Fast Food Secrets Things you probably dont what to know

[SolidShadow 0]

More than 60% of the restaurants had what experts refer to as "critical violations," which are benchmarks for judging a restaurant's cleanliness. Critical violations can fuel food-borne illnesses (such as salmonella) and, aside from that, are just nasty.
The most common violations in fast-food chains? Employees not washing their hands (in some chains, there was no soap in the bathrooms), improper food holding temperatures, undercooked meat, and employees handling food with their bare hands.

Fast-food meals contain common food allergy ingredients, but they don't tell you which ones.
There are a variety of different ingredients used in even the most simple fast-food products you purchase at your local drive-thru. So if you have food allergies, you may want to think twice before you visit the golden arches.

A sausage burrito at McDonald's contains more than 50 different ingredients, including milk, egg, wheat, corn syrup, and a range of chemicals and preservative agents. The hash browns are cooked with animal products and the bacon contains wheat and soy.

Some fast-food joints, like Jack in the Box, spell out the most common sources of food allergies and then mention that one or more of their products may contain the allergens, but they don't specify which ones. Just covering all their bases, we think. Our advice: order a diet cola.

Fries are not made from 100% potato.
When fast-food restaurants started, fries were made from real potatoes, which were peeled and sliced each morning. Today, nearly all fast-food fries arrive at the restaurants frozen and processed.

Since potatoes become discolored during the freezing process (when they are stored in temperatures below 45 F), they must be treated with sulphites at the production plant to avoid this natural phenomenon. Oh, and there is no peeling or slicing involved -- all fries are now made with machines.

Sulfur dioxide is also commonly used to bleach the fries, which gives them a nice, white appearance when frozen. Also, a sugar dip is sometimes used to improve the sugar content of the potatoes.

In addition to these preservative agents, the fries are cooked in hydrogenated oils -- molecularly changed oils that are used in a variety of processed foods and are toxic to the body. Hydrogenated oils preserve the consistency and longevity of the fries, which means that it takes a long time before they get soggy or moldy. Hydrogenated oils have been linked to heart disease, diabetes and cancer.

So if you thought that you were on your way to getting your five-veggies-a-day by ordering fries, think again. You're not really eating only potatoes.

McDonalds

The eggs reputation is recovering, but scrambled eggs as a part of McDonalds breakfast include much more than egg. Their pasteurized whole eggs have sodium acid pyrophosphate, citric acid, and monosodium phosphate (all added to preserve color), and nisin, a preservative. To top it off, the eggs are prepared with liquid margarine: liquid soybean oil, water, partially hydrogenated cottonseed and soybean oils (trans fats), salt, hydrogenated cottonseed oil (trans fat), soy lecithin, mono- and diglycerides, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate (preservatives), artificial flavor, citric acid, vitamin A palmitate, and beta carotene (color). Though not all bad, these added chemicals may be the reason why homemade scrambled eggs taste so much better than McDonalds.

For coffee drinkers, it would seem fairly safe to just grab a quick cup of coffee at McDonald's on the way to work. But many health conscious people would object to it also including this list of ingredients: sodium phosphate, sodium polyphosphate, Di-Acetyl Tartrate Ester of Monoglyceride, sodium stearoyl lactylate, tetra sodium pyrophosphate, sodium hexametaphosphate, sodium citrate, and carrageenan. Do health nuts still drink coffee?

Salads can usually be counted on to be a what you see is what you get item. But McDonalds adds some interesting ingredients. The salads with grilled chicken also have liquid margarine.

Several salads have either cilantro lime glaze, or orange glaze added. Along with many of McDonalds sauces, both the cilantro lime glaze and the orange glaze contain propylene glycol alginate. While propylene glycol is considered "GRAS" for human consumption, it is not legal for use in cat food because the safety hasn't been proven yet [10]. Propylene glycol is also used "As the killing and preserving agent in pitfall traps, usually used to capture ground beetles" [10].

The chili lime tortilla strips that are included in the southwest salads have several ingredients used to hide MSG. They also contain two ingredients that advertise the presence of MSG: disodium inosinate, and disodium guanylate.

The chicken has sodium phosphates (of an unspecified variety). It could be trisodium phosphate (a cleanser), monosodium phosphate (a laxative), or disodium hydrogen phosphate [11]. Why would McDonalds add sodium phosphates (a foaming agent), and dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent in their crispy chicken breast fillets? It isnt dishwasher detergent.

