Fast Food Nation Chunk #4

In the final chunk of the book the author discusses dangers of the meat used in fast food what should be done to prevent it, and America's economic imperialism around the world. Chapter 9 discusses how a man named Lee Harding got food poisoned from E. coli O157: H7 "a virulent and potentially lethal foodbourne pathogen" through Safeway frozen hamburgers. Children under the age of five, the elderly, and the people with impaired immune systems are the most likely to suffer from illnesses caused by E. coli O157:H7 . He discusses how an 11 year old boy got sick from a school hamburger, E. coli was later found in the meat and the company's owner eventually killed himself. Schlosser also dicusses Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus aureus, and Clostridium perfringens which are also foodbourne bacteriums. He also dicusses the McDonaldization of the world by adding a new McDonald's to every place that is in good relations with America. For example, putting McDonald's in Eastern Bloc countries after the fall of Communism.

Clarification: What are the symptoms of E. coli O157: H7?
Application: Have you ever experienced the symptoms to E. coli O157: H7

Fast Food Nation Chunk #3

In chunk 3 Eric Schlosser discusses the industrial side of fastfood corporations. Meat and potatoes are no longer processed by individual farms and ranchers, but large corporate chains such as ConAgra Foods and the J. R. Simplot Company, which perfected the concept of the frozen french fry, and how they have a strong hold, or monopoly, of the food processing industry leading to a massive economic and social shift that led to farmers and ranchers being left disenfranchized and hopeless, some committed suicide. The hazards of working for these companies are also expressed, and how it is a constant danger to work in the factories owned by these companies. For example, "a fire at a poultry plant killed twenty-five workers in 1991...its emergency exits had been chained shut," shows the danger of working in these factories.

Clarification: As you read the chunk were you disgusted by the conditions that these employees work in?
Application: Were you at all surprised at how the industry works and how it effects the economic and social aspects of certain regions?