Now about half is spent at restaurants, mostly fast-food franchises. The rate of obesity among American children has doubled since the late 1970s. Nonetheless, Schlosser's book stands out for its storytelling. You will learn why french fries taste so good despite being mass-produced. He explains why, aside from the salad greens and tomatoes, most fast food is delivered to a restaurant already frozen, canned, dehydrated or freeze-dried.
Readers go inside beef slaughterhouses to discover the substandard conditions for workers.
The meat-recovery system in this country allows for too much bone marrow and bone meal to potentially be in the meat. In Europe, where the disease is taking a grip on humans and cattle alike, health agencies believe the highest risks of tainted meat come from burgers, sausages and cuts of meat still attached to bone. From Schlosser's perspective, the most telling part of mad-cow concerns occurred last month. McDonald's demanded that any beef it buys has to meet the U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards for cattle feed. Large beef-packing companies responded quickly by saying they would meet the April 1 deadline and provide the documentation from suppliers for all shipments.