Sounds wonderful! :)

Curious though... why is the emphasis on fast food? Wouldn't this be true of ALL processed meat?

Not if it's Kosher, but that's not going to happen with a fast food chain.

True... but most of the meat in the grocery stores is not kosher.

I am thinking about getting a meat grinder. At least that way I could know that the scraps and trash were not ground up in the meat, even if the basic processing is not good.

You will have to read the book as its been awhile since I read it but he talks mostly about fast food because they use so much of the meat in our country I think. There is a heartwrenching story about a woman who lost her child to ecoli bacteria from a hamburger. It was so sad.

Pretty much all meat proccessing is not good. One of the quotes I used is talking about the new "faster" system that the USDA put into place for slaughterhouses. It used to be that inspectors could stop the assembly line if they saw meat that was unsuitable. They used to be able to get right up the the 'deassembly" line and inspect the meat. But now they are not allowed to, they are forced to stand many feet behind a glass partition which gets fogged up because of the moisture and heat and watch the meat pass. The new system is great for slaughterhouses but very detrimental to those who eat meat. I would read the book absolutely its very interesting and talks about many different aspects of the fast food industry.

His point is that the meat processing industry responds to its biggest customers, the fast food industry. If the fast food industry didn't exist - there wouldn't be this huge corporate meat processing industry that values efficiency and no waste at the expense of the health of the consumers. At least that is my recollection of it. Without the fast food industry, we would probably be buying locally butchered meat.

Currently reading Morgan Spurlock's book "Don't Eat this Book". He has a quote from an official at the CDC who says that an average puchase of hamburger meat could contain meat from up to 400 cattle and they could be from several different countries. Of course, he also talks about the feces found in hamburger meat.

Misti, I'm also considering purchasing a meat grinder. What cuts of meat would you use? Anyone have any idea?

Actually I worked with a woman whose child got ecoli from eating a fast food hamburger. The little girl didn't die but was left almost completely disabled mentally and physically. Devastating. That was in the early 90s so the child would be pretty much grown by now.

Yah I know the meat industry is pretty nasty; unfortunate, as my parents raised beef cattle and I know how hard they worked to raise high quality cattle. But even the USDA rules for what is allowed are almost unbelievable; let alone all the stuff that goes through that is NOT allowed.

As far as a meat grinder... I was thinking of how much cheaper it would be to grind my own chicken breasts and even beef products (not sure what cuts to use). Of course that would not completely avoid the bad processing but it would guarantee that rotten meat and all kinds of garbage were not mixed in with the good and ground up, which I am convinced is happening now. And at least the fecal stuff could be thoroughly washed off (or at least a good effort made) before it went into the grinder.

Oh Fast Food Nation is excellent but just a warning - only read it if you want to eat less meat. It is pretty graphic but very eye-opening, you'll never look at a McDonalds in the same way again.
I'm vegetarian anyway but would have ocassionly gone to fast food outlets for fries, but not once since reading the book!

Yah I probably should not have bought it. BUT I don't think it is just the meat industry! Back when I was in college even, in the 60s, I worked fill in for a couple weeks at a cannery. We were canning tomatoes and I saw all the junk that went right into the cans... AND how many times we all cut our hands with the dull knives and our blood went right into the tomatoes. :)

I read this a few years ago. It didn't totally turn me off of meat - I believe everyone should know exactly where their food came from, so I did know about the shady slaughterhouses. I still enjoy a medium rare filet every now and then, but I won't touch suspect ground beef with a 10 foot pole.

The book did turn me off McDonald's in particular...not because of the food, but their business practices. They're now lumped in with Wal Mart in my own personal, "yeah, there are better options out there" boycott.

Well I just got the book in the mail today so will read it soon. But I do know it will not shock me as I am not unaware of such practices. But I really MIGHT buy my own meat grinder. And LOL I love WalMart. :)

Grinding your own meat...I'd use round steak. In fact don't some places call ground beef ground round?

I like the idea of griding my own meat for leaness. I think its funny that a few years ago you could only get lean ground beef...there was no such thing as "extra lean"...since they have introduced extra lean lean looks a whole lot like regular used to!

KFC bowl
 

I have been meaning to read fast food nation.

Anyway, that kfc bowl looks so disgusting to me. It reminded me of that fake Saturday Night Live commercial for "Taco Town" where they talk about:

taking a taco
wrapping it in a flour tortilla with refried beans
then a corn tortilla with monterry jack
then a corn husk with guacamolito sauce
wrapping it all in a chicago style pizza
wrapping that in a french crepe with gryere
then a bluberry pancake
then deep frying it and putting it in a bag with chili con carne

I actually left out a couple of layers I think. It's hilarious, but gross. If you google 'taco town' there are lots of copies floating around out there. When I saw the kfc commercial I had to think about whether it was Saturday night and I was seeing another SNL commercial at first.

LOL I found it at foodfactsinfo! What a riot! Thanks for sharing the laugh.

Ewwwww I have been reading Fast Food Nation! I am only to the part about why the fries taste good and where "natural flavor" in processed foods comes from.... how nasty! It is making me glad I have gone more and more to natural unprocessed foods! Of course I know there is no way to eliminate all of the "bad stuff" in the food but good to try! I just read where the red "natural color" comes from in a lot of products such as strawberry yogurt -- not sure I want to EAT mine now!! GAG

This book should certainly make anyone think twice about eating processed foods!! And I am sure when I get to the meat processing part it is going to be even more disgusting!

Fast Food Nation and Food Fight and a fiction book My Year of Meats had lasting effects on me. The only fast food I would consider eating is sandwich shops (like a turkey wrap) or a healthy option at a burrito place (like Qdoba or Chipotle).