Student Article High School Science Journal Author: Drew Mason

What’s Really In Your Fast Food Meals?

July 19, 2007

We all love some fast food now and then, but do we really know what’s in the food we buy? I’ve always wondered about what is inside the burgers or the fries from various fast food restaurants such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, etc. But the things I’ve learned have almost made me consider turning into a vegetarian. So, if you would like to stay a meat eater, or want to enjoy your fast food then it is a possibility that you may not want to read this.

       Let’s start with burgers. Burgers made in fast food chains are usually bought from slaughter houses that turn them into patties for the stores. But people don’t really know what goes on at the slaughter houses at night, when the clean up crew comes. They have to clean out the plant everyday with toxic chemicals and usually don’t have any protection, leading to many illnesses and deaths. Not to mention they die while trying to clean the conveyor belts or the bone crusher. Here are their stories:

       A 28 year old woman, who had just come from Guatemala, was cleaning a conveyer belt when her shirt got caught in the cogs of the machine and was ripped apart. Another man had his head crushed by a pork-loin processing machine. Homer Stall, a man who worked at the national beef processing plant ( the company that makes hot dogs), fell into a 30 foot tall tank because he was overcome by hydrogen sulfide fumes. Two men went to save him, but all three of them died. What I’m trying to tell you is that people die in meat processing plants almost everyday, and we are eating food from the same machine that killed people.

       Now, on to what’s really in the meat. A lot of the meat processing plants fail to meet USDA standards, but still package and deliver meat. An NBC investigation in 1983 went to a processing plant called Cattle King Packing Company. At the time, the company was the largest supplier of meat from the USDA to schools across the nation. But little did the USDA know, these guys were playing by their own rules. They would sell meat that was most likely to be contaminated with pathogens and still contained some pieces of spinal cord, bone and gristle. They hid dead cattle from inspectors and mixed rotten meat that had been returned with fresh hamburger meat. Their plants were also infested with rats and cockroaches. The owner was caught and convicted, even thought he was convicted two years earlier with the same charge. Even after being convicted, the government didn’t stop him from supplying meat.

       Now on to the flavoring. “Why flavoring?”, you ask. Well, about everything you buy from a fast food chain or even a normal food company has been flavored with some kind of chemical or “ingredients”. Most manufacturers have certain limitations on using stuff like this, but sometimes they go a little too far.

Take a typical artificial strawberry flavor, like the kind found in a Burger King strawberry milk shake, contains the following ingredients: amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl acetate, ethyl amyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphenyl-2-butanone (10 percent solution in alcohol), a-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, g-undecalactone, vanillin, and solvent. And this is just in one milkshake!

       One of the most widely used color additives -- whose presence is often hidden by the phrase "color added" -- violates a number of religious dietary restrictions, may cause allergic reactions in susceptible people, and comes from an unusual source. Cochineal extract (also known as carmine or carminic acid) is made from the desiccated bodies of female Dactylopius coccus Costa, a small insect harvested mainly in Peru and the Canary Islands. The bug feeds on red cactus berries, and color from the berries accumulates in the females and their unhatched larvae. The insects are collected, dried, and ground into a pigment. It takes about 70,000 of them to produce a pound of carmine, which is used to make processed foods look pink, red, or purple. Dannon strawberry yogurt gets its color from carmine, and so do many frozen fruit bars, candies, and fruit fillings, and Ocean Spray pink-grapefruit juice drink. Also, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and other fast food restaurants have purchased and are using carmine to color certain menu items.

       Another thing is aroma. More and more companies are using bottled aromas to pretend that there burgers were barbecued or milkshakes smelled like the flavor they were supposed to be. The companies range from McDonald’s to Coke.

       Burger King's BK Broiler Chicken Breast Patty contains "natural smoke flavor." A firm called Red Arrow Products specializes in smoke flavor, which is added to barbecue sauces, snack foods, and processed meats. Red Arrow manufactures natural smoke flavor by charring sawdust and capturing the aroma chemicals released into the air. The smoke is captured in water and then bottled, so that other companies can sell food that seems to have been cooked over a fire.

      Over all, I believe that fast food restaurants should list or tell what ingredients they are using, or what’s happening to their meat before they sell it to the customer because you never know who might get sick or be allergic to certain chemicals and then BAM!!! They would have a multi-million dollar lawsuit on their hands. Plus, you want your customers to know that your restaurant is safe to eat at. I hope they change their ways soon.

Reference:

Schlosser, Eric. Fast Food Nation. New York: HarperCollins, 2004

http://www.rense.com/general7/whyy.htm, Accessed March 6, 2007

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Food_Nation, Accessed March 6, 2007

 
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