Schlosser emphasizes his point by recognizing Supreme Beef Processors, "one of the main suppliers of ground beef to the National School Lunch Program" ("Hamburger with Those"), as a company who repeatedly failed food safety testing and opposed further testing and regulations. In this case, the ultimate subjects of improper handling are children, who can have no control over (or even awareness of) the proper handling of their food, and who are also the age group most susceptible to illnesses caused by these pathogens. Compounding the problem was the Bush administration's "deference to the meatpacking industry" ("Hamburger with Those"). In the end, it became legal to sell tainted beef. In his closing arguments, Schlosser encouraged consumers to be careful of their handling and cooking of ground beef, at least while the industry continues to resist further regulation. As a more comprehensive observation of contaminated meat, "Order the Fish" looks at dangers posed by contaminants and why the production of meat is not more carefully monitored. In the previous article, Schlosser discussed only the risks involved when salmonella and e. coli contamination are possible, but here he introduces also listeria and mad-cow disease. Mad-cow is different than the previous three pathogens, which are all spread by contamination of the meat by fecal material. Mad-cow, on the other hand, is a disease present when the cow is alive, as a result of the cow's ingestion of "infectious body parts in cattle feed" ("Order the Fish"). Unfortunately, the industry's weak response to the Mad-Cow threat is the same as it has been for the other pathogens. Interestingly, while the U.S.D.A. is meant to be the organization regulating the meatpacking lines and testing samples of meat to ensure that they are fit for consumption, Schlosser reveals that the U.S.D.A. has a record of offering very little cooperation. The information that it did gather through tests and surveys was not credible, and it frequently suggests that testing is not necessary. The U.S.D.A. seems to be excusing the food...

Schlosser uses a series of figures to suggest that these agribusiness firms donated generously to the political campaigns of government officials who are now regulating them lightly because of their generous donations. He seems to suggest that because of their donation, these firms, the packinghouses and slaughterhouses, have been able to buy their way out of more strict regulation. Furthermore, the fact that the U.S.D.A. "is responsible not only for promoting the sale of American meat but also for guaranteeing its safety," ("Order the Fish") makes it very hard for that agency to do both divisions of its job well and has ultimately led to its favor of the more profitable division.
Even as contaminants continue to taint the meat that American consumers buy and eat daily, new contaminants are found, and Eric Schlosser believes those who have control over the meatpacking industry are not doing enough to combat the spread of disease and illness. It has even come to the point that consumers must be careful of criticizing the producers of their meat, or else they may be sued by those same producers under "veggie libel laws" ("Order the Fish"). It is his concern for humanity that moves Eric Schlosser to use articles like these, as well as his well-known book and subsequent movie, to address the unethical, careless practices the meatpacking industry maintains with regard to treatment of animals, workers, and meat. Through these mediums, Schlosser hopes to inform the American people of malpractice so that they may better protect themselves when no one else will do it for them.

Works Cited

Schlosser, Eric. "Hamburger with Those Fries? Buyers Beware." USA Today 10 July 2002: 11a.

Print.

Schlosser, Eric. "How to Make the Country's Most Dangerous Job Safer." Atlantic Monthly

January 2002. 21 March 2011. .

Schlosser, Eric. "Order the Fish." Vanity Fair November 2004. 21 March 2011.

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