Will Fast Food be the Death of Us? Essay -- The Dark Side of Fast Food

The American food industry has evolved in ways that may not be distinguishable to the human palate, but hopefully remain distinguishable to the human conscience. With all the options now available to company executives, citizens must be sure to keep them from abusing their powers and continuing to harm employees, mistreat animals, and kill consumers. The best ways are to promote public discourse and to make the most of the power of the consumer by thoughtfully deciding where to spend their hard-earned dollars. To understand where the fast food industry is today, we must look at the technological advances that allowed it to reach that point. Technology has been an integral force in the rise of the fast food culture. In fact, it was a technological advancement that first brought the fast food industry to life. When the McDonald brothers opened-up their first restaurants, they served people and made a modest profit. However, one day a traveling salesman walked through their door and presented them with the opportunity to buy a machine that would enable them to make five milkshakes at one time. He also offered them the chance to buy other machines that would speed-up food production. Who was this traveling salesman? His name was Ray Kroc. Kroc later offered to buy the rights to the McDonald brother’s restaurants and the deal went through. Kroc outfitted the restaurants with technology that allowed for the mass production of its food. Like Henry Ford automated the automobile manufacturing industry, Ray Kroc can be considered the man who took restaurant food and made it fast food. The next major innovation to contribute to fast food’s development was the automobile. In the 1950s, when owning a car become comm... ...a/GMA0201Obsessed_with_Fast_food.html. Alternet. [2013]. Why Fast Food Costs Too Much. Web. 14 May 2015. http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15762. American RadioWorks (2012). Kill Them With Kindness Web. 7 May 2015. http://www.americanradioworks.org/features/mcdonalds/grandin1.html. American RadioWorks [2014]. Ethics Into Action Web. 10 May 2015. http://www.americanradioworks.org/features/mcdonalds/book.html. BBC. [2014]. Fast Food ‘as addictive as heroin.’ Web. 9 May 2015. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2707143.stm. Kluger, Jeffrey. "Inside the Food Labs." Time. 06 Oct. 2009: 56-60 Schlosser, Eric. (2002) Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York: Perennial. Swanson, Ronald. [2013] E. Coli 0157: The Main Cause of Neurodegenerative Disease? Web. 21 May 2015. http://www.ecoli0157.com/ summary.html