Photo credits 7 страница

“Resist America beginning with Cola”: Quoted in Philip F. Zeidman, “Globalization: A Hard Pill to Swallow?” Franchising World , July/August 1999.

“Maybe they think it’s Italian”: Quoted in “U.S. Companies in China Keeping Low Profile,” Colorado Springs Gazette , May 11, 1999.

“lousy food”: The French phrase for what Bove scorns is “la malbouffe.” See Sophie Meunier, “The French Exception,” Foreign Affairs , August 2000.

244 largest purchaser of agricultural commodities in France: Cited in Carla Power, “McParadox,” Newsweek International , July 10, 2000.

“servile slaves at the service of agribusiness”: Quoted in John Lloyd, “The Trial of Jose Bove,” Financial Times , July 1, 2000.

“Non à McMerde”: Quoted in John Lichfield, “St. Jose Makes His Stand Against the Chicken ‘McMerde,’” Independent , July 1, 2000.

“epitomises everything we despise”: Quoted in Christopher Dunkley, “The Greens Take a Bite at Big Mac,” Financial Times , May 17, 1997.

245 “What’s Wrong with McDonald’s?”: See “What’s Wrong with McDonald’s? Everything They Don’t Want You to Know,” London Greenpeace, 1986.

246 McDonald’s threatened to sue at least fifty: See Vidal, McLibel , pp. 46–47.

about $18 billion: “McDonald’s History Listing,” McDonald’s Corporation, 1996.

the court record included 40,000 pages of documents: Cited in Colleen Graffy, “Big Mac Bited Back,” American Bar Association Journal , August 1997.

247 McDonald’s did “exploit” children: Quoted in Dick Beveridge, “McDonald’s Wins Marathon Libel Case, but Loses Publicity Battle,” AP , June 19, 1997.

“McDonald’s don’t deserve a penny”: Quoted ibid.

248 During the trial, Sidney Nicholson… officers belonging to Special Branch: See testimony of Sidney Nicholson, McDonald’s, McDonald’s Restaurants, Ltd., v Helen Steel, David Morris , Day 249, May 14, 1996, pp. 32–38.

“At no time did I believe they were dangerous”: Quoted in “Interview: McDonald’s Spy Fran Tiller on Infiltration and Subterfuge, Big Mac Style,” www.McSpotlight.org.

248 For Dave Morris, perhaps the most disturbing moment: Interview with Dave Morris.

249 some of the similarities between Dave Morris and Ray Kroc: See Vidal, McLibel , pp 58–62.

“Fitting into a finely working machine”: Quoted in Nick Hasell, “McDonald’s Long March,” Management Today , September 1994.

250 Plauen has lost about 10 percent of its population: Interview with Markus Schneider.

251 Plauen’s unemployment rate is about 20 percent: Ibid.

“It was dumb luck”: Quoted in Roger Thurow, “For East German Pair, McDonald’s Serves Up an Economic Parable,” Wall Street Journal , November 8, 1999.

a third of the young people in eastern Germany: Cited in Leonard Ziskin, “Fa and Antifa in the Fatherland,” Nation , October 5, 1998.

Epilogue: Have It Your Way

My views on how to restructure the nation’s food safety system were influenced by a recent report by the National Academy of Science’s Institute of Medicine. Ensuring Safe Food: From Production to Consumption (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1998) contains many reasonable recommendations that should not be – as so much of the previous food safety advice from National Academy of Sciences has been – ignored. Dale Lasater was a gracious host during many of my visits to Colorado. His ranch is a national treasure. The family’s role in the southwestern cattle industry is eloquently described in Dale Lasater’s Falfurrias: Ed C. Lasater and the Development of South Texas (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1985). Laurence M. Lasater’s The Lasater Philosophy of Cattle Raising (El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1972) outlines a holistic system of range management that treats both the animals and the land with respect. The Shortgrass Prairie (Boulder, Colo.: Pruett Publishing, 1988), by Ruth Carol Cushman and Stephan R. Jones, conveys through text and photographs the beauty of an American landscape that is largely unappreciated.

