allowed the testing in the meat packing industry to proceed.

I know this really has nothing to do with politics but I had to point that out. In some respects this DOES have to do with politics because people are fighting for bills or laws to be passed for USDA testing for E Coli.

Chapter 8

I was surprised at Ken Dobbins, the guy who worked for the Greenly Plant. He got hurt so many times, and after he was done recovering he'd go right back to work. I don't know how this guy couldn't see that his supervisor at Greenly was trying to get rid of him by making him do the worst jobs in the factory.

For example, Ken was given the job of coming in on the weekend and disinfecting the entire facility. The ever loyal employee agreed. He climbed into these tanks and used a liquid chorine mix to disinfect the area. This substance is dangerous to us humans if inhaled or absorbed. That night he become sick, and was rushed to the hospital and almost died. Even after that the company fired him. I wonder if there's laws against that in America to make someone do the deadliest jobs, almost loose their life, and get fired. And I know meat packing in the #1 dangerous job.

I wasn't really surprised how the cows were treated when they were brought to the slaughter house. My Uncle raises cows and sells them to slaughter houses (however, I don't know what companies they are associated with). I know they kill the cows quickly, through the carotid artery, and beat them before they are put on the conveyer belt. I think most meat cows know their fate. Whether they are raised on a factory farm, or a farm like my Uncle's. It really doesn't matter to me once it gets to the slaughter house cause it's going to be killed, cut, and put into packaging. However if it's a dairy cow, then you should treat them like gold. No offense to meat cows, but the dairy cows have to be alive and well in order to produce milk.

Many probably say after reading this chapter they will never eat meat again. I just had a hamburger, my love for meat is still doing fine. We didn't get canine teeth for nothing.

Chapter 7

I'm pretty sure if I lived in Greenly, Colorado I'd move from the smell. I don't know what it smells like, although I can guess it's probably a mixture of waste, and the smell of something that died.

I also wouldn't like the waste moving through my town like in Weld County. Eric says more excrement passes through this county than the cities of Denver, Boston, Atlanta, and St. Louis combined. That is insane and disgusting. I love me some meat, but still that's gross.

I wonder after all the ponds, or where ever all this excrement goes where will the manure go? Hopefully not backing up the sewage system.

Another thing that surprised me was that the workers would were on strike actually shot a suspected spy, not a known one, that's just crazy. And the workers on strike bombed the home of IBP's general counsel. I think the excrement fumes went to their heads.

Also, ConAgra is like a super-food production place. They are the number one producer of french fries, the largest distributor of agricultural chemicals, the second-largest manufacturer of frozen foods, and the nations largest sheep and turkey processor. That's a lot of food and agriculture. And that business can thank the cows.

Chapter 6

I didn't know that farmers would kill themselves because a crop failed or they weren't getting as much money anymore. I didn't realize how severe it was either. Eric Schosser says that the suicide rate among ranchers and farmers in the United States is now about three times higher than the national average. This issue started in the 1980s but has been ignored. When ranchers start to have problems working and how they traditional work, they sometimes will think its better to take there life with them.

Now many ranchers fear that the beef industry is being restructured along the lines of the poultry industry. They didn't want to end up like poultry farmers, who are powerless and trapped by debt and contracts written by long processors. I would think for chains like Chick-Fil-A, Wendy's and McDonald's who have tons of chicken items on the menu, the poultry farmers would have substantial wages. But it seems like the big corporations aren't helping out the farmers much.

I remember when the McNuggets weren't all 100% white meat and instead had different fillers. They made me sick as a child, though I still ate them. Turns out the McNuggets have fatty acids resembling beef. These nuggets were originally cooked in beef tallow. Eventually the company switched to vegetable oil, but they still add beef extract to maintain that same taste. I thought chicken would be better for you than red meat, which it is, but these McNuggets contain twice as much fat per ounce than a hamburger. I knew there was a reason I don't eat those anymore.

These McNuggets turned Tyson Foods into the world's largest chicken processor. I didn't know Tyson was the one who made McNuggets. They also manufacture at least half of all McNuggets and sell chicken to 90 percent of the worlds largest restaurant chains.

I was also surprised that the McNuggets changed the packaging of chicken. Twenty years ago, chickens were sold whole. Nowadays about 90% of the chicken sold in the US has been cut into nuggets, cutlets, or pieces. And in 1992 chicken passed beef consumption.

Chapter 5

The frozen french fries given to McDonald's corporation by J.R. Simplot were the most popular thing on the menu. Over the hamburgers. I was surprised at this. Yes, McDonald's fries are good, but if you let them sit around they become disgusting. I would also think now with such a nation that puts obese people down and thinks everyone should be thin that the fries would be down on the list. At least the burger gives you protein, the fries just add extra fat and grease.

Most potato farmers have given up on potato farming. For every $1.50 you spend at a fast food restaurant that farmer may get 2 cents. I believe this, but I'm still on the fence. Wouldn't the corporation give more money to the farmers who drive their business?

The production for frozen french fries has become a completive business. The three biggest companies: Simplot, Lamb Weston, and McCain now control about 80 percent of the American market for frozen french fries, having eliminated of acquired most of their rivals. I didn't know making french fries could be such a business. When I order my fried from a fast food restaurant, I figure they come from McDonald's or Chick-Fil-A, not Simplot or McCain.

Does anyone know why they are called french fries anyway? I don't think the French invented them...

Introduction

I was surprised on how much Americans spend on fast food. I maybe eat fast food once a week. What I count as fast food would be ordering a pizza or picking up dinner from Chick-Fil-A. The author states that we spend more on fast food than we do cars, personal computers, higher education, etc. But I would say that over all of that you've got to eat, and if that's what you do with your money, go ahead. I was also surprised that McDonald's had a clothing line, something I had never heard of. But I can assure you that I would never buy clothes from the same company that sells a 530 calorie burger (the Big Mac). Eric said that about 1 in 8 people have worked for McDonald's sometime in their life. I can actually believe this statistic; my Dad worked at McDonald's for a day, but then later quit. Eric says he wrote this book because he wanted people to know what really goes into making all those burgers, fries, etc. But I think a lot of our population wouldn't want to know. I really wouldn't care if I knew. It's not going to stop me from eating it. Why would I think most Americans wouldn't want to know? Well if you're squeamish around germs, slaughtering of animals, etc, you probably don't want to know what your food goes through before it's given to you on a tray.