Did you know that McDonald's potatoe plants are sprayed with a substance so poisonous that workers are not allowed to work the fields for 5 days after the application.
They're buns have 32 ingredients.
The hamburghamburgers have less than 25% beef....
The FDA is useless.
We have ingredients in our food that are illegal in other countries.
That’s why we haven’t eaten at McDonald’s in 5-6 years. I see big changes in the horizon for improving the quality of what we eat…and getting a lot of garbage that passes for “food” out!
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We're all about being as factual and myth-busty as possible here, so what are your sources for these claims? What is the other 75%+ of a McDonald's beef patty made of, and the source for that? If we're going to write and repeat these things we should have legit sources or we're just repeating unsubstantiated rumors.
Snopes has a whole section of false McDonald’s false rumors including the potatoes. And, the search engines have already indexed this thread and a simple keyword search brings up this thread.
That's how potatoes are harvested, whether for McDonald's or whomever. The tops of the potatoes (above ground) are sprayed with a substance that kills the tops and over the period of five days this substance breaks down. To say that McDonald's potatoes are treated this way is correct-to not add that every potato in the US is harvested the same way is "picking" on McDonald's.
This sounds like what I see them do around here for cotton fields. They spray something that kills off the plants, before they harvest the cotton. I used to worry about it when I lived near a cotton field back in the 90's, and had a small child in the house.
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If the FDA and USDA performed detailed analyses of the production methods and composition of highly processed foods that would be great. They could publish the results openly transparently and in an easy to understand format. We could cite those sources here.
But they don't do that. Which I think is a bigger issue than substantiating specific claims about what is in our food and how its produced.
If there was ample and trustworthy information it would suffocate speculation. But scientific establishments and regulatory bodies are captured by corporate influence. So we have to trust the people profiting from the deterioration of our people's health or online personalities selling supplements and survival food kits. Is it any wonder the doors are open to wild speculation and information-by-meme?
Rumor: McDonald's buys their meat from a company called '100% Beef,' which allows them to legally but deceptively claim they use 100% beef in their hamburgers.
I don't know about Snopes now, but I sent more Snopes links to my buddies who kept sending me urban myth e-mails before Facebook became urban myth king. They did good research.
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I like that we focus on bbq and grilling, but I think discussions of other cooking menthods, ingredients and such are good to have. But I think they should be fact checked and I think the members are doing a good job.
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Farmers all around me here grow potatoes for McDonalds.
What you say is true. I watch them plant with a sprayer mounted to the front boom. They spray for bugs, they spray for weeds. Then when the potatoes are ready to be harvested, they spray the plants dead so they won’t plug up the harvester.
I also have problems with many aspects of ultraprocessed foods, but I think the term is nebulous and misunderstood. Potato chips are made from potatoes fried in oil and salt is added. Is this ultraprocessed? Some additives to food are beneficial such as folate, (Vitamin B) in bread and iodine in table salt. It is also important to know that some preservatives improve shelf life and prevent food poisoning and save money. Likewise some pesticides siginficantly increase yields and make food less expensive. Let's not paint with too broad a brush. Let's identify the good guys and the bad guys.
You know I’m 72 years old and as I look back down the ladder at those who fell off before getting here. There are several factors that tend to help staying on the ladder. Quitting smoking, drinking with moderation, getting a good nights sleep, maintaining a reasonable body weight, going for a walk often, and not mouthing off at your wife all seem to extend life greatly. Were it not for drug overdoses our life spans would look great. As someone who has had real, think you might die, food poisoning 3 times I don’t mind a few preservatives. While it can always use improving our food is pretty good. Worry is much more dangerous to your health than a Big Mac. IMHO
As I have stated often, if you eat 3 meals a day x 365 days that's 1095 meals a year. If you live to 80 and skip a few meals you will eat 80,000 meals. You can have a bag of Cheetos every now and then. It won't cost you a minute.
I am quite a sucker for a bag of chili cheese Fritos, so not holy here. Still, I am thankful that Meathead has allowed this thread. Politics in the US right now is awful, and I agree leaving it to other venues is fair. Still, I think that, although this is officially a "grilling and cooking site", food quality and food safety are real concerns of most of us. I want to cook, and eat, and serve, good food that is not only tasty, but wholesome and safe. I also want valid info that is vetted and accurate. I understand some people question anything that doesn't launch out of their own brain, but when sources are good (like UF, even though I'm a Vol) we should accept. I hope this kind of conversation can continue, along with the recipes and knives. So, ok, my soap box issue of the day is done. Good night.
It's really a tough row to hoe, honestly. Some of these production methods may be a little questionable, I'll admit. But America truly is "the world's breadbasket". The efficiency and productivity of our farming industry can (and does) feed much of the world, and does it at a reasonable cost. Much of this efficiency is brought about by enhancement through methods some may find questionable. This includes the mechanical killing of the potato plants vs the chemical killing. I read through a good portion of the article on the methods (thanks ComfortablyNumb!), and while it was interesting and provided me with a whole new perspective on growing potatoes, what it didn't address in ANY way was the actual herbicides used and if there are any potential deleterious human effects - or if the herbicide is 100% biodegraded before the potato tubers are harvested - this would be 'ideal', but may not be possible or practical. I don't know, this would take an even larger amount of research on my part... aaaaaand I suspect there are people in the industry spending their entire careers working to achieve just that.
We have to be very very conscious of the Dunning-Kruger effect here - that it's super easy to read an article or two on the intarwebz and all of a sudden think we are an expert on a subject that isn't just super complex, but has entire industries of very smart people working full time (and more!) trying to improve it. And not JUST from a "maximize production and profit!" standpoint, but there are some very smart and dedicated people out there also working to try to make it better, safer and overall healthier.
Sometimes it pays to do some research and learn about a process so you can make the decision whether it's worth it to you to do this yourself, as DavidNorcross and UncleSpike have done. It takes work to grow your own, and it's true that it likely is better for us overall, I think - both in the quality of the food AND in the quality of the life we would lead in the PURSUIT of the food - i.e., getting out and actually working in nature, hoeing a garden, gathering vegetables, etc. But the truth is, either we all do that for ourselves, or someone decides to take on the work FOR us - requiring more efficient methods to provide for a greater number of people... aaaand we're right back here to large corporate entities growing for profit.
And government paying large corporate entities NOT to grow food. lol. But that's a whole 'nuther discussion. lol
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