Essay about What's Bad About Fast Food?

America is known as the fattest country in the world. Is fast food the culprit? According to the article, "F as in Fat 2005," America's obesity rate in 2005 was a whopping 60%. Many people believe that this is due to the increasing popularity in fast food. It is much easier to go through a drive through and pick up a meal than making the food yourself. When eating out, people are more likely to eat more than when they cook. Meals at fast food and restaurants have become popular, in America the size of each meal is significantly bigger than any other country. According to Christina Sarlch, author of “Guess How Many Calories Are In A Typical Fast Food Meal” the amount of calories in a fast food meal is a gouging 1100 calories with a drink .The average number of calories needed for a person is 2000-2500 calories . Split between 3 meals that averages out to 666.67-833.33 calories a meal. Of course not many people follow that suggested calorie intake.

The University of Arizona’s “Garbage Project” study approximates the number closer to 50% when calculating in the 27 million tons thrown away by supermarkets, restaurants, and convenient stores alone adding up to an additional $30 billion. Retailers refuse to report their waste in compliance with company policy and food is sent to compactors where it becomes unusable and ends up in landfills. Globally, the FAO has declared approximately one-third of the world’s entire food supply produced for consumer consumption (1.3 billion tons) is wasted annually (Buzby & Hyman et al., 2012). Jean C. Buzby describes the entire lifecycle of food (including food waste) having “negative externalities that arise throughout the

Food waste is an environmental, economic, and ethical problem that can lead to less calorie intake and unnecessary damage of our assets. Individual behavior can redesign food waste at home and lead to bigger changes in the ecosystem. The problem is Americans throw out more food than glass, paper, and plastic. Also about 25% of food grown, processed, and transported in the US will never be consumed. When food is disposed in a landfill it rots and becomes a significant source of methane— a potent greenhouse gas with 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide.

The author further convinces the reader of the negative economic impact that convenience foods have by providing a chart from the NSW environment protection authority which provides that each year in just one state the cost of processed food waste is approximately $360 million is wasted on packaged food, $240 million on frozen food and $170 million on takeaway. In contrast of this the author communicates that if people grew their own food they would value it too much and hence there would be no waste.

“Globally, we throw out about 1.3 billion tons of food a year, or a third of all the food that we grow” (Sengupta). In the United States 33% is from agriculture, 11% from postharvest, 10% from processing, 8% from retail, and 39% from consumption. Consumers are the majority of our waste, but there's not a lot of ways to prevent this.

Marine Coles ranked KFC’s fast food restaurants with a 69/100. She says, “KFC’s food quality and freshness, its value, and the cleanliness of it’s dining area all got bad reviews. The chain which has famously sold its fried chicken in buckets since 1950’s has restaurants throughout the country.” Personal experience has shown an unclean dining area with flies, employees not wearing gloves and handling food, and restrooms with trash on the floor and un sanitized toilets. I’ve also received incomplete or totally wrong orders.

In the U.S., we are blessed with a sufficient amount of resources, especially food. Food is literally at everyone’s fingertips; people can order food efficiently off of their cellphones, and due to this abundance, it has caused many Americans to be very wasteful with their food. According to feedingamerica.org, “An estimated 25 – 40% of food grown, processed and transported in the US will never be consumed.” Not only that, but rotting food causes more greenhouses gases to be released in the air

The average American does not get enough exercise or eat the proper amount of nutrients that the body needs. These days most people eat unhealthy, processed, and sodium-filled foods that, according to the Daily Mail, are shortening American citizens’ life spans with every new generation (“Being Overweight at 40…”). Because America looks at fast food as an easy and quick option, people eat excessive amounts of this unhealthy food. Because of this, Americans

