What's Really in Your McDonald's Fast Food?

Who doesn’t love some take-out once in a while?

Although we’ve heard a number of nauseating rumours about what’s really potting with our fast-food fixes, it often becomes a blur of diet-related white noise that very easily slips over our heads. Chemicals are chemicals, to a point, and our bodies can handle an incredible amount of pressure from various sources before any true symptoms begin to emerge.

Besides, a hamburger is just some meat and veggies on a roll… and meat and veggies are healthy. So what gives?

                                   Image via Occupy Corporatism.

It all started with the advent of Feminism in the mid-20th century, which provided companies with an opportunity to solve a newly-created, simple household problem – who got the job of cooking. Fast foods became marketed as a form of empowerment for women, manipulating various target markets and rocketing their profits to the astronomical enormity we see today.

However, as these fast foods became more popular and world populations increased exponentially, the methods used to produce these foods became a lot more... generalised. Studies today show that the additives in these fast foods may be both addictive and perhaps even toxic, contributing to the risk of developing Type II Diabetes, heart disease, widespread obesity, various cancers, hormonal disruption and a multitude of other health issues.

So – put down that burger momentarily and be prepared to learn something new. If you’re still keen on it after this post then I give you my blessing to munch to your heart’s content.

The Burger

Beef patty: According to McDonald's themselves, a McDonald's patty is a combination of ammonia (for hygiene purposes), and Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation cows’ meat (delivering a mixture of antibiotics, growth hormones and often dangerous bacteria).

Previously, pink slime was also used to give the meat a healthier pink tinge – but the practice has now thankfully been discontinued.

                                           Image from Amazon AWS.

Bun: A mixture of bleached and refined wheat flour, ammonium chloride (a common ingredient in fireworks and contact explosives), and ammonium sulfate, a regular addition to flame retardant products.

The other ingredients: the ketchup, mustard, gherkins and cheese used in Mcdonald’s hamburgers have all been fortified with a mixture of often preservatives, High Fructose Corn Syrup (responsible for a high proportion of global cases of Diabetes II and obesity cases) and genetically modified ingredients.*

(*Please note: at this point in time, the only concrete proof of GMOs causing any detriment to humans is a high incidence of allergies to the new varieties of protein created by genetic modification. The long-term effects, however, have not been established or tested, and remain to be seen.)

The Fries:

McDonald’s uses only one type of potato, the Russet Burbank, specifically for its length. They refuse to buy potatoes with any blemishes or necrosis visible, so farmers commissioned to grow potatoes for them are forced to use Chlorothanolil, Chlorpyrifos, Pendimethalin, PCNB and 2.4-D on their crops – pesticides that are so toxic that farmers refuse to go into their fields for up to 8 days after crops have been treated with the chemicals.

Once the potatoes are mature, they must be stored in airtight warehouses for 60 days to “de-gas” the tubers and remove toxic chemicals, otherwise they are unfit for consumption.

                                           Image via Fortune.com.

The potatoes are then peeled, cut and treated with dimethylpolysiloxane (also known as anti-foam and commonly added to sealants), and TBHQ (a form of butane that has potentially been linked to asthma, skin conditions, hormonal disruption, and DNA damage) – and then fried in a mixture of safflower, sunflower and canola oils, all of which are treated with the same pesticides used on the potatoes.

So… if you still want that burger, the decision is, of course, entirely up to you. If not, take note of the new golden rule, as propagated by numerous health experts: eat whatever you want, just cook it yourself. That way you have a better idea of what goes into your food, where it comes from and what it’ll do to your body in the long run.

                                            Until next time – stay healthy.