MRiddell: 24/10/10

Fast Food and Preservatives

     As a modernizing part of the global culture, fast food is becoming a larger and larger part of the average human being's diet.  But after years and years of eating millions of kilograms of fast food, has anyone really learned what factories put into their food to preserve it for so long? As most people know, in 2004 a man by the name of Morgan Spurlock created, "Super Size Me".  A documentary based on the premise to illustrate how much the average American citizen eats McDonald's.  The Most interesting point however, was the rather relaxed experiment conducted after he had finished his documentary.  Morgan put together a set-up consisting of some of the most popular menu items. (Movie not recommended if you are presently eating McDonald's)

     Food preservatives can be defined into two different categories.  One category are antimicrobial preservatives, these are preservatives that stop the growth of bacteria and fungi on food products.  Some examples of these are sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite, sodium bisulfite, and sulfur dioxide.  The second type are antioxidants, which are used to stop the oxidation of food caused by the reaction between the food and the atmosphere that surrounds it.  Some other common preservatives found in foods, such as a McDonald's french fries, are formaldehyde used to preserve biological specimens, Glutaraldehyde, which is commonly used to kill bugs, and ethanol.

     One of the most noticeable chemicals in the list of preservatives, is the sodium nitrite.  Sodium nitrite can be found in breakfast sausages, bacon, basically in any processed-meat product.  Even meat in canned soups.  This chemical is a type of carcinogenic nitrosamines, cancer-causing chemicals  that helps the formation of cancerous cells throughout the human body. When people consume sodium nitrite in meat products, nitrosamines are formed in the body where they accelerate the growth of various cancers, including colorectal cancer (located in the rectum) and pancreatic cancer.

     After doing some research it is clear that fast food companies put millions of dollars into finding ways to make their food taste better, and last longer than their competitors.  It is also clear however that just as much money is spent trying to keep those secrets away from the rest of the human population.

Sources:

http://www.preventcancer.com/consumers/food/hotdogs.htm 

http://www.foodadditivesworld.com/preservatives.html 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preservative 

http://www.naturalnews.com/007024.html 

 Different Restaurants and their Toxins

Patricia Locker

Subway

Yes, even subway contains unhealthy chemicals. The bread they serve contains azodicarbonamide (C2H4O2N4), which is most commonly used in foamy plastics to fill the bubbles. In the United States it is legal to use this chemical in very small concentrations, however in other countries such as France, Australia and Singapore the fine for using azodicarbonamide can be as high as 15 years in jail and a fine of $450 000 because of its link to causing asthma.

Taco Bell

The rice at Taco Bell contains dimethylpolysiloxane, which is used in the fast-food industry as an anti-caking agent (prevents formation of lumps) and as an anti-foaming agent. This chemical is usually used as a type of silicone, and can be used in things like contact lenses and shampoo.

Wendy’s

The “Low-Fat Honey Mustard” dressing actually contains titanium dioxide. As a powder, titanium dioxide causes many severe health issues if inhaled, such as lung blockage, mutations, cell damage, and even cancer. Consuming it in your Wendy’s salad dressing would no doubt be harmful as well. It is commonly used to colour paints, paper, plastic, etc.

McDonalds

McDonalds sells millions of coffees every day, but the creamer is packed full of toxins, along with a lot of other items on their menu. The creamer alone contains sodium phosphate, sodium polyphosphate, tetra sodium pyrophosphate, sodium citrate and carrageenans! These are industrial chemicals that have no nutritional value and are harmful on your body. Check out the McDonalds nutritional information yourself, it’s disgusting how many strange chemicals are packed into your food! http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/404_error_page.html

sources: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydimethylsiloxane

http://www.diet-blog.com/07/whats_lurking_in_fast_food.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azodicarbonamide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanium_dioxide