Fast Food Nation: book analysis and themes

¶ … Fast Food Nation

Effects of technology on personal, national, and global levels in "Fast Food Nation" by Eric Schlosser

Eric Schlosser, in his expose entitled, "Fast Food Nation: The dark side of the all- American meal," had revealed to the general public information about the fast food industry, practices and facts that illustrated how, with the advent of new technologies, negative effects abound that threatened the welfare of human society, who are consumers as well. This discovery was implicitly discussed in the book, using the context of the fast food industry as an example in which technology had proved to be more harmful to humanity than its purported benefits.

The effects of technology are directly linked with the emergence and development of the fast food industry; its effect surpasses the personal and national to include the global level as well. With the development of machinery that made possible manufacturing, more products are produced daily, with surplus that led to the creation of other industries that utilized the excess products and merchandise produced.

One of these successful industries is the fast food industry, which utilized food production, packaging, and service industries in order to operate daily. The interdependence of these industries had been increased with further advancements in technology, wherein a new technology significant to one industry affects the performance of the other industries dependent on it. Thus, the fast food industry benefited from technology as developments in manufacturing, agriculture, and services increased.

However, through the years, as Schlosser noted, technology had given more negative than positive effects to society and the consumers. In his book, he outlined the various sectors in the society that had been affected by the bad practices tolerated in the fast food industry. These bad practices happen at the personal, national, and global levels, bad practices brought about by the usage of new technologies in the industry.

At the personal level, technology had affected the fast food industry by introducing new chemicals that improved the 'flavors' of food products available in fast food establishments. Schlosser pointed out how the "lack of public disclosure" about the chemicals contained within foods that provide them their 'delicious' flavor showed reflected how technology made it possible for chemical production be regarded as safe individually, though harmful to the health when combined to produce these food additives and flavors. As stated in the book, " ... After dosing my eyes, I suddenly smelled a grilled hamburger. The aroma was uncanny, almost miraculous. It smelled like someone in the room was flipping burgers on a hot grill. But when I opened my eyes, there was just a narrow strip of white paper and a smiling flavorist" (120). This discovery by Schlosser revealed that at the personal level, technology made it possible for fast food industries to 'fool' the consumer into thinking that what they were eating are delicious food with distinct taste associated only with the fast food establishment.

At the national level, fast food establishments, through the use of technology, had contributed to the issue of utilizing migrant workers who worked in farms and agricultural lands and meatpacking companies that helped produce the necessary ingredients and raw materials for the food sold in fast food establishments. These migrant workers were paid $5.50 per hour, an amount that was considered a pittance compared to other workers who have jobs that require less of an effort than the migrant workers' jobs and duties. The fast food industry was the major player responsible for the continued marginalization of migrant workers, and because of increased technology in agriculture and manufacturing, they were able to abuse more these workers by doubling their work through the help of these machineries while limiting their wages at below the minimum amount. In effect, technologies produced for the sake of mass production of food for the fast food industry made the poor poorer while doing hard labor: "Poor workers without health insurance drive up local medical costs. The nation's meatpacking firms ... have successfully pitted one economically depressed region against another ... " (152).