Editing Fast Food Nation (section)

==Reception==
[[Rob Walker (journalist)|Rob Walker]], writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'', remarks that "Schlosser is a serious and diligent reporter" and that "''Fast Food Nation'' isn't an airy deconstruction but an avalanche of facts and observations as he examines the fast-food process from meat to marketing."<ref name=":2">{{cite news|last1=Walker|first1=Rob|title=No Accounting for Mouthfeel|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/01/01/21/reviews/010121.21walkert.html|access-date=February 22, 2015|work=The New York Times|date=January 21, 2001}}</ref> Walker however does raise concerns about the data on which Schlosser bases his claims.<ref name=":2" /> For example, Schlosser suggests that hundreds have died from E. coli infections as a result of eating fast food. However, as Walker points out, “[Schlosser] extrapolated his figures from an annual total in a report on food-related illness, which itself relied on a good deal of extrapolation. Moreover, that report doesn't address fast food specifically (and in fact Schlosser builds his numbers from figures including E. coli cases that are not even food-borne), which is relevant because fast-food outlets are hardly the only places where processed meat is sold."<ref name=":2" />

Julia Livshin, writing for ''[[The Atlantic]]'', believes "Schlosser's book is not just a compendium of kitchen horror stories. In clean, sober prose packed with facts, he strips away the carefully crafted feel-good veneer of fast food and shows how the industry's astounding success has been achieved, and is sustained, at an equally astounding cost—to the nation's health, environment, economy, and culture."<ref>{{cite interview |last= Schlosser |first=Eric |interviewer-last=Livshin |interviewer-first=Julia |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/12/unhappy-meals/305425/ |title=Unhappy Meals |date=December 14, 2000 |website=[[The Atlantic]] |access-date=April 17, 2024}}</ref>

''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' wrote, "While cataloguing assorted evils with the tenacity and sharp eye of the best investigative journalist, [Schlosser] uncovers a cynical, dismissive attitude to food safety in the fast food industry and widespread circumvention of the government's efforts at regulation enacted after Upton Sinclair's similarly scathing novel exposed the [[meat-packing industry]] 100 years ago. By systematically dismantling the industry's various aspects, Schlosser establishes a seminal argument for true wrongs at the core of modern America."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-395-97789-7 |title=Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal |work=[[Publishers Weekly]] |date=January 15, 2001 |access-date=April 17, 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

The book won the 2002 [[Firecracker Alternative Book Award]] for Nonfiction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.readersread.com/awards/firecracker.htm|title=Firecracker Alternative Book Awards|work=ReadersRead.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304133738/http://www.readersread.com/awards/firecracker.htm|archive-date=Mar 4, 2009}}</ref>

=== Industry response ===
Terrie Dort, president of the National Council of Chain Restaurants, the trade association representing many of the country's major fast-food chains, released this statement about Schlosser and his book: "It is unfortunate that Mr. Schlosser's book, 'Fast Food Nation,' categorizes the entire fast-food industry in such a negative light. The restaurant companies that comprise the industry provide employment to hundreds of thousands of workers across the country and offer consumers a wide variety in menu options and prices. We take exception to the characterization in this book."<ref name=":1" />

Lester Crawford, director of the Center for Food and Nutrition Policy at Georgetown University and a former meat inspector for the USDA, says he has read only "snippets" of Schlosser's book but calls it "well-intentioned criticism."<ref name=":1" />