I am grateful to the Conway family, who allowed me to poke around their restaurants and hang out in the kitchens. The last hamburger I ate was served at the Conway’s Red Top on South Nevada in Colorado Springs. It was as good as it gets.

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255 “Nature is smart as hell”: Interview with Dale Lasater.

257 Recent findings that grass‑fed cattle: See Francisco Diez Gonzalez, Todd R. Callaway, Menas G. Kizoulis, and James B. Russell, “Grain Feeding and the Dissemination of Acid‑Resistant Escherichia coli from Cattle,” Science , September 11, 1998.

259 one of America’s most profitable fast food chains: It is difficult to gauge In‑N‑Out’s financial details because the company is privately owned. Nevertheless, a decade ago the financial analyst Robert L. Emerson speculated that “In‑N‑Out enjoys the highest level of return on invested capital in the fast‑food industry.” See Emerson, Economics of Fast Food , p. 94.

259 generating more than $150 million in annual revenues: The estimate of $150 milion comes from a recent Los Angeles Times article on the chain and its future after Esther Snyder. The actual figure may be as much as two times higher; in 1990 Emerson claimed that individual In‑N‑Out restaurants had annual revenues of $1.7 million. See Greg Hernandez, “Family‑Owned In‑N‑Out at Crossroads,” Los Angeles Times , July 2, 2000; Emerson, Economics of Fast Food , p. 93.

The starting wage of a part‑time worker: Representatives of In‑N‑Out declined my requests for an interview, citing the Snyder family’s wariness of the press. The information on the chain’s wages and food preparation techniques come from the In‑N‑Out Web site and from the following articles: Greg Johnson, “More Than Fare: A Simple Menu, Customer Service, and a Familial Touch Prove to Be a Recipe That Is Working for In‑N‑Out,” Los Angeles Times , August 15, 1997; Deborah Silver, “Burger Worship: In‑N‑Out – the Small Fast Food Chain with the Big Following,” Restaurants and Institutions , November 1, 1999; Hernandez, “Family‑Owned In‑N‑Out at a Crossroads.”

260 In‑N‑Out ranked first: See Deborah Silver, “Primary Choices,” Restaurants and Institutions , March 1, 2000.

the lowest‑quality food of any major hamburger chain: Ibid.

262 “advertising directed at children”: Quoted in Harry Berkowitz, “Pediatricians Want Check on Kids’ Ads,” Newsday , February 9, 1995. See also “Policy Statement: Children, Adolescents, and Television,” American Academy of Pediatrics, October 1995.

more than 90 percent of the children in the United States: Cited in Rod Taylor, “The Beanie Factor,” Brandweek , June 16, 1997

263 safest food supply in the world: The National Academy of Science’s Committee to Insure Safe Food from Production to Consumption recently found “little evidence to either support or contradict that assertion.” The committee’s reluctance to pass judgment was based on the unreliable reporting system for foodborne illness in the United States. The panel did not compare the American food safety system with systems in Western Europe. See Ensuring Safe Food , p. 25.

about 0.1 percent of Swedish cattle: Cited in “Swedish Salmonella Control Programmes for Live Animals, Eggs and Meat,” National Veterinary Institute, Swedish Board of Agriculture, National Food Administration, January 16, 1995.

lower than the rate in the United States: At the time, roughly 7.5 percent of American ground beef contained Salmonella . Cited in “Nationwide Federal Plant Raw Ground Beef Microbiological Survey, August 1993‑March 1994,” United States Deartment of Agriculture, Food Safety and Inspection Service, Science and Technology, Microbiology Division, April 1996.

The Netherlands began to test ground beef: Interview with Steven Bjerklie.

a dozen federal agencies: Cited in Ensuring Safe Food , p. 26.

if a pizza has pepperoni on it: Ibid., p. 27.

