Fast-Food Is to Blame for the Public Health Problems

Fast-food is to Blame for the Public Health Problems

On our way to school or work, average Americans almost always pass by some sort of fast-food franchise; they are more accessible than any other industries. "For every standard deviation increase in fast-food exposure, the odds of consuming fast food near home increased 11%-61% and the odds of a healthy diet decreased 3%-17% (Moore Pg.29). These active marketing methods and rapid expansions of fast-food industry in American society are causing alarming increase in health problems and negative social trends. The fast-food is responsible for the overall deterioration of public health because of three major processes: using preservatives and additives, cooking the food items in uniform manner and using target marketing strategies toward the young consumers leading to irreversible health problems.

In order for the fast-food restaurants to make the same kinds of menu with identical taste, they go through uniform process of preparing ingredients. The headquarters buys the ingredients and packages them in a few central facilities and ship them out all over the world. In this major process, many health risks are evident. First, fast-food is made with the lowest quality ingredients and innumerable preservatives and additives. "Most of the meat from any of the major chains has anything but a simple ingredients list. They add emulsifiers, preservatives, MSG, artificial colors, trans fats, and hidden ingredients under generic labels such as spices, or natural and artificial flavors" ("Surprise Ingredients" Para. 4). In order for the companies to buy large quantities of ingredients and preserve them, they have to put in a lot of chemicals to make the ingredients readily available anytime to all their franchises all over the world.

The second problem with the food additives and preservatives is that they usually cause severe health problems. If consumed often, preservatives and food additives can actually cause prolonged illnesses and lasting side-effects. According to the consumer advocacy group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), food preservatives and additives, such as sodium nitrate, sodium bicarbonate, potassium bisulfite and potassium met bisulfite, are widely used in main ingredients for fast-food franchises. They can cause tumor growth, cancer, increased blood pressure and allergies leading to serious health outcomes (Food Additives Para 1). If fast-food is consumed on a daily basis, the health problems will become much more serious.

The next issue with food additives is that they are addictive. Many people gobble up MSG at least three times a day without knowing they are actually consuming that much, the industry is intelligent enough to know that consumers don't like certain chemicals. Therefore they escape the detection as the harmless sounding "natural flavor" or "hydrolyzed vegetable protein" (Virginia Para 2-3). People soon get used to chemical additives and refuse to eat certain foods because they're tasteless and bland compared to the foods cooked with MSGs. People gradually become addicted to MGS and crave for them to make the food taste better. Fast-food is notorious for using MSG. Even though many fast-food restaurants comfort their customers by saying they don't MSG, there are so many aliases representing different versions of food additives. Addictive nature of these food additives will alter the eating habits of so many people in a negative way.

After the ingredients are bought and processed with preservatives and additives, they finally go through the uniform process of being cooked. In this process, many harmful practices make fast-food the worst choice for meals. In order to make all kinds of buns and meat patties readily available in a matter of seconds, the food ingredients are usually pre-cooked. To simplify the process of making the food, the employees follow a set regimen to make the food taste the same every time different employees make the food. That's why meats are frozen, thawed and microwaved all the time. The cooking process doesn't require any sophisticated skills so that anyone can make the same kinds of food just by following simple instructions. Skipping many steps of cooking makes fast-food unhealthier than other slow-foods because the freshness and sanitation are usually compromised to expedite the food preparation processes.

Deep-fried side menus are also the problem causing elements of fast-food. French fries or fried pastries are sometimes more fattening than the main menu itself. Fast-food got its name because of the rapid process of food