Burger King

Its interesting to note that the BK Veggie Burger has six ingredients commonly used to hide free glutamate (MSG): calcium caseinate, hydrolyzed corn, yeast extract, soy protein isolate, spices, and natural flavors. At the end of the ingredients list, it states This is NOT a vegan product. The patty is cooked in the microwave. Was that a warning statement?

Burger King has three salads to choose from. The TENDERCRISP Garden Salad, the TENDERGRILL Garden Salad, and the Side Garden Salad.

A salad may be a little boring without a dressing like Kens Fat Free Ranch Dressing which includes titanium dioxide (an artificial color, or sunscreen, depending on use), preservatives, and the ingredient seemingly mandatory in all ranch dressings: monosodium glutamate.

Once again, as is typical with the fast food industry, they took a simple thing like chicken, and added a long list of ingredients.

TENDERGRILLŽ CHICKEN BREAST FILET
Chicken Breast with Rib Meat, Water, Seasoning (Maltodextrin, Salt, Sugar, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Garlic Powder, Spices, Natural Flavors, Onion Powder, Modified Corn Starch, Chicken Fat, Chicken Powder, Chicken Broth, Disodium Guanylate and Disodium Inosinate, Citric Acid, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Dehydrated Garlic, and Artificial Flavors.), Modified Corn Starch, Soybean Oil, Salt, Sodium Phosphates. Glazed with: Water, Seasoning [Maltodextrin, Salt, Sugar, Methylcellulose, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Partially Hydrogenated Sunflower Oil, Modified Potato Starch, Fructose, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Dehydrated Garlic, Spices, Modified Corn Starch, Xanthan Gum, Natural Flavors, Disodium Guanylate and Disodium Inosinate, Chicken Fat, Carmel Color, Grill Flavor (from Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil), Chicken Powder, Chicken Broth, Turmeric, Smoke Flavor, Annatto Extract, and Artificial Flavors], Soybean Oil. [12]

Taco Bell

Taco Bells website didnt have much emphasis on health. Under the nutrition guide, at the bottom was a link to Keep it Balanced, a token nod to health. It had no serious information on how to really eat healthy. They recommend foods like pizza and tacos (no surprise) because they may include ingredients from several food groups at once. Including several food groups does not necessarily mean its a healthy food.

The seasoned beef, carne asada steak, spicy shredded chicken, and even the rice all include autolyzed yeast extract (hidden MSG). Disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate are flavor enhancers used in synergy with MSG [7,8]. Therefore, menu items with disodium inosinate and/or disodium guanylate also contain MSG. This includes the avocado ranch dressing, southwest chicken, citrus salsa, creamy jalapeno sauce, creamy lime sauce, lime seasoned red strips, pepper jack sauce, and seasoned rice.

According to Wikipedia, dimethylpolysiloxane is optically clear, and is generally considered to be inert, non-toxic, and non-flammable. It is used in silicone caulk, adhesives, and as an anti-foaming agent [6]. Appetizingly enough, its also included in Taco Bells rice.

Wendys

At Wendys, there are several tempting salads. The mandarin chicken salad seems healthy at first glance. It has diced chicken, mandarin oranges, almonds, crispy noodles, your choice of dressings, and five different varieties of lettuce. Then reality takes a bite when you check the ingredients list. The almonds are roasted and salted. The crispy noodles are not whole grain. The mandarin orange segments are not freshly peeled oranges; most likely canned. The diced chicken has added autolyzed yeast extract (MSG), disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, sodium phosphates (soap?), salt, more salt, sugar, modified cornstarch (sic)[1], and the universal umbrella ingredient list: spices, natural flavors, and artificial flavors.

In the ingredients lists for the salad dressings, one surprise was titanium dioxide in the Low Fat Honey Mustard Dressing and the Reduced Fat Creamy Ranch Dressing. Its a very versatile chemical. It can be used to manufacture paint, sunscreen, semiconductors, and food coloring [2].

Wendys Southwest Taco Salad is a salad with Wendys chili. Once again, the chili has hidden MSG: autolyzed yeast extract, spices, artificial flavors, natural flavorings, disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate (MSG give-aways). Its puzzling to try to understand why their chili would need to include an anti-caking agent such as silicon dioxide (also known as sand, or glass powder).

