Fast Food Nation Chapter 8

"Every day in the United States, roughly 200,000 people are sickened by foodborne disease, 900 are hospitalized, and fourteen die." Statistics like these definitely makes me want to go organic. It's hard to believe that factories that we bestow our trust on, can turn their backs against us, and cause such foodborne outbreaks, like E.coli. It's scary to know that foodborne diseases can cause heart disease, inflammatory bowel disease, neurological problems, autoimmune disorders, and kidney damage. It's the fact that if our factories slip once, make a tiny mistake, it can cause some drastic effects on us Americans. I was shocked to hear that when cattle get E.coli won't show many signs indicating they have an illness. Leaving our farmers to believe everything is okay, ship our meat, and terrorize the immune system of people across the U.S.


Hamburgers, food of the poor? Yes, it's cheap, but that's what makes is so popular across the globe. Thank gosh for White Castle who took a stand and that started a company that attracted customers, had a connotations of purity as its name, and for the test they did to prove that hamburgers were not as bad as their reputations had lead on. With White Castles drive thrus it took the hamburgers from being a slow non-popular dish to our national dish of choice. Another smart executive would be Ray Kroc's, who promoted McDonald's as a place for families. With this promotion people began to see that Hamburgers were loved by children, convenient, inexpensive, and easily manageable food product.


Question:
1) Compared with several decades ago, how common are food-related illnesses today?
A: A generation ago the typical outbreak of food poisoning involved, church supper, family picnic, and a wedding reception. Today Literally 200,000 people become sick each day due to illnesses.

2) What was the first national hamburger chain and what did it do to try to change the image of the hamburgers.
A: The first was white castle. White Castle claimed meat was delivered twice a day, they created a connotation of purity for their business, and even sponsored and experiment to prove that their meat was not bad. This experiment proved that someone could live off their food and water for thirteen weeks and not get sick.

3) What are the effects of E.coli 0157:H7 on the human body.
A: E.coli 0157:H7 causes Shiga toxins to enter the bloodstream, hemolytic uremic syndrome(HUS), kidney failure, anemia, internal bleeding, and destruction of vital organs.