Q&A: Eric Schlosser

In the bestseller, Fast Food Nation, the journalist Eric Schlosser takes an exhaustive look at the world of Big Macs and Whoppers. From the miserable conditions in slaughterhouses, to the exotic chemicals in french fries, to the intense lobbying in Washington that shackles food safety regulation,

One of the tools he relies on can be helpful to all journalists: the often overlooked and underestimated trade press. In the book, Schlosser cites more than a dozen publications with intriguing names like Food Engineering, Chemical Market Reporter, Beverage Industry, and Cattle Buyers Weekly.

In a conversation with Mary Ellen Schoonmaker, Schlosser spoke of the trades as a "gold mine" of valuable information.

Q. What's so special about the trades?

A. The trade press is the best way to understand an industry. You can see what the industry is concerned about. The trade press is similar to a small-town newspaper, to the ongoing dialogue in a community. You are hearing the industry's dialogue with itself. If you're going to write about a business, that's where you might start your research. There are some hacks writing for the trades, but some of the reporters and editors are absolutely terrific.

When I got the assignment from Rolling Stone to write a piece about the fast food industry, the first thing I did was to take out a subscription to Nation's Restaurant News. There's very good reporting in it. That was four years ago. My book is done, but I still have the subscription and I still read it.

Q. Are business executives more candid in the trades than in the mainstream press?

A. Industry executives are more candid, and quotes can be wonderfully revealing. ConAgra Red Meat, a giant meatpacking company, refused to tell me about the employee turnover rate in their slaughterhouses. Yet in a 1994 article in the trade journal Business Insurance, the corporate safety director of ConAgra says on the record that the turnover rate is 100 percent!

And ConAgra does not stress the low-wage, unskilled, powerless nature of their workforce. Yet here they are acknowledging it. "We're at the bottom of the literacy scale," the executive says in Business Insurance, ". . . in some plants maybe a third of the people cannot read or write in any language."

I would encourage reporters to read the trade press, but not to get revealing remarks. That's a bonus. Reading the trades is not a short-- cut. It's just the opposite: You immerse yourself in the details of the industry.

There is a downside. It takes a certain kind of patience to read through back issues. Most of it you'll never need, but it's all grist for the mill. And the more you know beforehand, the better your interviews.

Q. Where do you find trade newspapers and magazines?

A. Big research libraries are the motherlode. Some of the trade journals are online, some can be found through Lexis-Nexis or The Wall Street Journal's paid service. Almost everything can be found through electronic databases.

Q. Most trade journalists receive hardly any recognition in the mainstream press. Did any stand out in your research?

A. There's a tendency to look down on the trade press, but some of the most knowledgeable journalists I know are working in the trades. It takes a lot of nerve to cover their industries critically.

I can think of three who stood out in my research. Allison Beers, managing editor of Food Chemical News, is very smart, probing. Lee Pitts, the editor of Livestock Market Digest, is a terrific journalist, smart, first-rate, so far from being an industry flack. I thanked Steve Bjerklie, former editor of Meat & Poultry (now with Meat Processing) in my book. He's quite fearless and terrific by any standard -- credible, critical, and thought-- provoking. I appreciated his long investigative pieces.