264 Eggs are regulated by the FDA: This example of bureaucratic folly was cited by Carol Tucker Foreman, a prominent food safety advocate, during recent testimony before Congress. For an excellent critique of our current food safety system and some rational proposals for reform, see Prepared Statement of Carol Tucker Foreman, Director of Food Policy Institute, before the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee, Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring, and the District of Columbia Subcommittee, August 4, 1999.

264 more than 500,000 people become ill: Ibid.

on average, once every ten years: Cited in Ensuring Safe Food , p. 87.

roughly 200,000 fast food restaurants: Cited in “Top 100 Share of Restaurant Industry Units by Menu Category,” Technomic Top 100, Technomic Information Services, 2000.

They said IBP slowed down the line: In 1996, an official at the U.S. Meat Export Federation recommended slowing down the line speeds at American plants on export days in order to improve the “hygiene.” See Keith Nunes, “Attitude Adjustment: U.S. Beef and Pork Exporters Need to Develop an ‘Export Mentality,’” Meat & Poultry , March 1996.

the maximum OSHA fine: See OSHA Field Inspection Reference Manual , Section 8 – Chapter IV, C.2.M.

266 “I do not believe”: Quoted in Rudolph J. R. Peritz, Competition Policy in America, 1888–1992: History, Rhetoric, Law (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), p. 15.

“veggie libel laws” backed by agribusiness: See Ann Hawk, “Veggie Disparagement: Laws in 13 States Prompt Fears Activists and Journalists Will Be Stifled,” The Quill , September 1998; Ronald K. L. Collins and Paul McMasters, “Veggie Libel Laws Still Out to Muzzle Free Speech,” Texas Lawyer , March 30, 1998.

267 “Grow or die”: Quoted in Richard Gibson, “Beef Stakes: How Bill Foley Built a Fast Food Empire on Ailing Also‑Rans,” Wall Street Journal , December 2, 1998.

268 environmentalists criticized the chain: For the story behind the “greening” of McDonald’s, see Sharon M. Livesey, “McDonald’s and the Environmental Defense Fund: A Case Study of a Green Alliance,” Journal of Business Communications , January 1999.

269 it continues to use them overseas: See “An Incoherent Policy,” South China Morning Post , May 15, 1995; Jo Bowman, “Little Relish to Scrap Burger Boxes,” South China Morning Post , October 24, 1999.

it would no longer purchase frozen french fries: For McDonald’s decision on biotech fries, see Scott Kilman, “McDonald’s, Other Fast Food Chains Pull Monsanto’s Bio‑Engineered Potato,” Wall Street Journal , April 28, 2000; Hal Bernton, “Hostile Market Spells Blight for Biotech Potatoes,” Seattle Times , April 30, 2000.

Afterword: The Meaning of Mad Cow

Since writing Fast Food Nation I’ve come across a number of relevant and noteworthy books. Almost twenty years ago Orville Schell issued an eloquent warning against treating livestock like industrial commodities. Schell approached the subject not only as a journalist, but as an innovative rancher. Had the recommendations in his book Modern Meat (New York: Random House, 1984) been followed, the American meatpacking industry would have avoided many of the health scares and export restrictions it now faces. In The Great Food Gamble (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2001), John Humphrys explains the mentality and the institutional changes that have led Great Britain from one agricultural distaster to another. George Monbiot’s Captive State (London: Macmillan, 2000) brilliantly outlines the corporate takeover of the British government during the past twenty years. Naomi Klein’s No Logo (London: Flamingo, 2001) offers a damning critique of global corporate power and the reigning cult of the brand. Klein has rightly emerged at the forefront of today’s young rebels. Tony Royle’s Working for McDonald’s in Europe (New York: Routledge, 2000) skillfully outlines how McDonald’s has exported its anti‑labor policies to countries with long traditions of respecting workers’ rights. Among other things, Royle describes how the McDonald’s Corporation recruited low‑wage workers in Bulgaria and Romania for its restaurants in Germany, providing these new immigrants with housing as a means of controlling them (see pp. 76–8). José Bové, the sheep farmer who became a national hero in France by demolishing a McDonald’s restaurant, offers a plea for sustainable agriculture in The World is Not for Sale: Farmers Against Junk Food (London: Verso, 2001). Written with François Dufour, the General Secretary of the French Farmers’ Confederation, The World is Not for Sale argues that important decisions about what we eat should never be made without considering their social costs and their impact on future generations. The most radical thing about Bové’s argument is how sensible it seems.

