Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser - Book Report/Review Example

In this book the author also brings in some of the sensitive issues such as how the animals are killed and the packed meat is prepared. He examines the different processes involved in turning a steer into packaged meat, of which one of the most graphic are the 'sticker' and the 'knocker'. The sticker does nothing but sever the carotid artery of a steer every ten seconds or so. The knocker ('His face is splattered with gray matter and blood') welcomes the cattle into the building by shooting them in the head with a captive bolt stunner for eight and a half hours.

“The animals keeps strolling up, oblivious of what comes next, and he stands over them and shoots. For eight and a half hours he just shoots. As I stand there, he misses a few times, and shoots the same animal twice. As soon as the steer falls, a worker grabs one of its hind legs, shackles it to a chain, and the chain lifts the huge animal into the air. I watch the knocker knock cattle for a couple of minutes. The animals are powerful and imposing one moment and then gone in an instant, suspended from a rail, ready for carving.

A steer slips from its chain, falls to the ground, and gets its head caught in one end of the conveyor belt. The production line stops as workers struggle to free the steer, stunned but alive, from the machinery” (p 171). The author brings out very lucidly these sensitive issues. He also gives an account of the unsanitary methods of preparations that result in the spread of harmful microbes such as e-coli. Today, we are all aware of the problems caused by fast food. Obesity is a major lifestyle conditions developed by majority of the people who are fast food eaters.

This book not only lists the problems but also offers good number of solutions to overcome the problems of fast food. Schlosser offers some eminently practical remedies. "Eating in the United States should no longer be a form of high-risk behavior," he writes. He investigates each and every aspect with the eyes of a journalist that gives him an added benefit to project the facts in a most striking manner to capture the readers’ full attention. He puts forth the facts with the statistical data and also brings in the projections.

This book is great and well researched and above all is an eye opening book.ReferenceEric Schlosser (2002) Fast Food Nation, Penguin