See if you can spot the sunscreen, MSG, and soap in this Wendys ingredient:

Seasoned Tortilla Strips
Whole Corn, Vegetable Oil (contains one or more of the following: corn, soybean or sunflower oil), Salt, Buttermilk Solids, Spices, Tomato, Sweet Cream, Dextrose, Onion, Sugar, Cheddar Cheese (cultured milk, salt, enzymes), Corn Starch, Modified Corn Starch, Maltodextrin, Nonfat Dry Milk, Garlic, Torula Yeast, Citric Acid, Autolyzed Yeast, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Artificial Colors (including extractives of paprika, turmeric and annatto, titanium dioxide, red 40, yellow 5, blue 1), Disodium Phosphate, Lactic Acid, Soy Lecithin. CONTAINS: MILK.

Apparently, taste really is all that matters at Wendys.

Subway

If a sandwich is advertised as healthy, one would expect that the bread would be whole grain. Not so with Subways wheat bread. While it does have some whole wheat flour, its the third ingredient, listed just before high fructose corn syrup [4]. None of Subways breads are whole grain. Ammonium sulfate (a fertilizer) is also added. Unfinished sandwiches may be composted. The bread also contains azodicarbonamide. From Wikipedia,

Use of azodicarbonamide as a food additive is banned in Australia. In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive has identified azodicarbonamide as a respiratory sensitiser (a possible cause of asthma) and determined that products should be labeled with May cause sensitisation by inhalation [5].

Most of the meats at Subway contain MSG and/or sodium nitrite.

KFC

The chicken, the gravy, and even the rice all have monosodium glutamate added. Not surprisingly, the chicken in the salads also has MSG. For a healthy menu item, the House Side Salad without dressing has nothing more than iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, and tomatoes.

KFC claims 0g trans fat per serving for all their fried chicken. But The Extra Crispy Chicken, Colonels Crispy Strips, HBBQ Wings, Boneless HBBQ Wings, Fiery Buffalo Wings, and more have partially hydrogenated soybean oil listed in the ingredients. So if the trans fat content is below 0.5g per serving, they can round down to zero and claim zero grams per serving.

In Closing

The salad a la carte may be the only healthy thing to eat at a fast food place. The side salads offered at the fast food places are hardly a meal, and hardly what one would consider a real salad.

[master_bacarra 0]

Well I never really liked McDonald's fries. I don't know if their food preparations apply to all the branches all over the world (like a universal protocol or something to prepare such stuff). I think it would be like preparing the food depending on your region or country (to suite the palate of the "masses" so to speak). In most of the McDonald's branches I've gone to, their fries usually taste the same, and it doesn't taste that good as compare to the fries of their competition here in the country. There could also be other products that could be included in the menu that is country- or region-specific. I've heard that only the branches here in the country offer Spaghetti in their menu, that's not even available in the branches in the States (or probably anywhere else).I actually realized after I started to work how disgusting it can get to eat in fastfood chains (unfortunately for me, most of the chains in malls don't have any variation in their menu, and now I don't have any choices anymore). I've tried eating in a single fastfood store for one day (during training), breakfast, lunch and dinner, and mind you, I feel like barfing everytime I hear the name of the store days after that. It's as if you're being deprived of the real taste of food and in the end you really can't appreciate it that much. Now I'm beginning to wonder why kids nowadays love to go to such stores, and looking back to my childhood days, I'm beginning to wonder why I felt the same as these kids.For me as a food lover, I think my concern with these stuff is the natural taste of the food getting affected by the chemicals being added to preserve it (and probably the health hazards that comes along with it). That's why I try to go to restaurants or food stores that offer fresh ingredients in their menu and stay away from fast foods as much as possible, and if I have enough time, I could just go to the grocery and buy the ingredients myself and just prepare it at home (saves me money).

[lemonwonder 0]

I like to make my own shoestring fries... and then like... cook them in salt and olive oil. Taste EXACTLY like mcDonalds fries... dont have em all the time tho lol.My father owns a business, and he had to do a quote for kfc. He went there to quote it, at 12 at night when nobody but manager and him were there, and there was grease all over the becnhes, not cleaned, there was fat LITERALLY dripping off the side of the benches, there was a smell of mould and there was meat just left lying ontop of the cooker, looking like a "clever" staff member had got it ready so he/she could just turn on the cooker in the morning and not put meat on because it was there!This is ledgit, I asked him to go back and get a video, but KFC had a contract and he could not expose anything like this, does this apply to general staff members too?Maggots in chicken is not a lie either, happened before... alot of times... I have actually SEEN them in other peoples chicken (never would eat kfc myself) AND http://www.kentuckyfriedcruelty.com/ the chicken growers for kfc are so cruel! PETA did an investigation