Two alarming books have been published about the risk of mad cow disease in the United States. Richard Rhodes’s Deadly Feasts: The Prion Controversy and The Public’s Health (New York: Touchstone, 1998) contains fascinating information on the health risks posed by cannibalism and a fine account of the detective work that linked BSE to the consumption of tainted animal feed. In Mad Cow U.S.A. (New York: Common Courage, 1997), Sheldon Rampton and John C. Stauber reveal how the beef industry and the federal government collaborated to thwart public discussion of mad cow. The duo’s efforts at the Center for Media and Democracy offer a necessary antidote to the P.R. industry’s relentless propaganda. As of this writing, the most definitive and disturbing investigation of mad cow disease is the sixteen‑volume report on BSE submitted to the British government by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers. Its official title is Return to an Order of the Honourable the House of Commons dated October 2000 for the Report, evidence and supporting papers of the Inquiry into the emergence and identification of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and variant Creutzfeldt‑Jakob Disease (vCJD) and the action taken in response to it up to 20 March 1996 . Its full text is available online (www.bse.org.uk). Also known as The BSE Inquiry: The Report , it offers some extraordinary glimpses of bureaucratic cowardice and incompetence.

In addition to those works, my account of mad cow disease and the FDA rulemaking process is based on the following documents: “Finding of No Significant Impact and Environmental Assessment for 21 CFR 589.2000, Prohibition of Protein Derived from Ruminant and Mink Tissues in Ruminant Feeds,” Center for Veterinary Medicine, Food and Drug Adminstration, November 1996; “Substances Prohibited for Use in Animal Food or Feed; Animal Proteins Prohibited in Ruminant Feed; Proposed Rule,” Part IV, Federal Register , January 3, 1997; “Cost Analysis of Regulatory Options to Reduce the Risk of an Outbreak of Transmissable Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) in the United States, Addendum to the Final Report,” Office of Planning and Evaluation, Food and Drug Administration, April 30, 1997; “Substances Prohibited from Use in Animal Food or Feed; Animal Proteins Prohibited in Ruminant Feed; Final Rule,” Part II, Federal Register , June 5, 1997. I also relied on transcripts of two public forums held by the FDA to allow discussion of its proposed feed rules: “Food and Drug Administration, Public Forum on the Proposed Rule 21 CFR 589: Substances Prohibited from Use in Animal Food or Feed, St. Louis, Missouri, February 4, 1997” and “Public Meeting for Consumers Regarding Federal Register 21 CFR Part 589, Substances Prohibited from Use in Animal Food or Feed; Animal Proteins Prohibited in Ruminant Feed; Proposed Rule; Washington D.C., February 13, 1997.” For years the reporting about mad cow disease in Food Chemical News has been objective and first‑rate.

Interviews with software designer Hitesh Shah, journalist Viji Sundaram, and attorney Harish Bharti helped me understand how revelations about McDonald’s fries and the flavor industry led to riots in India. I am grateful to Eugene Richards for pushing hard to complete our photoessay on the lives of meatpacking workers, and to Roger Cohn, the editor of Mother Jones , for publishing it without hesitation. The plight of Latino meatpacking workers in Texas was eloquently described to me by Trini Gamez at the Centro Gamez in Amarillo and by Michael Wyatt, the director of Texas Rural Legal Assistance. Attorneys Jim Wood, Channy Wood, and Kevin Glasheen explicated for me some of the unique features of Texas workers’ comp law. They have demonstrated real courage in their legal battles with the meatpacking giants. Karen Olsson, editor of the Texas Observer , was extremely generous with her own research on IBP. Michael J. Broadway, an expert on meatpacking who heads the Department of Geography at the University of Michigan, provided much information and encouragement. Most of all, I am grateful to the injured meatpacking workers who shared their stories with me: Kenny Dobbins, Hector Reyes, Raul Lopez, Rita Beltran, Dora Sanchez, and Michael Glover, among others. Their suffering cannot adequately be put into words.

