Criticism of fast food

Fast food has been criticized for negative health effects, animal cruelty, cases of worker exploitation, children-targeted marketing and claims of cultural degradation via shifts in people's eating patterns away from traditional foods. Fast food chains have come under fire from consumer groups, such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a longtime fast food critic over issues such as caloric content, trans fats and portion sizes. Social scientists have highlighted how the prominence of fast food narratives in popular urban legends suggests that modern consumers have an ambivalent relationship (characterized by guilt) with fast food, particularly in relation to children.[1]

Some of these concerns have helped give rise to the slow food and local food movements. These movements seek to promote local cuisines and ingredients, and directly oppose laws and habits that encourage fast food choices. Proponents of the slow food movement try to educate consumers about what its members consider the environmental, nutritional, and taste benefits of fresh, local foods.

Health based criticisms

Fast food often contains significant amounts of mayonnaise, cheese, salt, fried meat, and oil. These ingredients are typically high in calories and fat, contributing to their energy-dense nature (Schlosser). Consuming excessive amounts of such foods can lead to an unbalanced diet. Health experts, including dieticians, generally recommend a balanced diet that includes adequate proteins, vitamins, and minerals, while limiting excessive intake of fats and carbohydrates. The overconsumption of fast food has been associated with various health problems, including obesity and cardiovascular diseases. Additionally, research indicates that frequent consumption of fast food may negatively impact appetite regulation and respiratory system function.,[2] and central nervous system function (Schlosser). In a cross-sectional data study of more than 100,000 adolescents in 32 countries (including low-, middle-, and high-income countries), it was found that fast food is associated with an increase in suicide attempts.[3][4]

According to the Massachusetts Medical Society Committee, fast foods are commonly high in fat content, and studies have found associations between fast food intake and increased body mass index (BMI) and weight gain.[5]

Fast food commercials

A 2012, estimated report by the US Federal Trade Commission revealed a $7.9 billion marketing expenditure difference between expenditure on marketing to all audiences and expenditure on marketing strictly to children and adolescents. According to this report, Fast food industries spent approximately $9.7 billion on marketing food and beverages to the general audience while they spent only $1.8 billion on marketing to children and adolescents.[29]

Consumer responsibility

Spokespeople for the fast food industry claim that there are no good or bad foods, but instead there are good or bad diets. The industry has defended itself by placing the burden of healthy eating on the consumer, who freely chooses to consume their product outside of what nutritional recommendations allow.[30]

Many fast food restaurants added labels to their menus by listing the nutritional information below each item. The intent was to inform consumers of the caloric and nutritional content of the food being served there and result in directing consumers to the healthier options available. However, reports do not display any significant drop in sales at sandwich or burger locations which highlights no change in consumer behavior even after food was labeled.[31]

Fast food is also affordable on people's incomes and expenses relating to the regions they live. "Healthy foods including whole-grain products, low-fat dairy foods, and fresh fruits and vegetables may be less available, and relatively costlier, in poor and minority neighborhoods."[32] So, fast food stores are located in the areas where the demand by the population is high.

Some other studies show that eating fast food is not dependent on a person's income. Researchers found that an amount of fast food consumed does not correlate with a person's income level.

The CSR Halo Effect

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Effect is a phrase used to judge a category based on judgments from other similar categories or is in relation to them.[38] To put it in terms of the fast food industry, a customer who had a bad experience at a McDonald's would associate that experience with other McDonald's, casting a per-conspired image in their mind of how all other McDonald's are. Ioannis Assiouras states that "positive prior CSR leads to higher sympathy and lower anger and schadenfreude toward the company, than negative prior CSR or lack of CSR information."[38]

Worker discrepancies and strikes

Many fast food employees are adults who earn minimum wage, which in the United States is around $7.25 for every hour.[39] Around 60% of fast food workers are 25 years and older.[40][41]

Many employees have protested to raise the minimum wage. On 5 December 2013, protesters from 100 cities in the United States held demonstrations for a $15 hourly wage.[42] This protest was one of a series of strikes that began 2012, in New York City, protesting against low wages.[43]

In the largest increase in decades, fast food workers have seen a 10% increase in pay since 2020.[44]

Fast food and the pandemic

The 2019 COVID-19 pandemic has created many challenges for businesses to stay afloat. The pandemic led to many business cutting hours for minimum wage workers, which led workers to seek new employment opportunities.[46]

Fast food workers continue to face hostile work environments for those who choose to stay. They are already in a low paying job and need to go to work so they continue show up even if they show any symptoms due to lack of coverage and legislation that only support COVID-19 related illnesses.[47] With two thirds of front line workers being women with a minor child at home, the only option is to show up for work.[48]

Social distancing is not always an option in fast food restaurants due to limited space. Fast food workers were not always provided with proper PPE, one worker even cited utilizing the same mask for up to a week at a time. Both of these variables contributed to fast food workers being at a higher risk for contracting the virus.[49]

Packaging waste

A 2011 study of litter in the San Francisco Bay Area by Clean Water Action found that nearly half of the litter present on the streets was fast food packaging. The Natural Resources Defense Council's paper "Waste and Opportunity 2015: Environmental Progress and Challenges in Food, Beverage, and Consumer Goods Packaging" reported that no fast food brands were meeting best practices for use of recycled materials or promotion of recycling of the used packaging. The EPA states that only a tiny proportion of the plastic waste generated by the fast food industry is recycled.[51]

