The Truth behind a Burger

Beef is a central part of the American meal. It is a preferred diet for several people. Schlosser

mentioned in his book, Fast Food Nation, that average American eats about sixty-eight pounds of

meat every year, which is a high amount (142). Most of beef eaters never thought of what they

are eating. They do not care, but they do care for the excellent taste and the low price. According

to Pollan, “willed ignorance is a preferred strategy of many beef eaters” (Pollan). This means

that people try to ignore anything that might change their minds toward consuming meat. Some

of the most important facts that most beef-consumers ignore are the pollution of the meat, the

mistreat of the cattle, and the avidity of the meatpacking industry.

Beefeaters persuade themselves that the meat they eat is safe and healthy, but in fact, it is

not. Packed meat is full of diseases and contamination. According to Andrea Rock in her article,

How Safe is Your ground Beef, all the meat, especially ground beef, carries bacteria that can be

toxic unless cooked correctly (Rock). In the United States, about 200,000 people are poisoned

from food, where 900 of them require hospital care, and fourteen die every day. (Schlosser 195)

One of the common bacteria found in beef and causes food poising is known as E-coli. It is very

dangerous that can cause severe illness, such as bloody diarrhea, vomiting, and other side effects.

Also, it can be more severe, like kidney failure (Rock). Such viruses and bacteria are usually not

found originally in the meat; it is transferred into it. This occurs when the beef touches the

digestive system or wastes of the animal during the slaughter process. Schlosser illustrates this as

“there is shit in the meat” (197). The meatpacking process is not the only source of the

contamination. The storing and transferring procedure cause the pollution of the meat, where the

storing of 1 pound of contaminated meat can cause the contamination of a hundred healthy beef.

Because, as an example, E-coli virus can multiply in cattle and can live on manure for ninety
days (Schlosser 202). Although most of the meat consumers know that packed meat is not the

safest to eat, they still pretend to be ignorant about the truth, to keep eating beef.

Additionally, cattle in cattle houses and ranches are abused, and people ignore it. The companies

try to keep this covered. Furthermore, meat consumers give a blind eye toward this case.

Livestock in the United States are being mistreated ever since the modern cattle houses took over

the farms in the early twentieth century. In the modern cattle houses, cows are treated as

inanimate objects, while they should be treated as living souls that feel just like humans.

Livestock in the cattle houses is fed corn and soybeans instead of grass, which is their regular

food. Corn is high in carbohydrates and starch, which causes obesity to cow. Furthermore, it

causes the acidity of the digestive system of the cows to increase, leading to ulcers and

infections. Their diet includes, in addition to corn, candy, plastic capsules, slaughtered hogs and

chicken, and wastes from chicken barns. This diet boosts the E-coli bacteria in their wastes

(Rock). Not only the cattle are abused with their diet, they are, according to Andrea Rock,

packed in small enclosures, covered with manure. And are transferred for more than twenty

hours without food and drink in two-story truck. This treatment stresses the cows out, which

makes them more likely to be diseased. The torture does not stop here, to avoid the illness of the

cattle and to increase their weights, they are injected with antibiotics such as tylosin. (Rock).

Then, when the cow reaches the ideal weight for slaughter, it would be 14 to 16 months old only.

While it is two to three years old if grass-fed (Pollan).

People are taught to ignore the avidity of meatpacking companies. Large Meatpacking

companies such as Tyson’s subsidiary, IBP, Monfort, Excel and National (Pollan), destroys

people’s health covered by the fast-food industry. Where they made people believe that the meat

they sell is safe and healthy. They do that through the fast-food chains that buy their meat, such
as McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, and many other chains. These chains work on attracting

customers and gaining their trust through smart marketing. One way is the attractive

commercials. For example, McDonald’s used the kids as their target audience because kids can

be affected easily. They created a lovely clown that they named Ronald McDonald. From there,

they started gaining people’s trust (Schlosser 41). This trust between customers and the

restaurant is where the meatpacking company built its way to people’s trust. This trust

relationship between the meatpacking industry and meat consumers is apparent. The

meatpacking companies and the fast-food industry always avoid listing the ingredients, and yet,

most of the customers do not ask or try to know. Moreover, the trust relationship between people

and fast-food restaurants increased the demand for beef. This increase empowered the

meatpacking industry and allowed them to increase the quantity at the expense of the quality.

However, people never thought of that because they were taught not to.

Meat is not safe if not cooked right. Behind every burger, meat-eaters eat, and every pound of

beef they buy, a long path. Starting from the mistreated cattle that causes the pollution of the

meat, towards the greed of the meatpacking companies. Meat eaters had been ignoring this path

for years, maybe because they were taught to by the industry, or because they want to enjoy their

beef without overthinking about it. However, this ignorance will not benefit, because one day,

they might be the victim of a contaminated burger.

 Works cited

Schlosser, Eric. “Fast Food Nation the Dark Side of the All-American Meal.” New York:

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2012. Print.

Rock, Andrea. “How Safe Is Your Ground Beef?” Consumer Reports, 21 Dec. 2015,

https://www.consumerreports.org/cro/food/how-safe-is-your-ground-beef. Accessed 19 October

2019

Pollan, Michael. “Power steer.” Michael Pollan, 31 March 2002,https://michaelpollan.com/articles-

archive/power-steer/. Accessed 19 October 2019