FFN 4: Chapters 7-9Fast Food Nation

Comprehension QuestionsEric Schlosser

Chapter 7: Cogs in the Great Machine

  1. What is responsible for the smell of Greeley, Colorado? ______
  2. The wages for meatpacking employees rise every year.TRUEFALSE
  3. Which city once reigned as the meatpacking capitol of the world? ______
  4. Describe the typical employee working for meatpacking companies.______
  5. What’s the largest meatpacking company in the US? ______
  6. Why did the plants move west? ______
  7. What are cattle supposed to eat and what are they fed in feedlots? ______
  8. What are the 3 odors from Lexington?______
  9. Schlosser mentions the “lagoons;” what exactly are they? ______
  10. How is slaughtering today different than what it was in Chicago? ______
  11. Why has the answer to #10 had a negative ripple effect across the country? ______
  12. A year after a plant opened in Lexington, the crime rate increased.TRUEFALSE
  13. Who was the first Latino to head a local UFCW? ______
  14. Why did the US Justice Department sue IBP in January 2000? ______

Chapter 8: The Most Dangerous Job

  1. Rates of injury for employees using methamphetamines are low.TRUEFALSE
  2. What is the most common injury suffered by meatpackers? ______
  3. Why is meatpacking the most dangerous job in the US now? ______
  4. How many cattle can be slaughtered in one hour? ______
  5. The disassembly jobs are more dangerous than the cleaning crew jobs.TRUEFALSE
  6. Though their wages are low, meatpacking workers receive good benefits.TRUEFALSE
  7. What isOSHA and what’s its purpose? ______
  8. What is the injury rate in a slaughterhouse compared to a typical American factory? ______
  9. How much are fines for deaths in slaughterhouses? ______
  10. Why don’t meatpacking companies want their workers to join unions? ______
  11. Why are the total number of injuries reported not reliable? ______
  12. How much is an arm worth? ______

Chapter 9: What’s in the Meat

  1. What’s in the meat? ______
  2. What kinds of illnesses are caused by E. coli 0157:H7? ______
  3. It’s cleaner to eat off a toilet seat than the typical kitchen sink.TRUEFALSE
  4. Children in the US get the safest meat in school lunch programs.TRUEFALSE
  5. The pathogen of E. coli 0157:H7 now is the leading cause of what health damage among children in the US? ______
  6. How many people are sickened by food borne illnesses every day? ______
  7. What are cattle fed these days? ______
  8. In the 1980s, what did the United Kingdom ban?______
  9. Hamburger (ground beef) has always had a good reputation.TRUEFALSE
  10. A single fast food hamburger usually has the meat from a single cow.TRUEFALSE
  11. What fast food company was sued for selling contaminated burgers? ______
  12. What is the official name of “Mad Cow Disease”? ______
  13. Why were hamburgers thought to be ideal food for kids? ______
  14. Schlosser compares the spread of E. coli 0157:H7 to what disease? ______