Fast Food Nation Case Study

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Anna Joy Floresca 012933698 HIST 173 12 December 2014 Fast Food Nation: Corporate Control Over US Food Industry In Eric Schlosser’s 2001 nonfiction book, Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, Schlosser shares intimate and disturbing information regarding the truth about the American fast food industry. Fast Food Nation relays the message that America’s fast food chains are corrupt and malevolent corporations whose focus is on making profit more than serving nutritious and quality food to consumers. These corporations are apathetic to their workers, consumers, and everyone else in between, including ranchers and farmers. After the end of World War II, many growing families moved into new suburbs to raise children and…show more content…
These corporations depend on a large list of workers, farmers, ranchers, and consumers who will feed their bank accounts. These corporations do not care for their workers, farmers, and ranchers. At the Greeley slaughterhouse in Colorado, many of the workers are young, illegal immigrants coming from parts of Mexico, Central America, and Southeast Asia . These immigrants are illiterate and are usually targeted by the nation’s immigration services, only to have the corporations come back to fish out more illegal immigrants who are willing to work for really low wages without benefits. Most of these workers do not even acquire a decent amount of worker’s compensation if they accidentally injure themselves on the job. What the corporations are doing to their workers is complete backwards thinking in a forward-progressive society. This is because of the new conservative ideas of Reagan and his ties with many corporations in the food business. The spending cuts under the Reagan administration have left no support for the nation’s workers and consumers. One would think that the government in the late 1900s would deliver much more protection to the nation’s most important assets, the workers and consumers, but that proved to be wrong. The tax breaks in the 1980s drove out small meat packaging businesses and supported the larger meat packaging companies . One major company, ConAgra is now one of the largest meat packing companies in America and now owns many small meatpacking businesses, farmers, and ranchers in different parts of the country. It is an example of a master-slave relationship. The companies are the masters who give the ranchers and farmers, the slaves, the correct and adequate tools to do the dirty work of raising cattle or growing crops. If the slaves are unable to perform and meet a status quo, the master cuts them off completely and replaces the slaves as

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