Chapter+9

Chapter 9 What’s in the Meat? I. 1997- Lee Harding order chicken tacos from a local Mexican Restaurant It tastes foul, and looks slimy. II. Soon after, Harding has severe abdominal pain and cramps, he feels very sick. When he goes to the doctor, they say he has a case of ‘Summer Flu’ III. The next day, test results show that Harding is infected with Escherichia Coli 0157:H7 (E-Coli) IV. Harding assumes this comes from the rancid chicken. Doctors disagree; they know that he had eaten a hamburger just a few days before. V. The remaining hamburger meat is tested; the meat shows positive for E-Coli. VI. The Hudson Food Plant had had to recall over 35 Million pounds of this viral meat. Over 25 million pounds of it had already been consumed. VII. This is the largest food recall in history.

An Ideal System for New Pathogens I. Over 200,000 people are sickened by foodborne illnesses every day. 900 are hospitalized. 14 will die. II. Over ¼ of the American people suffer from food poisoning each year. III. Many food borne pathogens can precipitate long term ailments such as, heart disease, neurological disease and kidney damage. (logos) IV. The spike in foodborne illnesses is due to how food is actually produced. V. There is a whole new kind of outbreak now- due to industrialization and centralization systems. A small cluster of sickness use to occur frequently from bad potato salad at a barbeque. Now, E- Coli can spread to millions. VI. American meat production is uniform. A mass amount of the exact same beef is being shipped to millions. An extremely efficient way to spread disease. One spoiled batch could cause an outbreak, which will be shipped to millions of people. The national dish I. Early in the Twentieth century, hamburgers were not even served at restaurants because they were viewed as more lower class meals. "getting your meat out of a garbage can" (197). II. White Castle set out to change that perception. Since they were the first hamburger chain, they decided to prepare the burgers infront of their customers. This showed people they hamburgers were not all garbage. -along with verifying that they had meat delivered twice a day, White Castle prepared an experiment where a university of Minnesota med student ate nothibut but their food for 13 weeks III. Other fast food chains began a rise in the 1950s and soon the hamburger became an American icon for people of all walks of life. -A lot to do with the faster service and drive thrus IV. Post World War marked a change in people's diets. They went from mainly pork to cow meat. By the 1990s beef was a commodity in both agricultural jobs, but also in the daily lives of Americans. V. Jack in the Box restaurameat beef was infecting people with E Coli. Many children were reported and one instance is from a girl, Lauren, who got the virus and died in her mothers arms after 3 heart attacks VI. After outbreaks came about from McDonalds, a spokesperson said that there was no real evidence that it was their meat that caused the "diarrhea."

A bug that killd children I. Explanation of how E Coli can help the human body by digesting food, but it can release a powerful toxin called verotoxin, attacks the lining of the intestines. Most E Coli infections cause mild diarrhea and vomiting, but in 4 percent of cases the virus enters the bloodstream and and causes HUS. HUS destroys vital organs. II. Nancy Donley is the president of STOP and it helps with food safety. Her son died from an E. Coli virus in 1993. III. Lee Harding began urinating blood and was diagnosed with a kidney infection. He still 3 years after eating the hamburger has stomach pain IV. Not much can be done for E. Coli. Antibiotics are not helpful and sometimes worsen. Most E. Coli outbreaks are from cattle, but in the Jack in the Box outbreak ten percent of the people were infected by otherpeople who came in contact with the beef. An infected person is contagious for 2 weeks. V. A government official compared the feedlots for cattle to the middle age Europe when the black plague strickened the continent. Unsanitary. VI. Until 1997 cattle were fed dead cats and dogs because of the rising prices in wheat. This was said to be a leading cause in Mad Cow Disease VII. Slaughtering a cow takes a lot of precision, but in a slaughterhouse although cleansing is important it is forgotten and disregarded. VIII. The E. Coli virus spreads quickly because of the mixture of animals in ground beef plants

All we care to pay I. Back in 1906 Upton Sinclareleaved led the horrors of the meat packing industry and hepersuaded Theodore Roosevelt to help fix the industry. After fighting with the meat trusts congress was able to pass a watered down version of TRs original plan meat inspection act of 1906. II. The Jungle made meat packers have to be careful about their mechanization, but they still did not care about the welfare of their customers. "we are paying all we care to pay" (205). III. When inspecting diseases in meat became harder and harder to do, the bush and Reagan administrations cut funding to the USDA and after that the inspections became worse. Poorly gained inspectors were allowing contaminated meats to be shipped. IV. When the Jack in the Box outbreak happened the USDA finally got involved but they were unable to find an exact origin of the disease. And again random microbial testing was legal for meat and E. Coli became illegal

A matter of will I. To gain better public opinion, Jack in the Box hired Theno who is now considered a maverick for his worinto the fast food industry. He was able to start the farm to fork guarantee. He also established the HACCP inside the fast food industry. II. after much investigation and deliberation Theno was able to figure out exactly how to fix meat health of the industry. And it cost 1 penny per pound.

A lack of recall I. The restaurants were involved in congress as well. When republicans took control of congress, Clinton had to slow hismeat industry regulation because republican right wings were tied in with many restaurants. This slowed regulation II. The Hudon food outbreak further revealed the problems with the USDA. III. Clinton pushed for USDA reforms, but when the republicans in congress voted they declined it.

Our friend the aom I. Clinton's reforms to the USDA were watered down and it was mostly left to meatpacking employees. II. although the meat packing industries fought so much against government regulations, they began investing in steam Pasteurization, which killed many bacterial and e Coli viruses, but they wre not doing it for the benefit of the customer.

What kids eat

I. The USDA bought some of the most contaminated beef and used it in schools. From cattle king who killed the cattle before they even got to the plant. Other then Wendy's the meat was also sent to schools for cheap prices. II. an elementary school boy was diagnosed with E. Coli and it was from the meat he had at school. ConAgra had been cited for 18 months an. That meat was in the undercooked taco meat which the kids ate. III. Supreme Beef in Texas was cited with having salmonella, but the USDA still bought the meat for school use. IV. Supreme Beef fought the accusations that They were wrong and that their inspectors not be removed. Judge Fish ruled that Salmonella does not mean that the slaughterhouse was unsanitary. But they continued failing those tests V. New rules said that in 2000, any meat going to schools should be investigated before distribution, the meat industries were not happy with these decisions

Your kitchen sink I. Although there is clear evidence that meat packing industries pay no attention to their processing, there could be other reasons to to the infectious diseases II. Preparation of food byemployees, touching products, not washing hands, ect. Are all reasons that could cause the contamination III. Managers rules play a role in how clean the food is. Some will allow food to be dropped on the floor and still be served. IV. many things can happen to your food in the fast food industry before it gets to your mouth.

Rhetorical devices: Pathos- the many stories about the young children who died from the E. Coli virus strengthen his argument. Logos- this entire chapter depicts various historically accurate evidence about different incidents that happened within the fast food restaurants and the meat industries. A big example was when he explained Upton Sinclair who wrote a book in 1906, the Jungle, which showed the dangers of the meatpacking industry Juxtaposition- at the end of the chapter he explained the other side of the argument, by saying that the food we get from fast food restaurants can be contaminated in other ways then jusme beepall ants. This strengthened his argument of the pure danger in the fast food because it gave many more examples of why fast food is bad Imagery- he describes many of the meat plants in a way that gives you an exact depiction of what he wants people to see. And be disgusted by. Metaphor- Whizzards peeling meat off decapitated heads, picking them almost as clean as the white skulls painted by Georgia O'Keeffe." this helps strengthen his argument that slaughter houses are terrible