Full Disclosure with James O'Brien Eric Schlosser: The Shocking Truth Behind Fast Food and Corporate America
Mar 27, 2026
Eric Schlosser, investigative journalist and author of Fast Food Nation, reflects on his career and the 25th anniversary of his book. He discusses slaughterhouses as a metaphor, the rise of corporate power, and how fast food reveals labor, inequality and deregulation. The conversation also touches on his move from screenwriting to long-form reporting and his investigations into prisons and nuclear safety.
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Longform Investigations Need Institutional Support
- Longform investigative reporting once had institutional support that's now diminished, making such work harder to fund and publish.
- Schlosser credits magazines like The Atlantic and The New Yorker for underwriting months‑long investigations in the 1990s.
From Truck Driver To Longform Investigative Reporter
- Schlosser transitioned from unsuccessful novelist and truck driver to magazine journalism after an Atlantic editor plucked his pitch from the slush pile.
- That commissioning gave him months to research longform pieces and launched his investigative career.
Going Inside A Beef Slaughterhouse
- Eric Schlosser worked inside a beef slaughterhouse to understand meatpacking firsthand.
- He describes hundreds of workers with sharp knives on fast disassembly lines where speed directly increases injuries, revealing brutal, hand‑intensive work.