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272 the agency would “expedite”: Quoted in Lawrence K. Altman, “Cow Disease Sparks Voluntary Rules on Feed,” New York Times , March 30, 1996.

“keen consumers of beef burgers”: Quoted in Claire O’Brien, “Scant Data Cause Widespread Concern,” Science , March 29, 1996.

American cattle were eating about 2 billion pounds: According to the USDA, the rendering industry at the time handled about 7.6 million tons of ruminant protein per year, about 5.5 million tons of it derived from cattle. Approximately 13 percent of the animal protein handled by industry (992,099 tons) was used in cattle feed. I have converted the tons into pounds to give a sense of the massive amounts of slaughterhouse waste involved. The figures are cited in “Finding of No Significant Impact and Environmental Assessment for 21 CFR 589.2000, Prohibition of Protein Derived from Ruminant and Mink Tissues in Ruminant Feeds,” Center for Veterinary Medicine, Food and Drug Administration, November 1996, pp. 15–16, 21.

three‑quarters of all American cattle: Cited in Michael Satchell and Stephen J. Hedges, “The Next Bad Beef Scandal? Cattle Feed Now Contains Things Like Chicken Manure and Dead Cats,” U.S. News & World Report , September 1, 1997.

273 “totally unsupported by any scientific evidence”: Quoted in “Rendering Industry Supports Voluntary Guidelines for Cattle with Suspected CNS Disease,” Food Chemical News , July 29, 1996.

“unfeasible, impractical, and unenforceable”: Quoted in ibid.

brains, spinal cords, eyeballs: See “NCBA Urges Scientific BSE Prevention,” Press Release, National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, February 18, 1997.

fats, blood, blood products: See “Industry, Public Interest Groups Differ on FDA’s Proposed Ruminant Ban,” Food Chemical News , March 10, 1997.

allowing cattle to continue eating dead pigs: See the statement of Dr. Beth Lautner, vice president of science and technology at the National Pork Producers Council, Transcript of “Food and Drug Administration, Public Forum on the Proposed Rule 21 CFR 589: Substances Prohibited from Use in Animal Food or Feed, St. Louis, Missouri, February 4, 1997,” p. 101.

“all mammal remains to all food animals”: Quoted in “Controlling ‘Mad Cow Disease’: We call for stronger FDA action,” Consumer Reports , May 1997.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised: See “CDC Rejects Any Weakening of FDA’s Ruminant Feed Ban Proposal,” Food Chemical News , March 31, 1997.

“The United States has no BSE”: Quoted in “Substances Prohibited from Use in Animal Food or Feed; Animal Proteins Prohibited in Ruminant Feed; Final Rule,” Part II, Federal Register , June 5, 1997, p. 30939.

“mammalian‑to‑ruminant, with exceptions”: Quoted in ibid., p. 30968.

274 these industry groups rightly worried: See “FDA Public Forum,” pp. 36–9.

a remarkable example of cooperation’: Quoted in Chuck Cannon, “Renderers Appear To Be Bearing Up Well to FDA’s Ban on Ruminant Protein in feed,” Meat Marketing & Technology , March 1998.

“protected the beef industry”: Quoted in ibid.

“verbatim”: Quoted in ibid.

“the number of BSE cases there soon doubled”: Cited in “Developments in Mad‑Cow History,” Wall Street Journal , March 1, 2001.

the number of BSE cases increased fivefold: Cited in Geoff Winestock, “Tracking Spread of ‘Mad Cow’ in Europe Remains Random,” Wall Street Journal , January 8, 2001.

that supplied ground beef to McDonald’s restaurants: See Melanie Goodfellow, “Italy’s First BSE Case Found in Cow Destined for McDonald’s,” The Independent , January 16, 2001, and “Final Tests Confirm BSE in Cow in Italian Slaughterhouse That Supplies McDonald’s,” AP Worldstream , January 16, 2001.

plummet by as much as 50 percent: Cited in Geoff Winestock, “‘Mad‑Cow’ Disease Cases Jump Despite EU Increased Testing,” Wall Street Journal , January 8, 2001.

