Fast Food Nationafterword

Austin Hohiemer & Wes Burns

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

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

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

wrong wrong wrong

• 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

wrong wrong wrong

• 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

wrong wrong wrong

• 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

wrong wrong wrong

• 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

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

decline and fall

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

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

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

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