Fast food franchises are not to blame for America’s obesity dilemma, the consumers are. Over one third of all adults are obese and 17% of teenagers are either overweight or obese. Numbers have significantly risen since 1990. On a state level, in 1990, obesity was 15% or lower. In 2000, it rose as high as 25% in some states says CNN, a highly respected news source which was founded in 1980. Obesity can increase the risk of all types of medical issues including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer, and many more. America is becoming much too big and it cannot just continue to be overlooked. No one wants to lose a loved one due to Obesity related health problems. Consumers

We as individuals, one by one, person by person, little by little it all adds up and we all waste thousands of pounds of food every day without even realizing our wrong doings. We don’t notice it much, but the harm we are doing to the environment and our fellow roommates with whom we share this world with is immense. The U.S. alone is one of the major contributors to this problem. It so happens that the biggest offenders of this issue tend to be the wealthiest and more developed countries which of course includes the Unites States of America. The Unites States alone is responsible for wasting about 165 billion dollars’ worth of food. According to an article from sciencedaily.com that was published on Nov/24/2004 states that a study from the

The fast food industry provides quick, cheap, and easy access to foods that in the customers opinion, is very delicious, and affordable, however this food which millions of people around the world are constantly consuming, could actually cause major health problems, and weight gain in the long run. Major fast food companies throughout the world know what they are doing when it comes to marketing towards all types of people. Some people will find numerous different things to blame for the epidemic of fast food making individuals overweight. In recent research on, or discussions of the fast food industry having an effect on people's health, a controversial issue has been raised, and that is the fact that this problem affects not only

Fast food will be the death of the future population of the world. In the 21st century, fast food, an American staple, is the face of popular culture. People, globally, enjoy it for the cheap price and good taste, but what many people are unaware of is that fast food contains a multitude of calories. In fact the large calorie context has become such a problem that these multi billion dollar companies need to reduce the calorie content in the food being sold for the health of the customers. Part of the reason behind the high demand of fast food is that it is quick and affordable for the majority of the global population. Unfortunately, most of those consumers are unaware of how many calories that lie within the food they are eating. In a study conducted by Managed Care Outlook, researchers found that most people ranging from teenagers to adults in New England, massively underestimated the calories in the meals ordered. The adults ate meals containing 836 calories and on average assumed the calorie content to be 175 less than the actual meal, with “one-quarter of all participants underestimated the calorie content of their meals by at least 500 calories” (Managed Care Outlook 1). In this particular experiment it was clear that buyers of fast food did not truly understand what they were eating, as the data shows. If consumers are underestimating the calorie context, it is certain that they are ignorant of the complications that arise with frequent of consumption, such as the disastrous health effects. The lack of knowledge the public shares has resulted in the massive consumption of fast food. In fact, Eric Schlosser, the author of Fast Food Nation, reported that “ In 1970, Americans spent about $6 billion on fast food; in 2000, they spent more than $110 billion” (Schlosser, 3). In 30 years, Americans have spent 104 billion dollars more on fast food, in just the United States. Customers have no idea how unhealthy this food is and continue to buy troves of the product. The inexpensive, delicious, convenient food seems to be a worthy investment to those unaware of the calorie context and in accordance with these statistics the money spent on fast food will continue to rise. With the increased purchases of these

Food is not as simple as it seems. Once Anthelme Brillat-Savarin wrote “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are”. We, as human been should pay attention to what we eat because it will be reflected in the future. A lot of times we know if someone eats healthy by just seeing them, because physically they do not have a good body, healthy skin, or something like that. As we already said more than 50% of USA’s population eats fast food for many reasons: economy, quick service, etc., but the real problem come when we consider health. If People should care more about what they eat and try to avoid fast food, then they will have less possibility of diseases like high cholesterol, obesity, or cardiovascular issues and heart diseases.

In KFC feedback is taken from the customer’s perspective in order to know what the customers demand and the improvements are made.

Is fast food getting to be a problem? Many people love fast food but do not even now what it does to their body. There is getting to be more and more evidence that fast food is bad for people. Just about every day there is somebody that is going to the hospital because of all the fast food they eat. People may not like fast food because it is unhealthy, targets children, and exploits animals.