| Fast food in the news: A person dining at Wendy's restaurant in San Jose, California, claims to have found a human finger in a bowl of chili. The individual apparently took a bite of the chili and ended up with the finger in that person's mouth. Local officials have launched a full investigation into the claim. Officials are trying to find out if the finger came with the raw materials that Wendy's used to prepare the chili dish. There was no immediate comment from the Wendy's corporate office.
Fast food background:
The World Health Organization (WHO) is pressing the authorities to reduce the recommended daily dose of sugar, salt and fat, however, the U.S. government does not believe that these proposals can be scientifically justified facts. Washington considers unjustified talk of “good” and “bad” food, insisting that, the specialists still do not know how much consumption of various substances can be considered, acceptable for good health.
Some scientists are disturbed by the fact that the US can disrupt the general strategy for the fight against obesity.
Fast food is a quickly prepared class of dishes, usually offered by specialized establishments. The term “Fast Food” designates food, which can be quickly prepared and served to the client. The term “Fast Food” was first introduced in the dictionary Merriam-Webster in 1951.
History of fast food:
Fast food was known in Ancient Rome. Dozens of snack bars and markets, where trading all possible types of eatables in every city. Flat cakes, made from fermented dough, dressed with olive oil (the prototype of the Italian pizza), were one of the popular dishes. Even the flat cakes were used edible plates.
Quickly prepared hot noodles (the prototype of modern noodles) were sold in the markets of China. Various types of flat cakes (also pies in Russia) were very popular in India and Europe.
Industry-manufactured fast food appeared in 1920 in the USA. In 1921, the company “White Castle” was opened in Kansas and peculiar hamburgers were the branded dishes at that time. The stable price (5 cents up to 1946) and the peculiarity attracted buyers and doubts regarding the safety of product vanished due to the cunning move of the company’s owner Billy Ingram, when specially employed people in white dressing gowns made the impression that even the doctors buy hamburgers. In the late 1940s, competitors appeared for company White Castle and McDonald’s was the most fierce and strongest competitor.
McDonald's is the largest fast food network worldwide. Simultaneously, McDonald's is subjected to severe criticism for fat-saturated and high-calorie products.
The growth of McDonald’s restaurants is also a parameter, indicating the widespread distribution of fast food. In 1956, only 14 McDonald’s restaurants were operating in the USA, in 1960 - 228, in 1968 - 1000, in 1975 - 3076, in 1980 - 6263, in 1984 - 8300, in 1990 - 11800. Now the corporation McDonald's has more than 30000 restaurants in 119 countries worldwide.
Recently, after the campaign by supporters for healthy food, calling to boycott fast food, sales in the USA and other developed countries began to drop.
Effects on health:
According to the opinion of the food committee of the Massachusetts Medical Society, fast food, especially high-calorie food, leads to obesity and diseases associated with obesity. Fast food is often rich with carcinogenic trans-saturated fats (margarine, combined fats). Fast food contains several fried products (potato fry etc.), also rich with carcinogens (acrylamide etc). The high sugar content in soft drinks, buns, etc is unsafe not only due to the caloric content but also will increase the risk of the development of diabetes and other illnesses.
Semi-finished products, widely used in fast food chains, as well as other “Industry” manufacture food, can contain several chemical edible additives.
Popular products, such as corn flakes, oat bran, oats, hamburgers and fried chicken from fast food restaurants, white chocolate, salted peanuts, potato chips and also various sodas and soft drinks, have made their way onto a black-list in regards to the younger generation.
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