McDonalds Corporation has begun pushing their meat products, such as the Big Mac and double cheeseburgers, because customers are not buying enough salads. At an investor’s conference, Don Thompson, chief executive officer, explained that salads only make up 2% of their US sales.
Thompson said: “I don’t see salads as being a major growth driver in the near future.”
Thompson claims to eat McDonalds “every, single day” while so commenting that “balance is really important to people.”
He remarked that people can eat at McDonald’s every day and still lose weight. – Yeah, right!
At the same time Thompson announced that he has begun exercising more and lost 20 pounds, McDonalds released the Mega Potato, the item on their menu with the highest caloric count. This item is worth 1,142 calories which is more than half the recommended calorie intake of an average woman.
Thompson’s nine year old daughter defended her father’s corporation, stating that McDonalds does not “sell junk food”. This comment sent shockwaves through the internet and put the little girl in the spot light. A mother commented at the conference that McDonalds uses toys to coerce children into eating their “unhealthy” food. McDonalds said that the comments were unacceptable and hoped that supporters of the fast food chain would not speak ill of a child for her opinion.
Just by glancing at the McDonalds menu, it becomes clear that most of the items are at least 1,000 calories or more – as in the “big breakfast”.
1. McDonald’s salads
McDonald’s salads contain cilantro lime glaze and the orange glaze. Within the glaze lies propylene glycol — a chemical that is not legal to use in cat food because its safety has not yet been proven. In addition, propylene glycol is also used “as the killing and preserving agent in pitfall traps, usually used to capture ground beetles.”
The dollar menu at McDonalds has a side salad as an option that is worth 310 calories.
2. Hamburger Meat
Fast food burger meat is treated with ammonia as a bonding agent, which is approved by the FDA. Ammonium hydroxide used to be in the production of McDonald’s hamburgers. The chemical, used in fertilizers, household cleaners and even homemade explosives, was also used to prepare McDonalds’ hamburger meat.
3. Chicken McNuggets
The ever so popular Chicken McNuggets contains chemicals such as sodium phosphates, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, and calcium lactate.
4. The Food Wrappers
McDonalds, like other fast food companies have started using polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters (PAPs) to coat the wrappers they use to help prevent the food from getting soggy from the grease used in cooking.
The chemical also causes changes in cholesterol levels, alters sex hormones, and produces tumors, retards brain development, and infant death in animal studies.
5. The Egg McMuffin
The Egg McMuffin is prepared with “Liquid Margarine: Liquid Soybean Oil and Hydrogenated Cottonseed and Soybean Oils, Water, Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Soy Lecithin, Mono and Diglycerides, Sodium Benzoate and Potassium Sorbate (Preservatives), Artificial Flavor, Citric Acid, Vitamin A Palmitate, Beta Carotene (Color).”
6. The McCafe Mango Pineapple Smoothie
The McCafe Mango Pineapple Smoothie is made out of: “Water, Clarified Demineralized Pineapple Juice Concentrate, Mango Puree Concentrate, Pineapple Juice Concentrate, Orange Juice Concentrate, Pineapple Puree, Passion Fruit Juice, Apple Juice Concentrate, Natural (Botanical Source) and Artificial Flavors, Contains less than 1% of the following: Peach Puree, Cellulose Powder, Pear Juice Concentrate, Xanthan Gum, Peach Juice Concentrate, Pectin, Citric Acid, Colored with Fruit and Vegetable Juice and Turmeric Extract, Ascorbic Acid (Preservative).”
Studies have shown that 1/3rd of children between the ages of 4 to 19 in the US eat fast food daily and fast food stores closer to schools coincide with overweight children.
By Susanne Posel, Occupy Corporatism;
About author: Susanne Posel is a globally syndicated independent journalist. In November 2011, she launched Occupy Corporatism, a headline news website that quickly became one of the most widely-read, linked to, and frequently-cited websites on the Internet.
