What is in a McDonalds cheeseburger?

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by coaster

Cattle are raised, densely packed in pens, standing in their own feces for their entire lives and are often covered in it when they arrive at the slaughter houses.

Clearly you've never been to a Cattle ranch in Alberta. Yes feedlots are generally pretty packed places, but that is usually only for a month or two before the cow is slaughtered, not "Their entire lives".

They are fed chemical coctails and not an ounce of their native diet, grasses.

Again, you've clearly never seen a cattle ranch in Alberta, where cows graze on grasses, and are fed hey and grain in the winter. As for whether or not cows have a "Native Diet", they are a domesticated animal that has been selectively bread for hundreds of years. To say that they have a native diet is a little misleading.

Hormones and genetically modified corn as well as other not so safe additives speed up the growth process. Corn is not what cattle are meant to eat.

Yes, many cows are given growth hormones, as well as any number of vaccinations and antibiotics. As for the Corn, again, see my posts about Alberta cattle ranches. Rarely if ever are cows fed corn on the ranch. However it is pretty common for cows to eat Corn at the feed lots to fatten them up (though if I'm not mistaken this is mostly an American practice, cows in Alberta are for the most part finished on grain) before they are slaughtered.

As for the rest of your claims, I can't really comment as I don't have all the information.

Yes you make a few good points, but you are grossly misrepresenting several others.

All that being said, it doesn't take a genious to figure out that what McDonalds sells should not be regularly consumed. Not because of how the cows are raised, but because for the most part anything you get at McDonalds will be a heavy overdose of fat, sugar, and callories.

[Shazam]

Growth hormones are not allowed for use in Canada. Having said that, due to the fungible nature of the North American cow market, there's no real way to know if some cow hasn't been injected with it at some point in their lives.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by coaster

Actually McDs does do things to make the product worse. McDs and like companies put huge pressures on beef producers to grow their products bigger, faster and cheaper. Cattle are raised, densely packed in pens, standing in their own feces for their entire lives and are often covered in it when they arrive at the slaughter houses. They are fed chemical coctails and not an ounce of their native diet, grasses. Hormones and genetically modified corn as well as other not so safe additives speed up the growth process. Corn is not what cattle are meant to eat. Chicken feces is an allowable food for cattle as well as poultry that have died waiting to become McNuggets.

Do you have evidence that this is adverse to the animals health and thus the quality of the beef? I'm sure their lives aren't great, but I can't see how a sad cow would taste different. Humans eat genetically modified corn and other foods and there is no evidence that it is adverse to our health. It would be no different for cattle.

McDs and others put pressure on slaughter houses to process faster and thus, less safely. Their are now only 13 slaughterhouses in the U.S. that process well over 90% of the beef sold. We would be naive to think it is any different in Canada. The last concern these companies have for the end product is how it will effect their customer's health. Our food is big business, very big business, nothing else.

It's more economical to have large slaughterhouses for distribution. If a big business is making an unsafe product people would know about it and stop buying and it would put the company out of business. You have no evidence to assume that because they are a big company they are being unsafe and don't care about their customers health.

No matter how good McDs tastes or how much the kids love their toys, hockey cards and Ronald, they sell poison and they don't give a fiddler's @##% about us or our kids. It's the same story for pork, poultry and even the fish we are eating.
It's might be obvious that this is a bit of a sore spot for me. I have only recently come to realize the scope of these companies deceptions and disregard for us. I now buy only locally grown meat products and organic produce.
Sorry if I derailed the thread, but 8 burgers?

Again do you have any evidence that the way McDonald's produces it's food is any worse for you than your locally grown and organic food?

[coaster]

Thaks Shantz for correcting me. I have only recently started to educate myself on this topic and you obviously know a little more than I. That said, I had no intention to misrepresent, but what I have read and viewed deals mostly with American producers and Alberta standards do not seem to apply there. I would suggest that Alberta beef is an exception rather than the rule.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by coaster

Thaks Shantz for correcting me. I have only recently started to educate myself on this topic and you obviously know a little more than I. That said, I had no intention to misrepresent, but what I have read and viewed deals mostly with American producers and Alberta standards do not seem to apply there. I would suggest that Alberta beef is an exception rather than the rule.

Just keep in mind that Big Green also has a large stake in the money you spend. Don't think they're not above fearmongering to get you to spend more money. I also find that the biggest advocates for "organic" eating have a staggering lack of knowledge of food history and growth.

If you do truly want to edumacate yourself, I highly suggest you read this book:

http://www.thetruthaboutorganicfoods.org/

[coaster]

Burninator. Rent "Food Inc." It's a pretty even handed look at the industry. Not Michael Mooreish at all.

[coaster]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Just keep in mind that Big Green also has a large stake in the money you spend. Don't think they're not above fearmongering to get you to spend more money. I also find that the biggest advocates for "organic" eating have a staggering lack of knowledge of food history and growth.

If you do truly want to edumacate yourself, I highly suggest you read this book:

http://www.thetruthaboutorganicfoods.org/

I am not blind to that possibility, but I think there is a little difference between locally grown organic products and large company organic products. I know everyone I buy from well enough to have an organic beer with them.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by coaster

I am not blind to that possibility, but I think there is a little difference between locally grown organic products and large company organic products. I know everyone I buy from well enough to have an organic beer with them.

There's no real advantage for you from purchasing organic food. There is for the producer, however. No wonder they like to give you beers.

