Chew On This II

I am still learning many disgusting things on my journey through the fast-food world. I have just read through a section concerning French fries and I learned that these fries actually travel hundreds of miles, frozen, to restaurants where they get refried and then sold at twenty times what it cost to make the French fries! Schlosser also discussed the fact that artificial beef flavoring is used to make fries taste better. Then, he talked about all the chemicals that we put in our food to make it taste and look better. I was flabbergasted at the number of different chemicals that go into "artificial strawberry flavor." Cinnamyl isobutyrate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, 4-methylacetophenone, I couldn't pronouce one quarter of them!

Food coloring was another topic. I know everyone has seen crazy yoghurt that is strawberry flavoured, but is blue instead of the normal pink. I came within inches of vomiting when I found that the pink and red coloring of many of my yoghurts and candies was also called carmine, or carminic acid, and is made from the cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus costa). Imagine! A bug in your food!

However, one thing I was glad to find was the story of a Jain man, meaning he couldn't eat meat, sued McDonald's for using beef flavoring in its fries. This case caused a newspaper article, which later led to riots in India, including one where angered protesters smeared cow poop on a statue of Ronald McDonald. I loved the fact that the man won the case and McDonald's had to donate $10 million to vegetarian and Hindu groups. Finally, McDonald's gives us money!