Fast F ood Nation

1. Fast Food Nation afterword Austin Hohiemer & Wes Burns

2. the meaning of mad cow • Had the same book been published earlier, it would likely have attracted little attention • Since publication, mad cow disease has been a symbol of industrialization of farm animals

3. the meaning of mad cow • In 1996, British officials acknowledged that mad cow disease may spread to humans • In 1997, FDA banned “mammalian-to-ruminant” feeding, with a few exceptions • No new restrictions affected what could be fed to poultry, hogs, zoo animals, or pets

5. the meaning of mad cow • In January 2001, increased European testing of cattle for BSE (disease) alarmed the public • Among infected animals was a cow from an Italian slaughterhouse that supplied European McDonalds • March 13, 2001 – McDonalds requires all meat suppliers to present documentation that FDA rules were being strictly followed

6. wrong wrongwrong • Schlosser has received much criticism for his novel, often coming from groups related to the meat or food industries • Claims that few to no complaints can cite concrete inaccuracies

8. wrong wrongwrong • Republican party has been negatively tied to agribusiness in the past • One act cited is the Bush administration’s movement to stop testing National School Lunch Program beef for salmonella • Despite relatively small threat of salmonella, the motion was abandoned after bad publicity

9. wrong wrongwrong • Since publication, further research has verified the fact that small amounts of beef products are used in McDonalds fries • Indian outrage led to the discovery that McDonalds does not use beef in regions with dense Hindu populations, such as India and the UK

11. wrong wrongwrong • McDonalds has claimed in response to lawsuits and complaints that it never claimed its fries to be entirely vegetarian • A 1993 letter from a customer satisfaction manager has since arisen, stating otherwise

12. decline and fall • With the outbreak of mad cow disease, fast food business lost large amounts of business and profit • McDonalds – the leader of the pack – began to demand that its suppliers be more ethical and thorough in their slaughtering of animals

14. decline and fall • Soon, companies had changed their entire production methods to accommodate the request of one of their biggest – and most profitable – customers

15. decline and fall • Also during this time, the bad medical standards of some food companies began to be exposed • In some food companies, being injured was grounds for being fired

17. dog eat dog • Since the outbreak of mad cow disease, more than one hundred human deaths have been recorded and attributed to the disease • Disease takes up to ten years to show symptoms in humans • Reports have also surfaced of animals dying due to the disease, including a cat due to tainted cat food

18. dog eat dog • Thanks to McDonalds’ demand for better standards in food processing plants, mad cow disease is now much less likely to show up in fast food restaraunts