What Really Goes Into Fast Food

Mikayla Shestopal

English 101

14 March 2013

What Really Goes Into Fast Food?

What goes into fast food? Where does it come from, how is it made, what is inside of it? There are many things fast food industries fail to mention when it comes to their food. There are chemicals, diseases contracted, a number of higher risks of health problems, animals are tortured, and a lot of unhealthy things put inside of food in order to preserve shelf life. Can the consumer do anything to change these problems with our fast food nation? Here is the truth about America's favorite food.

Tert-Bytylhydroquinoine, "beef extract", and beef tallow are things that will enter the body of a consumer of fast food. Tert-Bytylhydroqionoine (TBHQ) is used as an antioxidant for unsaturated vegetable oil and animal fats, and to enhance storage life (What's Really Fast Food). Studies show TBHQ, in high doses can damage the stomach with tumors and has shown damage in the DNA of lab animals. Does this sound like the kind of chemical you want in your body? According to a chemical analysis led by a researcher at Harvard Medical School, it was found that the McNuggets from Mcdonald's had a "fatty acid profile" more closely resembling beef than poultry. Beef tallow was once used in cooking chicken until they switched to vegetable oil. "Beef extract" is one of the many natural and artificial flavors that are added to fast food chicken and other fast food products. The "beef extract" was added to the chicken in order to maintain the same flavor that the nuggets had when cooked with beef tallow. There are many other chemicals and preservatives that are added to the food in order to extend shelf life of the products. What does the shelf life of the products mean to the life of the consumer? These fast food chains advertise their food as being "premium quality, 100% breast meat, seasoned and lightly breaded". But is that what the consumer is really paying for?

Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, a proffesor...