[Watermonkey 0]

The reason MSG and all it's variants and helpers is found in around 90% of all the food in fast food restaurants is it's addictive. Plain and simple. They want you hooked, and that's one of the ways to do it. Fast food may as well be synonymous with "Slow death", that's what you're doing when you go to eat at one of those places and it's no different when you buy the garbage in the freezer isle of your favorite grocery store. Also, when you consume all the mainstream brands of soda, you're drinking water sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. And you criticize me for smoking??? I doubt that smoking an entire pack of the nastiest cigarettes is any worse for you then eating a happy meal with a coke! Seriously, take your fat a$$ over to the health food store and buy some whole grain foods and other natural foods and kick the fast food habit! And I'll refrain from smoking those nasty chemically enhanced "tobacco" cigarettes.

[Saint_Michael 3]

Sorry Watermonkey those health foods are nasty, of course I have literally cut down on fast food to begin with. McDonald's fries are horrible its like eating a wet dirty sock as they either to salty and cold or warm and no salt at all. Of course its like eating fake food because of the fake food taste. Of course Wendy's got rid of my Big Macon Classic so I barely eat there anymore , so I am left with a King Size #1 at Burger King, Pizza, and oh yeah Chinese food (not even going to go in that direction). Of course lets not forget its all about preservatives we are practically addicted to preserving our food especially when its frozen for 6 months and not have to think about who touch it and dropped a finger or a band-aid in your soup or your burger.

[DarkPsycho 0]

Its no secret that fast food isn't good for you. That is common knowledge. But the fact is, it tastes good. Yea, it will stop tasting good if you eat it a lot, but for a once in a while thing, its like a treat. Things like soda, sure they have no real nutritional value, but the carbonation and the flavoring are what makes them great.As Saint Michael said, health foods are nasty (in most cases). That is the reason why people have to try to eat healthy and its not just something you do automatically. As long as these unhealthy foods taste better than healthy foods, people all over will continue to eat them. Taco Bell recently had that E. coli scare, but they are still in business. You know why? Because it tastes good.So, giving all these reasons why fast food is no good really doesn't do much. Everyone has heard it a thousand times (not these specifically, but in general). With health food tasting the way it does, and unhealthy food tasting the way it does, I don't see a massive change in the mindset of fast-food goers any time soon.I'm not trying to support fast food here, just giving my honest opinion

Edited December 17, 2007 by DarkPsycho (see edit history)

[sheepdog 10]

chicken growers for kfc are so cruel! PETA did an investigation

OH PLEASE!!! Maybe you should do a little investigating of PETA before you believe their propaganda. Did you know that they deliberatly set up what they claimed in their stupid little videos was a canned hunt, and it was actually PETA members that shot and injured a deer and filmed it suffering just to make hunting look bad? Did you know that they deliberatly pose as people wanting jobs at kennels and other animal enterprises and then harm the animals to make the owers/farmers look bad?

And then of course, what makes you believe that just the chickens killed for KFC are killed inhumanly? Chicken processing plants are all just alike. The chicken is going to die, and we are going to eat them. Doesn't matter if you buy it in your local grocery store, or KFC or your local restuarant. They all die pretty much the same way. And personally, I don't care. I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain to live on bean sprouts and tofu.

Now, personally, I quite eating at Mc Donalds a long time ago. For several reasons. First of all, they tried to tell the farmers how to raise meat, in an attempt to suck up to PETA. They need to run their own business, and not worry about anyone elses. Coprerate businesses have no clue about farming.

And the main reason I quite Mickey D's? Well, we used to get some bags of their tossed out burgers and stuff, mostly what sat under the heat lamps too long to be used for human consumption. My dogs loved the bread and pickles, but what freaked me out was how the sheep would fight over the burger patties. Now that was scary! God only knows what is in those things!

[Dagoth Nereviar 0]

I didn't claw my way to the top of the food chain to live on bean sprouts and tofu.

Did you personally do it? How old are you like thousands of years old? I doubt it. But i see your point. If we're dominating this planet we should be able to eat anything and everything we like!