[Komskies]

Did anyone see the Jamie Oliver special on Food Network called Jamie's Fowl Dinners? I know its from a British p.o.v. but there were some pretty eye-opening things shown.

They showed a couple farms where the chickens were packed so densely and standing in enough feces that the ammonia would actually cause chemical burns to their feet.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by coaster

Burninator. Rent "Food Inc." It's a pretty even handed look at the industry. Not Michael Mooreish at all.

While I haven't seen the movie, I have read two of the books by the guy that made it. Fast Food Nation and Chew on This. I don't know about the movie, but I wouldn't call the books even handed. They do raise many interesting points, but they also make many claims without backing them. I also don't think they presented all the facts, but merely the ones that fit their message that they wanted to make.

I'll admit that I am not fully versed in the food growing market, but I have noticed that the green movement of food makes lots of claims that sound good, but aren't necessarily true. Like organic food being better for you. Genetically modified food being bad for you and the environment. Organic and locally grown being better for the environment. Automatically assuming because it's big business that it is bad for you is not an argument it's a bias.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by speede5

McDonalds is the best laxative I know of. 1/2 hour after eating, like clockwork.

Yup. Me too. Yet for some strange reason, I forget this about once a month and go back for more.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Komskies

Did anyone see the Jamie Oliver special on Food Network called Jamie's Fowl Dinners? I know its from a British p.o.v. but there were some pretty eye-opening things shown.

They showed a couple farms where the chickens were packed so densely and standing in enough feces that the ammonia would actually cause chemical burns to their feet.

Considering that Europe can't make enough food to support their population, I think they should be packing the chickens tighter.

[drewboy12]

Originally Posted by Komskies

Did anyone see the Jamie Oliver special on Food Network called Jamie's Fowl Dinners? I know its from a British p.o.v. but there were some pretty eye-opening things shown.

They showed a couple farms where the chickens were packed so densely and standing in enough feces that the ammonia would actually cause chemical burns to their feet.

and he made the chicken nuggets out of all the bones and stuff? Delicious... I want nuggets so bad now!

[coaster]

Originally Posted by Shazam

There's no real advantage for you from purchasing organic food. There is for the producer, however. No wonder they like to give you beers.

I'm aware that the benefits of organic produce is negligible but there is no debating the fact that the produce I buy off these micro farms is far better tasting than the crap I get from Jimmy Pattison. I'm more concerned with meat products. I believe the meats I buy here to be far healthier.

[Bring_Back_Shantz]

Originally Posted by coaster

I'm aware that the benefits of organic produce is negligible but there is no debating the fact that the produce I buy off these micro farms is far better tasting than the crap I get from Jimmy Pattison. I'm more concerned with meat products. I believe the meats I buy here to be far healthier.

Ahh, see that's the problem with most organic proponents though.
They usually all belive that everthing you buy at a grocery store is bad for you, but there is rarely little to no proof to back it up.

[coaster]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

Ahh, see that's the problem with most organic proponents though.
They usually all belive that everthing you buy at a grocery store is bad for you, but there is rarely little to no proof to back it up.

I don't believe that at all. There is an organic section at Save on Foods.

I'm sure as I continue to become more aware, how I view things will change but at the end of the day I will be able to make better choices based on facts rather than fiction. Even this thread is part of the process for me.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

Ahh, see that's the problem with most organic proponents though.
They usually all belive that everthing you buy at a grocery store is bad for you, but there is rarely little to no proof to back it up.

My wife is a bit of a proponent of organic food. She isn't hardcore about it, but if given the choice, she goes organic over factory farmed food.

I had to point out her hypocrisy one day though.... She was wading through the organic tomatoes looking for the "perfect" ones, and I mentioned that the "imperfect" ones taste just the same and that it was people like her that justify genetically engineered fruits and vegitables (because the imperfect ones don't get sold and are therefore wasted).

[HPLovecraft]

I used to work for an 'organic' food company packaging things like dried apricots, nut mixes, etc. I would have to put the stickers on the boxes... Everyone there (including me) was being paid under the table (not actually hired, not paying taxes), they didn't wash the plastic clam shells after I had my greasy hands all over them putting stickers on them, and the one thing that got me the most, they didn't have a single recycling bin in the whole building. An organic food company without a recycling bin. That just seems so odd to me.

Want to go organic? Grow your own veggies.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

My wife is a bit of a proponent of organic food. She isn't hardcore about it, but if given the choice, she goes organic over factory farmed food.

I had to point out her hypocrisy one day though.... She was wading through the organic tomatoes looking for the "perfect" ones, and I mentioned that the "imperfect" ones taste just the same and that it was people like her that justify genetically engineered fruits and vegitables (because the imperfect ones don't get sold and are therefore wasted).

Sooooo . . . the couch . . . . comffee?

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Bring_Back_Shantz

As for the rest of your claims, I can't really comment as I don't have all the information.

Yes you make a few good points, but you are grossly misrepresenting several others.

All that being said, it doesn't take a genious to figure out that what McDonalds sells should not be regularly consumed. Not because of how the cows are raised, but because for the most part anything you get at McDonalds will be a heavy overdose of fat, sugar, and callories.

Yup, but McDonald's is using mostly Brazilian beef from what I remember, definitely not Alberta beef.

That said my experience with Brazilian beef was it was tasty as hell, so I don't care what they are doing to it.