Fast Food Nation

Eric Schlosser. Penguin, pbk, 356pp, £9-99.

This is a landmark book - a classic work which should instantly join the ranks of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring and Jeremy Rifkin's Beyond Beef. The author combines meticulous research with an excellent writing style in describing the fascinating history of the American fast food industry from the first California drive-in restaurants of the early 1940s through to the present day globalisation of the junk food giants.

Every month 90% of American children between the ages of three and nine visit a McDonald's. The McDonald's Corporation has perfected the art of site selection for new outlets. Originally they used a light aircraft to locate schools - aiming to put a McDonald's nearby. In the 1980s the company utilised commercial satellite photography to predict urban sprawl from outer space. Today they employ a computer software "geographic information system" which combines satellite imagery with detailed maps and demographic information. All this was used to locate a branch of McDonald's exactly one third of a mile from the entrance to the former concentration camp at Dachau.

Fast Food Nation details the appalling effects of the world wide spread of American-style junk food. The obesity epidemic that began in the US in the late 1970s is spreading to the rest of the world with junk food the major cause. Between 1984 and 1993 fast food outlets doubled in the UK as did the prevalence of adult obesity. Apart from the obvious effects on diet and health the author reveals the grim reality of the low pay and long hours which the employees of the fast food chains are forced to accept. During the Reagan administration the US meat packing industry was virtually deregulated. This resulted in a sharp increase in the line speed which carries animals for slaughter and butchering. This in turn meant plummeting hygiene standards and rocketing levels of serious injuries to the workers. Ironically, line speeds are reduced when packing meat for the EU where food safety standards are higher.

The author concludes with the simplest advice for overcoming the junk food giants - stop buying their products: "Think about where the food came from, about how and where it was made, about what is set in motion by every single fast food purchase". Highly recommended.

Paul Freestone, June 2001

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This page created 30 June 2001 by Paul Appleby.