While travelling abroad maybe we have seen some of the world's most popular fast food restaurants with slogans at the entrance. In recent years there have been serious accusations against these multinational companies that get a monopoly in some strategic points of the world and dominate the market by excluding others. It is known, they serve unhealthy food, considering that palm oil is a key ingredient in many fast food dishes such as deep-fried potatoes.
For instance, the world's leading baked goods chains, "Dunkin' Domuts", provide a kind of dessert which are usually deep-fried from a flour dough. Those cakes are fried in palm oil which contains an unhealthy composition of saturated fat. As a deduction, too much saturated fats can increase the amount of cholesterol in the blood, which can increase the risk of coronary heart desease. Actually, "Dunkin' Domuts" decision makers know that frying with palm oil is cheaper but unhealthy. But they don't care!
The most important pizza restaurant in the world, which is called "Pizza Hut" and has over 34,000 restaurants in 100 countries, also uses that unhealthy oil above mentioned for their pizzas. And the same goes for "KFC", the world's most popular chicken fast food restaurants, which serve deep-fried food and still use palm oil. In 2002, Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell formed "Tricon", which later become "Yum": it is the largest food company in the world.
In addition, using palm oil is also unethical and in this perspective these multinationals companies are adding a gruesome side of "forest destruction" with every meal: sucking out palm oil for these fast food monsters slays tropical rain forest and gives a wide contribution to the extinction of some animal species, such as sumatran tiger, asian rinoceros and pygmy elephant. Please, take a few minutes of your time to see the following website that reveals the truth about the palm industry and it's effect on the wildlife, environment and people of East Asia: http://www.saynotopalmoil.com/ .
It is encouraging to hear that, since the second decade of the twentyfirst century, awareness among people about the unhealthy meals served by these restaurants chain has been increasing sharply. I really hope palm oil usage in food industry products will face change soon.
It is encouraging to hear that, since the second decade of the twentyfirst century, awareness among people about the unhealthy meals served by these restaurants chain has been increasing sharply. I really hope palm oil usage in food industry products will face change soon.
Interesting post Giorgio. I didn't really knew they use palm oil but did know it's not healthy food they serve. Even bread from the bakery's contains products that aren't healthy. Best thing is to make everything yourself but that's a lot of work.
ReplyDeleteI try to do that though except for bread that I still buy at the bakery.
My body doesn't react well at fast food and I'm going to try to stop with that completely.
You will be pleased to hear that, starting next week, I will get a box with biological fruits and vegetables from the season grown by local farmes at home every week. My little contribution to the environment and supporting local farmers. Not to forget to mention that it tastes so much better than the stuff I buy at the supermarket.
It's great to hear you have chosen to buy more local and fresh food. A sustainable food and farm system can improve our health and reduce our exposure to harmful chemicals and food-borne disease. Moreover, buying local goods can support the economic vitality and strength of community where you live and work. I think the development of globalized economy still continues. And we can hear of semiconductors from Taiwan and cars from Korea but not of kiwi from New Zealand and walnuts from Turkey! For instance, olives are a fruit produced by the Mediterranean evergreen tree throughout various regions of Italy and other parts of the world and it is known that the health benefits of olive oil are extensive. How can we buy palm oil from Indonesia?
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Giorgio! I totally agree with you on the downsides of palm oil - not healthy and not good for the environment. Personally I use olive oil for cooking.
ReplyDeleteWow.... I had no idea about the use of palm oil in restaurants. We should start demanding that better ingredients be used in our 'fast food'.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post!
Nice Article. I write for a health company and I like reading posts that talk about food we need to watch out for when eating out.... I am surprised you didn't offer any alternatives like olive oil :-) I don't think fast food has to be processed food. The mindset is wrong and unfortunately that is what is harder to change.
ReplyDeleteThe less expensive the oil the more unhealthy the food :) That's why fast food restaurants don't use olive oil: it is more expensive than palm oil. Sunflower oil, which is commonly used in food as a frying oil, is cheaper enough and could be the third way.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see that my running friends enjoyed this topic and were interested in my post :) Thanks to everyone for reading this post and leaving comments!