Fast Food Nations - Book Report/Review Example

In the book, the author specifically speaks about the impact of fast food chains on the people of United States. The statistics presented by the author, approximately one-third of the adult population of the United States visits a fast food restaurant daily and on a weekly basis a typical American is said to be consuming three hamburgers and four French fry orders. The reason behind presenting the above statistics in this paper is to discuss the affects of consuming fast food on the human body.

Despite the frequency of eating fast foods, the very immediate affect that it could have on an individual's health is sickness. This is evident from the fact that the author has presented in the book which states that approximately 2,000,000 people of the United States fall sick due to diseases caused by food they consume and almost 900 people are hospitalized on a daily basis. Though the reasons behind the diseases are many, one main cause may be stated as the way the food is produced. Today, the meat production in the United States of America has become very centralized due to the decrease in the small farmers which in turn has reduced the number of producers of meat.

The toxins in the meat production plant are the root cause for the widespread of diseases. "A nationwide study published by the USDA in 1996 found that 7.5 percent of the ground beef samples taken at processing plants were contaminated with Salmonella, 11.7 percent with Listeria monocytogenes, 30 percent with Staphylococcus aureus, and 53.3 percent with Clostridium perfringens. All of these pathogens can make people sick (Teh World Traveller) (Michael Shugrue) (Sinclair)." The book takes the readers' through a journey which explains about today's shocking and extremely corrupt fast food industry.

The various truths and happenings in the industry which were gathered through personal interviews, investigations etc were presented in order to reveal what exactly happens behind the scenes of the fast food chains. One example is the reality of brutal treatment of workers and abuse of the same workers at the meat packing plants. Many female workers in the meat making plants are sexually harassed not only by co-workers but also by superiors. This clearly states how dangerous the industry for female employment is.

A well-known fact is that the target audiences of the fast food industry are none other than children. The kids are easily influenced by the eye-catching, heavy and attractive advertisements along with the interesting promotional techniques which the fast food chains use. Market statistics reveal that children are more inclined towards a brand name or logo than on their own name. AS already stated, many people today have become more inclined towards fast food not only because of the ease and convenience but also because of the taste of the food.

Now the question that arises here is, the reasons for fast foods being so tasty. The author of the book has also explored this angle and has presented the tricks and techniques used by the fast food industry players to make the food extremely tasty. Basically, the aroma of the