Table of Contents
Introduction
Many people who are conscious about their eating habits and the resulting health problems avoid taking fast foods and mostly avoid fast food joints like the McDonalds. This is because most of the ingredients used in the fast foods, chains are not healthy and may result in dire health conditions. There is use of artificial ingredients in large amounts that makes the food look appetizing and pleasing to the eye, (Food Inc Movie). The McDonald hamburgers are no exception and there have been complaints in the past form different people in different parts of the world on the amount of beef and ammonia used in preparing the hamburgers.
Beef
The juicy hamburger one rushes to when you get into a McDonalds has unique ingredients that makes it so appetizing and keeps one going for more. However, the question is what the nutritional value of the hamburger is and what do the McDonalds use to prepare it. The humbugger prepared in all the McDonalds joints are 100% beef and this means that when one eats a single hamburger he or she is consuming beef only (Food Inc Movie). The beef is always a 100% patty and has a variety of seasoning to make it yummy. The beef comes from animals bred in farms where the large corporate companies take over the production and rearing of the animal used in producing the beef. The beef used in the burgers are not grass fed as in the products do not come from animals that feed on grass. From the Inc movie, we see the animal being fed with processed food. The animals are then prepared for slaughter and this may lad to contamination with E.coli a bacteria that is found in the farms and is easily transferred from one food to the other. However, this makes no difference as the beef used in making the hamburgers come from animals fed on concentrated products. This means the beef is not in itself pure coming from the animals. The other horrifying fact about the beef is that it does not rot even if left for over a year or more. This is a fact seen from people who have taken a step to investigate the safety of the hamburgers. People die because of eating the meat, which is not well cooked and leads to the transmission of E.coli.
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E. coli in the Food Inc movie
This is a bacteria found in beef and it is common in products that come from animals fed on the concentrated agricultural products. E. coli is one of the many bacteria’s found in beef products and can cause severe health problems for anyone who consumes it. The bacteria need to be eliminated from the products before they can be deemed fit for human consumption. It is therefore very risky that the hamburgers served in the fast food restaurants contain a high percentage of beef. This makes it dangerous to consume the burger as it increases ones chances of getting the bacteria. In the Food Inc movie, a child dies from consuming a contaminated hamburger. This shows how serious the consumption of the bacteria is, especially to children, (Food Inc movie).
Ammonia
The use of ammonia in beef is not something new in the food industry. It is used to preserve the beef and keep it clean. The ammonia products are also widely used to eliminate bacteria like E. coli from the beef products. Ammonia has side effects to human beings when consumed especially when one consumes the enriched flavors in foods that makes it difficult for the digestive system to work effectively, (Food Inc Movie). Increased levels of ammonia in the blood cause it to overflow in the liver making it hard to break down to urea. The liver is then at a high threat of failing because of liver cirrhosis, inflammation or hepatitis. This shows how serious intake of ammonia is to the body system.
Bun
Another ingredient required to make a hamburger is a bun and the McDonalds use buns with the following ingredients; folic acid, reduced irons, barley flour and wheat flour. There are other ingredients used in making the buns and in most cases, one would assume that they are safe especially when you see the recipe and the ingredients they claim to use when preparing the burger, ("Eastside McDonalds lets sun in, 4). The buns are made of many chemicals like pink slime and preservatives that make it last in the shelf for many years without moulds growing on it. This shows that the buns have a high level of pink slime that even bacteria cannot consume (“As hamburgers go” Column 2).
Pickle Slices
These are genetically modified corn and soya used as an ingredient in making burgers. There is an increasing use of highly modified and genetic products in feeding farm animals and then the food producers add more pickles into the diets. This makes it a double threat to human health (McDonalds Makes GM Food Pledge 3).The animals feeding on modified foods cannot breakdown the contents and they end up storing it as fats in their bodies. The person consuming the hamburgers has a double treat to the pickles one form the animals and the other from the preparation of the burger.
Conclusion
The hamburgers have more health effectsthan is seen and it requires a lot of research and studies to establish the real health issues behind the much-consumed product. The hamburger has negative health impacts because of the unhealthy products used to prepare it right form the beef to the chemicals used to preserve. It is therefore, important for anyone who cares about his or her health to think twice before rushing to the nearest McDonalds chain o get a hamburger (Lewis2)