Eric Schlosser

This is a review of Eric Schlosser ‘Fast Food Nation. What the All-American Meal is doing to the World’. This was first published in mm15.

Feeding the Livestock.

Anthropocentric Bigotry.

This book has been written from a straightforward anthropocentric perspective. What this means is that the schlosser is concerned only about ooman welfare issues in the food industry - he writes primarily about the american food industry. Firstly, he believes the position of many independent american pharmers is one of almost abject powerlessness. He tries to foster their rejuvenation, “Any reform of the current system of industrialized agriculture will have to address the needs of independent ranchers and farmers. They are more than just a sentimental link to america’s rural past. They are a unique source of innovation and long term stewardship of the land.”[64] Secondly, he is concerned about the effects of the modern food industry on ooman health. And thirdly, he is concerned about the working conditions of those in the food industry from abattoir workers to fast food servers. As for the Animals being raised in appalling conditions and then being slaughtered in equally appalling conditions, he shows very little interest. He expresses no concern for the tens of millions of Animals being slaughtered in america’s abattoirs let alone the way in which these Animals are treated during their terrorized existence. As far as he is concerned, the mass slaughter of Animals is perfectly acceptable and the only reforms which need to be made are those to boost ooman welfare.

Anthropocentric Flaws.

The anthropocentric bigotry in this work also introduces a second major flaw - the absence of any mention of global burning. Schlosser explores the pharming industry as a cellopaned issue i.e. one which exists in its own right, completely separate from the planet on which it exists. There is no discussion of pharming’s contribution to the destabilization of the Earth’s climate and, correspondingly, no discussion of the fact that only by abolishing this industry is it going to be possible to stabilize the Earth’s climate. As far as he is concerned it’s not an issue which is worth discussing - presumably because he believes like other environmentalists, that pharmers do not contribute to global burning and thus have no contribution to make to combating this problem. This omission is like a black hole running through the entire book. It means his analysis is fundamentally faulty and that it is never going to play any role in creating a sustainable planet. The sole discussion which might provide a link with global burning is when he extols the virtues of an organic, free range pharmer whose rangeland has been turned into something of a nature reserve. The implication is that free range pharming is more in tune with nature than industrialized pharming but he neglects to point out that most independent pharms have been turned into natural wastelands and are nothing like nature reserves.

Whilst schlosser has been quite ruthless in his analysis of the gigantic corporations fashioning the food industry, he makes few criticisms of independent farmers. They have become such an insignificant force in the industry that their flaws tend to appear insignificant. Schlosser creates the image of independent farmers providing a better future because they look better than the gigantic corporations currently dominating the market but he hasn’t analyzed them closely enough to spot their inherent flaws and problems. He seems to assume that because their flaws are insignificant at present that they won’t become more significant if there was a massive expansion of independent pharming. He outlines the work of two independent farmers and just seems to suggest that if there were millions of pharmers like them then there wouldn’t be any problems. This is not just wishful thinking - it’s a cover up for a non-existent analysis.

The Nature of Mcdonald’s

This book transforms the perception of mcdonald’s in many ways - some minor, some more significant. Firstly, most of its profits come from rent not from sales of food nor licensing agreements, “The McDonald’s Corporation is the largest owner of retail property in the world. Indeed, the company earns the majority of its profits not from selling food but from collecting rent.”[65]; “Instead of earning money by demanding large royalties or selling supplies, the mcdonald’s corporation became the landlord for nearly all of its american franchisees. It obtained properties and leased them to franchisees with at least a 40% mark-up.”[66]

Secondly, most of mcdonald’s profits come from overseas rather than from america, “A decade ago .. mcdonald’s had about three thousand restaurants outside the united states; today it has about 15,000 restaurants in more than 117 countries. The chain earns the majority of its profits outside the united states, as does kfc.”[67] Some overseas operations are huge, “In brazil, macdonald’s has become the nation’s largest private employer.”[68]

Perhaps more surprisingly is that macdonald’s is becoming less conspicuous - perhaps because of the conspicuous criticisms that have been made about it over the last decade or so. Mcdonald’s .. “is opening fewer mcdonald’s in the united states and expanding mainly through pizza, chicken and mexican food chains that do not bear the company name.”[69]

