Posted : June 2014
Author :Gregory Myers
Fast food….you either love it, or
you hate it. Or, you can also love it, but decide to stay away from it because
of past rumors that have surfaced. But, how much of those rumors are true? Many
of the rumors have been fabricated, but done so to an unbelievable extent.
These rumors are so far fetched that we’re not sure how anyone could believe
them. But, people do….and with that, cost fast food companies money and time.
People have an odd belief that
mass-produced food is literally made of industrial chemicals meant more for
paint stripping than eating. This has led to the even odder belief that fast
food hamburgers never decay. What makes this myth particularly weird is that
despite being one of the most pervasive myths about food, it is also one of the
easiest to debunk. Anyone can buy a burger and watch it decompose over time,
but the myth has only recently seen serious busting. McDonald’s Canada was asked about
the “incorruptible McDonald’s hamburger,” and the company decided to finally
kill this silly rumor. A spokesman admitted that the company’s burgers do tend
to dry out rather than rot, but that’s not because they’re laden with
chemicals. The burgers simply don’t have much moisture in them after
the cooking process, and leaving them in the open air removes even more. In
properly moist conditions, a McDonald’s burger would rot just like any other
food. An independent study by a
food blogger found that under similar conditions, McDonald’s fare rots at the
same rate as homemade burgers.
Fast Food Restaurants Are Less
Healthy Than Dine-In Establishments
You’ve decided that you want to take
the family out to eat, but you want to feel good about the food you’re
shoveling into their starving mouths. You decide that you should go to a
sit-down restaurant, since those places clearly offer much healthier options
than the local McDonald’s. Unfortunately for your family, you may have made the
wrong choice. A Drexel study examined full-service
restaurant menus, and the results were not at all pleasant. While a combo meal
at a burger joint has more calories than you need for one meal, a full meal at
a sit-down restaurant may have more than you need in an entire day. The researchers defined a meal for
an adult as an entree with a side and half of an appetizer, along with the free
bread often offered. The average full meal at a sit-down place hit about 1,500
calories and went well over the daily recommended limit for saturated fat and
sodium content. If you throw in a drink and half of a dessert, the average
restaurant meal puts you over your daily recommended caloric intake. If
you want to make sure you are getting a healthy option, you may just need to
cook it yourself.
Taco Bell’s Seasoned Beef Is Only 35
Percent Meat
A few years back, a rumor arose
saying only 35 percent (or another disturbingly small percentage) of Taco Bell
seasoned beef is meat, the meat is Grade D, it’s unfit for humans, and it’s
somehow still allowed to be sold to massive numbers of people. The rumor’s
roots go to an Alabama lawsuit, which was thrown out of court because it was
complete and utter nonsense. To address the rumors, Taco Bell
explained that their seasoned beef is 88 percent beef and 12 percent filler,
which may sound less than ideal, but that’s comparable to its competitors’
recipes. The website containing this explanation also gave fun explanations for
some of the more obscure components, such as “Trehalose,” which they use for
sweetening purposes. Certain paranoid people will
continue to fear Taco Bell’s chemical ingredients like “maltodextrin,” but
actual chemists laugh off these worries - the ingredients are all very much
safe and edible.
McDonald’s Frozen Desserts Use Pig
Fat And No Dairy
McDonald’s calls their frozen treats
“thickshakes” or just “shakes,” rather than “milkshakes.” Some people noticing
this choice concluded the drink can’t be a proper milkshake at all. In fact, it
probably contains no dairy whatsoever. From there, it wasn’t long before people
started coming up with theories as to what McDonald’s was using instead. People
proposed all sorts of fillers, from pig fat to cow eyeball fluid to
Styrofoam balls to bird feathers. It’s true that the treats don’t use
real ice cream, which is why McDonald’s doesn’t call them “milkshakes.”
Instead, they use a premade mix - one that does contain dairy. Making actual ice
cream shakes fresh on a massive scale day in and day out would be hard to
manage logistically. You may choose not to drink their
shakes if you don’t like the taste, but for those of you who do, there isn’t anything
out of the ordinary to worry about, aside from how fattening they are.