Disposable tableware as a business model

The use of disposable tableware shifts costs from in-house employment to the municipal waste stream. By convincing consumers to bus disposable tableware, mostly in the 1960-1975 time period, formula fast food restaurants were able to gain competitive advantage over full-service lunch counter operations, despite the additional cost of the disposable items. Some attempts[52][53]

Fast food industry's response to criticism

John Merritt, senior vice president of public affairs for Hardee's says their "strategy is not necessarily to move towards healthier items" but "to move towards more choice."[57]

In 2013, McDonald's and Dunkin' Brands publicly pledged to transition out of their use of foam hot beverage cups. McDonald's has replaced foam with paper cups, but Dunkin' has not initiated transition. The use of foam cups can still be seen at Chick-fil-A, Burger King, and KFC. Chipotle uses aluminum meal lids that are made from 95% recycled material, but they do not have postconsumer recycling, so the lids that are left on-site are landfilled.[58]

Animal cruelty

In 2015, a gruesome video clip of a T&S farm in Dukedom, Tennessee, was released by animal rights activists, where workers were caught abusing chickens. Tyson Foods, the company which delivers chicken nuggets to the fast food giant McDonald's, cancelled their contract with the farm stating "animal well-being" is their utmost priority. McDonald's supported Tyson Foods' decision and described the workers actions as unacceptable.[59]

References

Robin Croft (2006), Folklore, families and fear: understanding consumption decisions through the oral tradition, Journal of Marketing Management, 22:9/10, pp1053-1076, ISSN 0267-257X^
Sharon Kirkey. "Fast Food May Be Linked to Higher Asthma Rates; Researchers Look for Triggers of Respiratory Affliction." Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Journal, Jan. 2009.^
"Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University Target Affective Disorders (Fast Food Consumption and Suicide Attempts among Adolescents Aged 12-15 Years from 32 Countries)." Obesity, Fitness & Wellness Week, 2020, pp. 660.^

Food-contact paper packaging

Fast food often comes in wrappers coated with polyfluoroalkyl phosphate esters (PAPs) to prevent grease from leaking through them. These compounds are able to migrate from the wrappers into the packaged food.[18] Upon ingestion, PAPs are subsequently biotransformed into perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs), compounds which have long attracted attention due to their detrimental health effects in rodents and their unusually long half-lives in humans. While epidemiological evidence has not demonstrated causal links between PFCAs and these health problems in humans, the compounds are consistently correlated with high levels of cholesterol and uric acid, and PAPs as found on fast food packaging may be a significant source of PFCA contamination in humans.[18][19][20]

Fast food and diet

On average, nearly one-third of U.S. children aged 4 to 19 eat fast food every day. Over the course of a year this is likely to result in a child gaining six extra pounds in weight.[21] In a research experiment published in Pediatrics, 6,212 children and adolescents aged 4 to 19 were examined to extrapolate some information about fast food. Upon interviewing the participants in the experiment, it was reported that on any given day 30.3% of the total sample had eaten fast food. Fast-food consumption was prevalent in both males and females, in all racial/ethnic groups, and in all regions of the country.[22]

Additionally, in the study children who ate fast food, compared to those who did not, tended to consume more total fat, carbohydrates, and sugar-sweetened beverages. Children who ate fast food also tended to eat less fiber, milk, fruits, and non-starchy vegetables. After reviewing these test results, the researchers concluded that consumption of fast food by children seems to have a negative effect on an individual's diet, in ways that could significantly increase the risk of obesity.[22] Due to having reduced cognitive defenses against marketing, children may be more susceptible to fast food advertisements, and consequently have a higher risk of becoming obese.[23] Fast food is only a minuscule factor that contributes to childhood obesity. A study conducted by researchers at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Gillings School of Global Public Health showed that poor diet and obesity as an overall factor are the leading causes of rising obesity rates in children. "While reducing fast-food intake is important, the rest of a child's diet should not be overlooked", said Jennifer Poti, co-author and doctoral candidate in the university's Department of Nutrition. [24]

Contrary evidence has been documented that questions the correlation of a fast food diet and obesity. A 2014 People Magazine article recounts the experience, with a sample size of one, of John Cisna, a science teacher at Colo-NESCO High School, who ate a fast food diet for 90 days. At the end of 90 days he had lost 37 pounds and his cholesterol level went from 249 to 170. Cisna kept to a strict 2,000 calorie limit a day and walked 45 minutes a day. Harley Pasternak, a celebrity trainer and nutrition expert, supports Cisna's experiment by saying, "While I don't think it's a great idea to eat too much fast food... I do think he is right. Fast food, while far from healthy, doesn't make people gain weight. Eating too much fast food too often is what can make you gain weight—the same way eating too much of anything can pack on the pounds."[25] A cross-sectional study in China shows that the relationship between BMI and times per week fast food consumption was not significant.[26]

Jared Fogle's drastic weight loss on a Subway diet, which is considered a fast food chain, is another case that poses a fair debate against the idea that the culprit of obesity is fast food. Fogle dropped 235 pounds by consuming Subway sandwiches for lunch and dinner daily. With no cheese or mayonnaise, the calories of both sandwiches totaled less than 1,000 calories in a day.[27]

Fast food labels without the calorie amount increase the risks of obesity. In the article of M. Mclnerney et al. is examined the impact of fast food labeling on college students' weight loss. In the study the students required to label the calories of fast foods in the items' lists. The results showed positive effects on the significance of weight loss among college students.[28] Thus, fast food restaurants need to post the caloric content of their products to inform the consumers about their food choices in order to prevent obesity.