Who Is to Blame for the Quality of America's Food?

Eric Schlosser claims in the introduction of Fast Food Nation that people are solely interested in the taste of their food. He believes that as long as food tastes good people will remain ignorant to the quality of their food. Schlosser exposes flaws and problems ranging from the consumer to the producer. People continue to buy unhealthy food, even when they know it is. Fast food restaurants try to hide the true quality of their food and continue to sell it. These restaurants do not even make an attempt to make their food healthier. They do the opposite. They buy the cheapest ingredients possible. The next flaw in the system is in the meatpacking business. Meatpacking plants are worked by illegal immigrants that can be paid well below minimum wage for mediocre work. The actual plants are run by machines. Meat is not always thoroughly cleaned. The farmers raise their animals in septic environments. Schlosser even explains a method that farmers use to feed their animals. They take dead animals and chicken manure and make cattle feed with them. Farmers continue to do this even though they know that cows are supposed to only eat grass. These flaws in the agricultural industry create consequences that are unknown to most. The unhealthy nature of the agricultural industry puts many at risk. Diseases are easily spread because of the septic environment animals are raised in. The corporations in charge of the food being produced hide all these things, but these corporations are not entirely to blame for the problems with this system. People continue to eat fast food even when they know they are eating fattening food. People become sick and overweight from the food that they eat, but they do not change their diets. The corporations in charge of producing food are just taking advantage of the population. These corporations know that people will continue to eat unhealthy food. People like fast cheap food and that is what these corporations give. The only reason that these corporations thrive is there is a demand for the goods that they produce. If people demanded that animals be raised in sanitary conditions, then these problems would not exist, but people do not make this demand or anything near it.