"Chew on This:" Think before you eat that French fry

Eric Schlosser's teenage children still get the occasional French fries and milkshake, but not from a national chain. When they were little — they're now 13 and 15 — he used to take them to McDonald's, "before I knew any of this stuff."

"This stuff" is his investigative reporting of the fast-food industry in the best-selling 2001 exposé, "Fast Food Nation." Now Schlosser and his "Fast Food" fact-checker, Charles Wilson, target the 9-to-13 crowd with "Chew on This: Everything You Don't Want to Know about Fast Food."

Fast food is now a childhood staple. One of four children ages 4 to 13 eats fast food on a typical day, a percentage that jumps to nearly two of five for teenagers, according to a study of 6,212 children published in Pediatrics in 2004.

The study also found children consumed more calories, fat and sugar on fast-food days, potentially adding six pounds of weight gain per year.

"The fast-food chains market so heavily to kids, kids should get an alternative point of view," Schlosser said. "This is not an attempt to tell kids what to eat. This is an attempt to tell kids what they're already eating. Then they know enough to make an educated and informed decision."

The industry can blame adults for poor food choices, but corporations owe children a more responsible message, he argues.

He cites Ronald McDonald's kid Web site (www.ronald.com), where children can play virtual games slinging McNuggets into sauce and learn that a cartoon character's favorite drink is a milkshake. No nutritional information is offered (that's only posted on McDonald's adult consumer site).

If McDonald's claims to encourage more healthful foods, Schlosser wonders why its kid site shows fries and sodas instead of apple slices or juice options.

"If you're going to allow advertising to little kids — and I'm not saying you should — you definitely shouldn't advertise things that can be very harmful to their health," he said.

"Chew on This" follows similar themes — with some of the same passages — as "Fast Food Nation," examining how fast food has changed American culture and business, and the consequent impact on young people.

It traces the history of major fast-food chains, the astounding increase in marketing to children and the toll the industry takes on its often low-paid, mostly uninsured, often-teenage employees.

But the chapters most likely to grab children's attention focus on the food itself, with descriptions of grisly assembly-line killing of animals.

Children used to know where their food came from, but that's no longer true with today's highly processed foods. A fast-food hamburger may boast meat from hundreds of different cattle. Food additives alter flavors and brighten colors.

"The one thing I want kids to do after reading this book is just be aware," Schlosser said. "Think before you eat."

Washington state gets two mentions in the book: The first is an example of mass foodborne illness with the 1993 E. coli outbreak at Jack in the Box, which sickened more than 700 people and hospitalized nearly 200. Four died.

The second is more positive, citing the family-owned, Vancouver-Wash.-based Burgerville as a good industry example. The company uses fresh, locally grown food, often changing by the season.

The new kids book and impending film version of "Fast Food Nation" prompted news reports about McDonald's planned publicity in response. In a statement to Dow Jones, the company insisted it "will vigorously communicate the facts about McDonald's to correct any misrepresentations about our restaurants, our people, or our values."

(Schlosser said "very strong material" in the fictional adaptation directed by Richard Linklater is not intended for young viewers. The Fox Searchlight picture is slated for release later this year but no date is set, a publicist said.)

With his own kids, Schlosser avoids processed foods and attempts to "buy foods from people who are doing it the right way. But it's very hard to be pure in the year 2006," he conceded ruefully. "Whatever you buy is connected to something. But at least we try."

Stephanie Dunnewind: sdunnewind@seattletimes.com or 206-464-2091.