The Spread of the Industrialization Process

The success of the macdonald brothers’ first restaurant was due to the fact that they organized their business along industrial lines - as ford had done in the car industry. They were the first to introduce the division of labour into the fast food business. They completely overhauled the conventional wisdom of the time about running a fast food outlet. The number of innovations they introduced were remarkable. They produced a highly simplified system that utilized low skilled, and thus low paid, workers rather than having to depend on highly skilled cooks and waiters who could demand large wages. The difficulty of the changes introduced by the macdonald brothers can be appreciated from the fact that they had to challenge california’s car culture. Drive-in restaurants were prevalent across the state. The first macdonalds’ restaurant was so innovatory that its first customers used to sit in the car park waiting to be served. Mcdonald’s’ restaurant succeeded in getting californians out of their cars to eat - a major achievement.[70] Mcdonald’s’ idea of using the division of labour in their restaurants was copied by other fast food businesses and this transformed the industry.

One of the sub-themes of this book is the spread of the division of labour into various industries. This mode of production helped to dramatically reduce costs in a number of industries not merely car manufacturing:

Fast Food.

(In their restaurant the mcdonald brothers) .. “divided the food preparation into separate tasks performed by different workers. For the first time, the guiding principles of a factory assembly line were applied to a commercial kitchen.”[71]

Cartoon Making.

Disney .. “introduced an assembly line and a rigorous division of labour at the disney studio .. During the 1930s the production system at the studio was organized to function like that of an automobile plant.”[72]

Meatpacking.

“Applying the same labor principles to meatpacking that the macdonald brothers  had applied to making hamburgers, holman and anderson designed a production system for their slaughterhouse in denison, iowa, that eliminated the need for skilled workers.”[73]

Come Grow with Me.

Another important theme of this book is that as mcdonald’s became a bigger and bigger company and eventually ended up becoming a multi-national corporation it forced its suppliers to become gigantic corporations in their own right. Macdonald’s required a few basic commodities - beef, potatoes, salads. It wanted these in huge quantities so it could either buy them from a vast number of different suppliers or it could buy from just one and thereby ensure a uniform taste for its products throughout its outlets. Mcdonald’s became a global corporation and its suppliers followed suit:-

Mcdonald’s & Simplot - (Potatoes).

J.r.simplot, an expert in frozen french fries, became the sole provider to macdonald’s in 1966. Not surprisingly he is now .. “one of the richest men in the united states.”[74]; “Simplot, lamb weston, and mccain now control about 80% of the american market for frozen french fries, having eliminated or acquired most of their smaller rivals.”[75]

Mcdonald’s & ConAgra, IBP, Excel and National Beef - (Beef).

“Today the top four meatpacking firms - ConAgra, IBP, Excel and National Beef - slaughter about 84% of the nation’s cattle.”[76]

Mcdonald’s & Tyson Foods - (Chicken).

“Gaining the mcnugget contract helped turn tyson foods into the world’s largest chicken processor. It is a vertically integrated company that breeds, slaughters, and processes chicken. It does not, however, raise the birds. It leaves the capital expenditures and the financial risks of that to thousands of ‘independent contractors’.”[77]; “Eight chicken processors now control about two-thirds of the american market.”[78]

Synergy with Mcdonald’s.

The final stage of the globalization process has been mcdonald’s search for corporate partners who can help to advertise and sell each others’ goods. There seems to be increasing synergy between the biggest multi-national corporations. It is almost as if competition between the giant corporations is becoming so intense they are having to seek advantages over their competitors by creating alliances with other multi-national corporations. Mcdonald’s’ doesn’t want to merge with their multinational partners it just wants the publicity they provide.

Mcdonald’s & Disney.

Mcdonald’s currently have a strong link with disney, “In may of 1996, the walt disney company signed a ten year global marketing agreement with the mcdonald’s corporation.”[79]

Mcdonald’s & Toy Manufacturers.

“The major toy crazes of recent years - including pokemon cards, cabbage patch kids and tamogotchis - have been abetted by fast food promotions.”[80]

Mcdonald’s & Coca-cola.

