Fast Facts About Fast Food

Think about it. You may be dreaming about a forkful of flaming flaky breakfast sandwich, but before you do, read about the fallacies and falsehoods fast food companies are feeding you. In short, they’re fibbing. 

However, not all of this is bad. If you want to find the freakishly famous restaurant that feeds you the “healthiest” food, you’re in luck. I will be ranking each one on healthiness, taste, and ingredients that are truthful. But, if you want to consider eating fast food ever again, just know that your fanciable, feeble dreams may be ferociously crushed. You have been warned.

1. First up, McDonald's. You would expect that the king of the fast-food industry would at least be honest, right? Well, one word. Dimethylpolysiloxane. A mouthful, right? But next time you order some fries or those delicious onion rings, be wary, you may get a mouthful of this chemical. It’s a material used to make silly putty. It also helps keep the oil in fryers from foaming, allowing it to last longer. Not very silly, if you ask me.

Verdict: Dimethylpolysiloxane might sound creepy, but while it’s not healthy for you in the slightest, it’s not necessarily bad for you either.

1. Next, Subway. So, if you found a hair in your food, what would you do? Pick it out, right? Well, you’ll have some problems picking this one out. L-cysteine is a common ingredient in dough, made from human hair, cow horns, and duck feathers. Subway coats bread with L-cysteine to make it more pliable. Yes, they are literally feeding you ingredients made from feathers and hair. 

Verdict: Believe it or not, L-cysteine is not bad for you, in fact, some people take it as a supplement. But it really makes you wonder if it qualifies as vegetarian.

1. Lastly, let’s talk about Zaxby’s mechanically separated meat, sometimes known as pink slime. It’s common in many chicken nuggets sold at fast food places. It’s defined by the FDA as “A paste-like and batter-like poultry product produced by forcing bones, with attached edible tissue, through a sieve or similar device under high pressure to separate bone from the edible tissue.” You would think that customers would be able to notice the stark difference between white meat and pink slime, but Zaxby’s have added dyes so it looks more appealing. 

Verdict: Once again, while mechanically separated meat might not look very appealing, but it’s not bad for you.

Each of these ingredients might not sound very appetizing, but they won’t make you sick. Healthy though? Not at all. If you’re looking for the healthiest option, the answer would be D: None of the above. If you are really concerned about your diet, the healthiest option is probably eating at home.

Story by Sasha Bickford

​SOURCES
Food Network
CNN
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