Tougher's Fast Food Nation

The fast food industry is constantly growing across the world. Fast food is cheap, convenient, and tastes good. However, because of its popularity, the fast food industry has gained a lot of criticism. In Eric Schlosser’s book, Fast Food Nation, Schlosser warns readers of how the fast food industry is dangerous and how congress and consumers can change the industry. At the end of his book Schlosser makes some huge claims; “Congress should ban advertising that preys upon children, it should stop subsidizing dead-jobs, it should pass tougher food safety laws, it should protect American workers from serious harm, it should fight against dangerous concentrations of economic power.” Though most of Schlosser’s argument throughout the book is one-sided,

This act helped ensure Americans that the food they were eating was safe for consumption. However, in the 21st century Americans are getting E coli, Salmonella, and food poisoning. Congress needs to pass tougher food safety laws to protect consumers. The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act was signed into law by Obama in 2011. This act gives the FDA authority to recall food products, calls for more frequent inspections, forces facilities to list possible problems, establishes science base standards for the safe production and harvesting of fruits and vegetables, and provides exemptions from the produce safety standards for small farms that sell directly to consumers. The Modernization Act seems to be a step forward in strengthening forward in strengthening food safety laws, however, problems are still arising. Since the act has been passed there has been eleven major reports of E.Coli outbreaks. The most recent outbreak was in May 2014 from contaminated ground beef. 58% of people who became ill became hospitalized. In Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation, Schlosser talks about foodborne pathogens and the dangers they can cause. Schlosser's book was published in 2001 and 13 years later little has been done to stop pathogens. Millions of consumers get sick from pathogens such as salmonella and Campylobacter each year. However, USDA rejected the idea that plants should have to test for specific pathogens

However, accidents happen and people are injured. About 28,000 teens in fast food jobs are rushed to the ER each year with job-related injuries. Losing an employee to an injury costs money because employers have to recruit and train a replacement. The only way to prevent injuries from happening is through proper training. Employers need to help reduce accidents by supervising and training employees on how to work