Also all this propoganda about how bad of a diet I'm on. How my heart is gonna stop, how theres fat infested dried vomit on my chips. I don't care. What if I went to a fricking salad bar to take the healthy choice and walked outside only to be shot in the face, hit by a bus, struck by lightnign and then pwned by a steamroller? What then? I'd rather have gone to mc donalds had a delicious piece of plastic and died of a heart attack. Why does it matter how we die? If there is no after life *which i personally are absoutley convinced there is no possibility of[not to all religious people I mildly over exaggerate that point, if you think you can prove the after life to me then go ahead be my guest. I'm just saying theres no way of proving it at all.] Then whats the point in living a good life only to die just like everyone else. Those last few years aren't gonna do you crap. You live a wonderfuly healthy life. Filled with disgusting salads and other terribly tasting foods and you'll be all. I don't care if it isn't as delicious as that quater pounder that my friends are eating. I'm going to live a few years longer


In a few years time, inevitably, all your friends die. Let's say for arguments sake at more or less the same time. And your left alive. Maybe in an old folks home. Maybe in your own home. Maybe retired in the country. But all your friends are long dead.

Long dead.

It's just you and your healthy food. Waiting to die. Everyone has to die. You might meet new people. But they're gonna be old people. Your gonna have to catch up to a long time. And you won't know them long. Old people die.




Tl;dr

Eat mucus and die happy.

[Zenten 0]

I ate at McDonalds last night and this morning I feel absolutely bloated and useless. This happens every time yet I continue my unhealthy habits. It's quite a shame that the unhealthiest foods are also the cheapest and most convenient.

[rayzoredge 2]

I laughed as I was reading that whole thing. I love KFC mash potatoes and gravy, Mickey D's fries and some of their sandwiches, and some other fast food items.I know about horror stories, but maggots in my popcorn chicken takes the cake.

[organized 0]

Disturbing. Did you know 70 percent of the time, ice from fast food restaurants is dirtier than toilet water. A newspaper recently reported:The 12-year-old collected ice samples from five restaurants in South Florida -- from both self-serve machines inside the restaurant and from drive-thru windows. She then collected toilet water samples from the same restaurants and tested all of them for bacteria at the University of South Florida. In several cases, the ice tested positive for E. coli bacteria, which comes from human waste and has been linked to several illness outbreaks across the country. Mike

Edited February 12, 2008 by organized (see edit history)

[techclave 0]

i recently got a mail. it said a story about a boy who ate food outside and got AIDS. it seams that a boy in south India ate paani purri from a local street fast food shop. the following week he got sick and was hospitalized.doctors diagnosed him as AIDS case. no body in the boys' family had AIDS. on enquiring, the boy told that he had food outside.on enquiring the shop owner, he had a cut in his left thumb. on testing the shop owner, he also had AIDS but still unaware about it.it was found that on cutting the vegetables, the man had his finger cut and the blood got mixed up with the food. i almost fainted reading the mail. i always eat outside. now i am thinking whether to go out or not. its difficult to not eat outside, but we have to stop that practice. atleast we need to reduce the frequency of eating out. lets all take this case seriously.good luck!

[master_bacarra 0]

Well there's a possibility that it might happen, but I don't think you'd have to be that paranoid and avoid the possibility of eating out ever again. You just have to make sure that you're eating at a place that is clean and well-maintained. You could check if they have some sort of certification that the place was well-checked with regards to the cleanliness, and of course that also applies to the way they handle, cook, and serve food. Of course, there's nothing better than self-prepared food. It doesn't have to be fancy, but at least you can control what you put in your mouth. Not only that, you could also adjust the taste to your own liking, most fast foods would probably taste more or less salty than what one prefers.

Edited March 9, 2008 by master_bacarra (see edit history)

[minimcmonkey 0]

ive heard that KFC is only called by its initials, because they are not allowed to call it chicken by law, as there is not enough chicken in it....im not sure if that is true though...i read a book caled "chew on this"havent eaten fast food since, although it didnt really put me off, i dont think, i just dont eat fast food...but it was really interesting.

Edited June 26, 2008 by minimcmonkey (see edit history)

[iGuest 3]

They switched to KFC a while back when the whole health crazy came around, KFC looks healthier than Kentucky FRIED Chicken... 

It's not the frying part the problem with KFC, it's that it's fried in pressure cooker...  Frying chicken or turkey at the right temp, the oil will never get absorbed, but if you put it in a pressure chamber the oil gets absorbed completely...

Although it's a good laxative...

-reply by Daniel