Happy Meals
Those were the days, hanging out at the fast food joint after calling out for “a double cheeseburger meal, no pickles, upsize to seaweed shaker fries”, and washing them all down with that ice-cold Coca-Cola. Oh, that was my version of sipping a Mai Tai by the beach.
To people as pig-headed as I was on this, beware, the hobby of eating can make us so passionate about food sometimes that we are unwilling to hear others with differing opinions ! I personally found it hard to take those complainers seriously when they blabbered on about how unhealthy, how harmful, how fattening those burger patties are. Yes, I get it. And yet, once that marvel of a burger brushes against my plate…absolutely sublime!
Big Mac flak
It was only when I watched the documentary “Super Size Me” back in 2005 that it finally sank in that I should probably cut down on my cheeseburgers and fries. Nothing paints the truth like watching the cold hard truth.
The footage revealed a side of McDonald’s that scared me out of my wits. And this year welcomed another activist and celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, who aimed to show the world—what lies behind-the-scenes in assembling the most well loved burger in the world.
What’s in those beef patties you love so much?
Revolution against Mcdonald’s
Everyone knows that McDonald’s revolutionised fast food by mass-producing hamburgers and French fries. This year, Jamie Oliver Campaign pledged to revolutionise the revolution that started it all. And lo and behold, he succeeded.
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“Most people are really not aware about where their food comes from, because it is so highly packaged, mass produced,” said Jamie Oliver in one of his documentaries. “I want to get the parents thinking, where does my food come from and where does my children’s food come from.”
“Pink slime”
“Basically we’re taking a product that would be sold in the cheapest way for dogs, and after this process, it’s being given to human beings,” Jamie Oliver told his audience of the revolting truth.
And as if this statement is not hard to swallow already (literally so), he went on demonstrating the process called “pink slime”, a process that “washes” the fatty parts of beef with ammonium hydroxide, an anti-microbial agent in meats. According to TrueActivist.com, before this process, the food is deemed unfit for human consumption. The “pink slime” process has allowed McDonald’s as well as other fast food chains to use otherwise inedible meat.
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The meats that are picked for the burger patties include the remains of the chicken or beef and this has allowed McDonald’s to continue selling their burgers at a cheaper price because they buy these remains at a lower price, and then offer the best quality products.
Apart from low quality meat, the crux of the controversy is that ammonium hydroxide is harmful to health. Jamie begged a very disturbing question that will leave parents around the world ruminating on for next couple of years to come—“Why would any sensible human-being put meat filled with ammonia in the mouths of their children?”
Jamie Oliver’s war against fast food ends in victory
Jamie Oliver’s success
In the United States, Burger King and Taco Bell had abandoned the “pink slime” process. McDonald’s too has admitted that they no longer use beef fillers for their burger patties and will change their recipe.
In Latin America, Ireland and the U.K., the “pink slime” procedure is not practiced since they use meat from local suppliers. But one disturbing fact remains—ammonium hydroxide is approved by the FDA and is considered part of production procedure and people will not be able to tell when the chemical is in their foods.
This really leaves us all at a cliff-hanger, doesn’t it? What is your take on this? Tell us about it! We’d love to hear from you! For more about Jamie Oliver’s revolution, watch this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=II14yxN71Dk
For tips on making healthy food for your children, read these articles:
Great lunch box ideas for your kid!