275 one‑quarter of the firms handling “prohibited” feed: Cited in “Food Safety: Controls Can Be Strengthened to Reduce the Risk of Disease Linked to Unsafe Animal Feed,” GAO/RCD‑00–255, United States General Accounting Office, September 2000, p. 12.

one‑fifth of the firms handling both: Cited in ibid., p. 12.

one out of every ten rendering firms: Cited in ibid., p. 12.

In Colorado, more than one‑quarter: Cited in Michael Booth, “Mad Cow Rules Violated,” Denver Post , May 13, 2001.

sales in Europe had already fallen by 10 percent: Cited in “McDonald’s Not Out of Mad Cows Woods Yet – CFO,” Reuters , February 28, 2001.

“If McDonald’s is requiring something”: Quoted in Philip Brasher, “McDonald’s Forcing Beef Industry to Comply with Mad Cow Rules,” Associated Press , March 13, 2001.

“Because we have the world’s biggest shopping cart”: Quoted in ibid.

276 “McGarbage”: Douglas Kern, “McGarbage”, National Review Online Weekend , January 27–8, 2001.

“hodgepodge of impressions”: Cynthia Crossen, “A Culinary Wasteland,” Wall Street Journal , January 12, 2001.

“anecdotal”: The AMI spokeswoman was Janet Riley, quoted in Regina Schrambling, “Catching America with Its Hand in the Fries,” New York Times , March 21, 2001.

“The real McDonald’s”: Quoted in Alby Gallun, “McDonald’s Mid‑Life Crisis,” Crain’s Chicago Business , April 30, 2001.

277 One of President George W. Bush’s first acts: For the implications of Bush’s move, see “Working America Challenges Corporate America,” U.S. Newswire , March 6, 2001; Victor Epstein, “Arguments over Ergonomics Keenly Felt by Injured Workers,” Omaha World‑Herald , March 8, 2001; and Mike Allen, “Bush Signs Repeal of Ergonomics Rules,” Washington Post , March 21, 2001.

Norwood sponsored legislation: In 1997, Norwood sponsored a bill (along with Congressman Joel Hefley from Colorado Springs) that essentially aimed to repeal the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. See “Hutchison, Hefley Introduce Proposals in House, Senate to Overhaul OSHA,” Asbestos & Lead Abatement Report , April 7, 1997.

repetitive stress injuries from skiing: See Sarah Anderson, “OSHA under Siege,” The Progressive , December 1995.

The meatpacking industry’s lobbyists were delighted: See Allison Beers, “USDA Plans to Change School Lunch Specs for Ground Beef, Pork, Turkey,” Food Chemical News , April 2, 2001; Marc Kauffman, “USDA Proposes to Reverse School Ground Beef Rules,” Washington Post , April 5, 2001; and Marian Burros, “U.S. Proposes End to Testing for Salmonella in School Beef,” New York Times , April 5, 2001.

roughly 5 million pounds were rejected: Cited in Beers, “USDA Plans”.

278 “For flavor enhancement”: Quoted in Viji Sundaram, “Where’s the Beef? It’s in Your French Fries,” India‑West , April 5, 2001.

“Eating a cow for a Hindu”: Quoted in Laurie Goodstein, “For Hindus and Vegetarians, Surprise in McDonald’s Fries,” New York Times , May 20, 2001.

279 “We came to warn them”: Quoted in “Hardline Hindus: Close McDonald’s,” Ha’aretz , May 6, 2001.

“If you visit McDonald’s anywhere”: “Healthy Eating,” McDonald’s Corporation, Australian Web site, www.McDonalds.com.au, 2001.

adjusting its french fry recipe: Interview with Anna Rozenich, the McDonald’s Corporation.