The Salads Are A Healthy Option
Salads seem the healthiest option
when eating fast food. They’re made of vegetables, after all, which surely have
to be better for you than greasy burgers and fries. In reality, however, the
salad option contains so much cheese, dressing, or meat that they’re as
bad as anything else on the menu. The Consumerist looked at several
fast food chains and found that the salads have as many calories as other menu
items. Even worse, salads often contain more fat, more sugar, and
oftentimes an absolutely whopping pile of sodium. While salad may sometimes be
a healthy option, when you buy it from a burger joint, it probably isn’t.
Fast Food Is Cheap
One of the most pervasive myths
about fast food, as well as junk food in general, is that it’s far less pricey
than healthier alternatives. This explanation is often used by people
incredulous that anyone would willingly choose junk if better food is cheaper
or comparatively priced. But while fast food is certainly cheap compared with
other sorts of restaurants, it’s downright expensive compared with what you
prepare at home, even when you cook far higher-quality food. NY Times food columnist Mark
Bittman notes that the average McDonald’s combo meal costs about $7, adding up
to $28 to feed a family of four. You could feed the family an entire chicken
dinner at home for roughly half the cost, and you’ll be giving them a much
healthier plate. On the other hand, cooking food
yourself does have a cost of its own. It takes time, and it takes effort. Fast
food is undeniably the more convenient choice, which is why people will
continue to pick it. But if you have the time and energy, eating at home is a
much better option in every way.
White Castle’s Bait-And-Switch
Onions
You may not live in an area with a
White Castle, but you may know of it from a certain movie where two guys try
really hard to get to one. For those still unfamiliar with the chain, White
Castle’s miniature burgers are famous for being incredibly cheap and,
anecdotally, for giving indigestion a few hours after eating them. Fans also
know the restaurant for its trademark steamed meat that always comes with
onions because onions are just that important. For some reason, rumors say that
White Castle is pulling a bait-and-switch with one of their most cherished
ingredients. The rumors state that White Castle
onions are actually pieces of cabbagesoaked in onion juice. It would seem
one of the strangest and most pointless things that a fast food restaurant
could do, but enough people believe the rumor that White Castle actually
responds to it on their website. Their burgers contain no cabbage and
do indeed have real onions - although the restaurant admits to using rehydrated
onions ever since World War II.
Arby’s Roast Beef Is Made From A Gel
This weird rumor says Arby’s roast
beef arrives at the store in a liquid gel form inside a sealed plastic bag. The
congealed mixture is heated till it becomes sliceable and is then served to the
poor, naive customer. Unlike some rumors, this one has understandable origins,
but it’s still wholly false. The fact-checkers at Snopes talked
to several people who worked at actual Arby’s restaurants and learned the
source of the confusion. The meat arrives at the store inside airtight plastic
bags, with a thin layer of basting solutionthat looks like a gel. This
could easily lead a new employee who hasn’t yet cut into the bag and roasted
the beef to think they were looking at a lumpy, gelatinous mess. You may or may
not find Arby’s food particularly appetizing, but rest assured that it’s actual
beef.
McDonald’s Egg Patties Come
Pre-Formed
The uniform circular shape of
McDonald’s Egg McMuffin patties look so perfect that people think it’s some
artificial substance sent to the restaurant in readymade shapes. However, when
McDonald’s in Canada was asked about this question, they responded by supplying
a video of how the egg process actually works. The eggs really are just eggs, and
that perfect shape is achieved by cooking them using a ring mold, a method
almost elegant in its simplicity. The scrambled eggs are slightly more
questionable, as they are made with a liquid egg mix and cooked with
margarine, but they still do contain actual egg.
Darker Roasted Coffee Contains More
Caffeine
One of the most common
misconceptions among those who head to Starbucks or order coffee at a burger
joint is that bolder, blacker coffee is stronger and gives a more intense buzz.
But if you’re looking for the strongest possible caffeine hit, you should
purchase a lighter roasted coffee. Coffee beans start out green and
become darker due to the roasting process. As the roasting process continues,
you also end up losing more caffeine, so darker roasts have less than their
lighter counterparts. The best way to truly increase your
caffeine buzz in the morning is to add a shot or two of espresso to your
coffee, something that most cafes will happily do for you.
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