Americans spend more money on fast food than on books, movies, videos, records and magazines combined - more than $110 billion in 2000

Last July, he filed a class action lawsuit claiming that the fast food industry failed to inform consumers that its products are high in fat, salt, sugar and cholesterol and failed to warn consumers that these ingredients are dangerous to their health.

nother class action suit against the fast food industry was filed on behalf of teenaged plaintiffs. This suit claimed that the fast food industry unfairly targets children with toy promotions and child- friendly advertising so as to addict children to fast food at an early age.

As deregulation diminished governmental standards and inspection, managers have ratcheted up line speeds, increasing the splattering of fecal and stomach matter and spreading food-borne illnesses like E. coli. This deadly threat, described by journalist Eric Schlosser in his popular book Fast Food Nation, is microbial and invisible, but every bit as much a consequence of profit maximization as the unwholesome practices exposed by Sinclair a century ago. If there is a silver lining, it is that this time around the interests of labour and consumers cannot be easily divided. Speed-up and unsanitary working conditions — two critical issues for meat-packing workers — are directly linked to consumers' health concerns.

This deadly threat, described by journalist Eric Schlosser in his popular book Fast Food Nation, is microbial and invisible, but every bit as much a consequence of profit maximization as the unwholesome practices exposed by Sinclair a century ago. If there is a silver lining, it is that this time around the interests of labour and consumers cannot be easily divided. Speed-up and unsanitary working conditions — two critical issues for meat-packing workers — are directly linked to consumers' health concerns.

The brutalization is underscored by Sinclair’s use of numerous analogies that compare the individuals to wild and hunted animals and of parallels between the fate of the innocent livestock and the fate of the common working person. Factory life is variously compared to an inferno, a bubbling cauldron, and a medieval torture chamber, where it is considered good sport to extract the last ounce of flesh from the hapless workers. The factory, however, is only a reflection of society’s disregard for democratic values and its indifference to truth and justice.

From the beginning, it is clear to the readers that Jurgis and his family are fighting against the odds. Each new detail makes it abundantly clear that the system tempts people with unrealistic dreams and then erects insurmountable barriers to prevent the attainment of those dreams.