“We regret if customers felt”: “McDonald’s French Fry Facts”, McDonald’s Corporation, May 2001.

“confusion” was the wrong word: Quoted in Transcript, “Class Action Suit Against McDonald’s Claims Company Misleads Consumers About Fry Oil,” CNN News , May 3, 2001.

“We apologize for any confusion”: The spokesman was Walt Riker, repeating a denial made on numerous occasions. Quoted in Transcript, “Class Action Suit.” See also “McDonald’s Apologizes,” Calgary Herald , May 25, 2001.

280 “Thank you for contacting us”: Letter from Beth Petersohn, Manager, Customer Satisfaction Department, McDonald’s Corporation, to Ms. Laura Strickland, May 5, 1993.

the fast food industry did not gain any new customers: Cited in Robert O’Brien, “Consumer Update & Industry Outlook,” NPD Foodworld, March 2001. See also Milford Prewitt, “COEX Attendees Upbeat Despite Economic Cloud,” Nation’s Restaurant News , March 12, 2001, and Peter Romeo, “Is Fast Food Ill?”, Restaurant Business , April 1, 2001. Romeo, the editor of Restaurant Business , subsequently spoke with me about some of the marketing challenges and economic problems that the fast food industry now confronts.

not only hamburger chains, but also pizza: Cited in Robert O’Brien, “Consumer Update & Industry Outlook,” NPD Foodworld, March 2001.

at a cost of more than $70 million: Cited in Jennifer Ordonez, “How Burger King Got Burned in the Quest to Make the Perfect Fry,” Wall Street Journal , January 16, 2001

a “K minus” program: For the details and the rationale of “K minus,” see Richard Martin, “Taco Bell Accelerates ‘Value’ Exploration,” Nation’s Restaurant News , November 18, 1991; Ronald Henkoff, “Service is Everybody’s Business,” Fortune , June 27, 1994; and Tim Durnford, “Redefining Value: For Whom the Taco Bell Tolls,” Cornell Hotel & Restaurant Quarterly , June 1997.

fell by 9 percent in the fourth quarter: Cited in Chuck Hutchcraft, “Off the Mark,” Restaurants and Institutions , May 1, 2001.

281 “We are not doing a great job”: Quoted in Jennifer Ordonez, “Taco Bell Chief Has New Tactic: Be Like Wendy’s,” Wall Street Journal , February 23, 2001.

doubts on Wall Street: For pessimistic views of McDonald’s financial prospects, see Ken Kurson, “Supersize Dread: McDonald’s Future is Smelling Worse Than Its Restaurants,” Esquire , April 1, 2001, and Alby Gallun, “McDonald’s Mid‑life Crisis,” Crain’s Chicago Business , April 30, 2001. For a much rosier view, see Moises Naim’s interview with Jack Greenberg, McDonald’s CEO, “McAtlas Shrugged,” Foreign Policy , May 1, 2001.

doubling its sales within the United States: Cited in Alby Gallun, “McDonald’s Mid‑life Crisis.”

McDonald’s ranked just a couple of places: Cited in Bob Krummert, “QSR Patron Picks and Pans; American Customer Satisfaction Research Shows Customer Dissatisfaction with Fast Food Restaurants,” Restaurant Hospitality , April 1, 2001. The survey was conducted by the National Quality Research Center at the University of Michigan Business School. It ranked two hundred national organizations on the basis of 50,000 consumer interviews.

282 acted decisively and hired Temple Grandin: Grandin, an associate professor of Animal Science at Colorado State University, has designed livestock handling facilities throughout the world. She gained renown for her ability to “see through the eyes” of cattle of order to minimize the fear and stress they experience before slaughter. Her commitment to animal welfare is heartfelt and unassailable. Grandin was profiled by the neurologist Oliver W. Sacks in An Anthropologist on Mars (New York: Vintage Press, 1996), and has published her own memoir, Thinking in Pictures: And Other Reports from My Life with Autism (New York: Vintage Press, 1995).