“Today mcdonald’s sells more coca-cola than anyone else in the world.”[81]

Macdonald’s Gravitational Force.

What is implied in his book, but not mentioned, is that the real driving force of the american food industry is not gigantic suppliers whose enormous buying power enables them to exert a monopoly over particular commodities nor food retailers[82] but fast food sellers. Fast food sellers have attained this position because they have shaped american eating habits. This gives the fast food sellers the power to force their suppliers, and beyond them pharmers, to meet the needs of these consumers.

The implication of this view is that even if the big supplier corporations suddenly went out of business and millions of independent farmers suddenly moved back into pharming, the fast food industry would exert enormous pressures over these farmers. The fast food industries (and the same applies to the supermarkets) could easily do what the supplier corporations are doing. Madonalds buys so many Animal corpses, potatoes, flour, and salads, etc it has more than enough power to resurrect current industrial conditions should a supplier corporation go bust. The supplier corporations have grown big on the back of the fast food retailers. They have managed to insert themselves between farmers and the fast food retailers but they aren’t necessary - their functions could easily be taken over by the fast food industries.

This is not to say that the supplier corporations have not brought about profound changes and are not responsible for the current shape of the food industry. It is as if their power is purely accidental rather than structural. The real power of the food industry lies with the fast food retailers - although only to the degree to which they can continue to attract american consumers to buy their products. For example, mcdonald’s originally focused on selling hamburgers. As beef became less popular, mcdonald’s was forced to look for an alternative - the chicken mcnugget. The sheer popularity of this food enabled madonald’s to enforce changes throughout the entire industry, “The mcnugget helped to change not only the american diet but also its system for raising and processing poultry. In 1992 american consumption of chicken for the first time surpassed the consumption of beef.. Gaining the mcnugget contract helped turn tyson foods into the world’s largest chicken processor.”[83]; “The chicken mcnugget .. turned a bulk agricultural commodity into a manufactured, value added product. And it encouraged a system of production that has turned many chicken farmers into little more than serfs.”[84]

The Demise of the Pharmer

The author’s sympathies are clearly with america’s independent pharmers. To him it’s a sad fact that, “Over the last twenty years, about half a million ranchers sold off their cattle and quit the business. Many of the nation’s remaining 800,000 ranchers are faring poorly.”[85] The decline of the pharmer has reached the stage where, “The united states now has more prison inmates than full time farmers.”[86] But to others it’s a benefit. Pharmers have always been the most reactionary elements in any society. And now that they’re gone there is a greater chance of more urban enlightenment about the environment and Animal rights.

Globalization.

Schlosser does not regard globalization as a major issue. He mentions the expansion of the fast food corporations around the world but he does not explore the expansion of the supplier corporations or food retailers. Then again, the globalization issue is not of any major significance. True macdonald’s earns more from overseas than it does from its american market but although the american pattern of industry is spreading around the world, domestic markets are still run primarily by domestic corporations. Macdonald’s may be the biggest fast food seller in america and be obtaining vast amounts of revenue from its outlets around the world but it is not the biggest fast food seller in all of these countries. For example, what drives the brutish bseef market is not macdonald’s, nor sales of bseef, nor sales of leather, but milk and dairy products.

The Mega Corporations.

Conagra.

“Conagra .. the biggest meatpacker in the world. Today it is the largest food service supplier in north america. In addition to being the number one producer of french fries (through its lamb weston subsidiary), conagra is also the largest sheep and turkey processor, the largest distributor of agricultural chemicals, the second largest manufacturer of frozen food, the second largest flour miller, the third largest chicken and pork processor as well as a leading seed producer, feed producer, and commodity futures trader.”[87]

Tricon Global Restaurants Inc.

Tricon global restaurants inc is the owner of taco bell, pizza hut and kfc ...”[88]

Conclusions.

Despite the fundamental flaws of this book it does a good job highlighting the state of the food industry in america and some of its leading personalities. The book is liberally dosed with some highly revealing quotes from the main actors in the industry which keep it an interesting read throughout. The book also has a healthy dose of basic facts enabling readers to gauge the scale of the food industry. It’s a useful book, a valuable primer for those who know little about the food industry, but has little depth.