Fast Food Nation Chapter 9: What's in the Meat

1. What kind of meat is selected for consumption in public schools?

-The USDA selects the cheapest ground beef available for public school consumption. This kind of meat is the mostly likely to be produced in factories where cleanliness and sanitation are foreign words and harmful bacteria, like E. coli 0157:H7 are in abundance. I understand the pecuniary logistics behind buying cheap meat, but it still strikes me as inhumane that the USDA would subject the nation's youth to such a dangerous threat.

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of irradiating meat?

- Irradiating meat involves blasting the carcass with gamma radiation, disrupting the DNA of viruses like E. coli and preventing them from reproducing. It virtually stops a virus in its tracks. However, the maintenance of these machines would be handled by illiterate, non-English speaking peoples, making it quite dangerous.