Meat, everyone loves meat. Well, except for vegetarians. I for one am a meat lover; If you asked me to choose between a healthy salad and a heart-stopping oily burger, I'd choose the burger. I eat fast food occasionally and I like burgers. Sometimes I wonder where the meat comes from as it tastes different from the burgers that come from actual restaurants. Many people besides me eat fast food every day and it has become a habit for them. Furthermore, due to the increase in customers, fast food industries have opened many more restaurants, which has led to a greater demand for meat. Due to this high demand for meat, meat industries are starting to use various ways to produce it quickly. However, speeding up processes can cause contamination of the meat and increase the risk of E.coli in the meat. It all starts with the type of environment the cow lives in and how it is fed, which determines the health of the livestock. In the past, when calves were born, they fed on their mother's milk and then grazed on grass for virtually the rest of their lives; and in winter they fed on hay. Nowadays, cows are crammed into farms, get little exercise and practically live in their own manure. Cattle living in this type of situation makes them more prone to all types of illnesses and diseases. While they are packed on farms, they are fed high-protein feed to fatten and strengthen the livestock, which causes the livestock to grow and mature at a faster rate. According to Kamb, “In agricultural communities, a variety of protein sources were readily available, from soybeans to peanuts or cottonseed. Or, from chicken feces, poultry feathers, cow blood or other pig parts, oh... middle of paper... a happy cow always tastes better. Works Cited Schlosser, Eric. “What is in the flesh.” Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2005. 203. Print.Kamb, Lewis. “Livestock feed is often a sum of animal parts – Seattlepi.com.” Seattle News, Sports, Events, Entertainment | Seattlepi.com - Seattlepi.com. January 27, 2004. Web. April 12, 2011. .Blatt, Harvey. “What is this stuff we're eating?” American food: what you don't know about what you eat. Cambridge, MA: MIT, 2008. 202. Print.Powered By Produce (PBP). “Ground meat: cook it all the way through… literally.” Powered by Produce: A blog about food. February 24, 2011. Web. April 13. 2011. .