The Big Problem with the Big Mac

McDonalds is the leading global foodservice retailer in the world today. They have more than 32,000 local restaurants who serve more than 60 million people in 117 countries each day. They have over 145 food items on their menu, and yet one seems to stick out from the rest, the Big Mac.

The Big Mac has been McDonald’s flagship sandwich since 1970, when it was added to the menu of every McDonalds in America. It was first created by Jim Delgatti on August 22, 1967 when he tried to add a unique item to the menu of his Uniontown, PA McDonalds. It took about two years for McDonalds to accept it and add it to their menus, but once they did, it was an instant classic.

Though the Big Mac may be one of the world’s most popular and frequently sold burgers, how is it made? I decided to try and answer this question by tracking each of the Big Mac’s ingredients from their origins to the kitchen, here are my results.

The Big Mac consists of:

100% Beef Patty

Big Mac bun

Pasteurized Process American cheese

Lettuce

Onions

Pickle slices

Big Mac “secret sauce”

Beef

McDonalds purchases their beef mainly from the U.S, but also from sources in Australia and New Zealand, where the beef is frozen and then shipped. The beef comes from corn-fed cattle, so while it may be true that their meat is indeed 100% beef, it comes from unhealthy cattle. The reason that McDonalds beef is so unhealthy is because it comes from corn fed cattle as opposed to grass fed ones. Some factory farms choose to feed their cattle corn because it fattens the cow quicker before they are slaughtered for beef. This allows farms to produce a significant amount more beef, considering they can get their cattle to an acceptable size in a timelier manner. However, because corn is not in the diet of cows, this can lead to a higher chance of E.Coli bacteria infecting the beef, and it can lead to bloat, diarrhea, ulcers, liver disease, and a weakened immune system in cows.

Pasteurized Process American cheese

McDonalds gets their dairy products from chains such as Kraft and Dean Foods, which leads many consumers to trust it. Unfortunately, many consumers are uneducated on just what pasteurized process cheese is. Pasteurized process cheese is a cheese that doesn’t meet the moisture or milk fat standards. It’s made from a combination of multiple cheeses and may contain additives such as cream or anhydrous milk fat. The cheese is then blended and heated with an emulsifier such as sodium or tartrate.

Lettuce

McDonald’s uses 14 different varieties of lettuce, depending on what’s seasonal, for both their Big Mac’s and salads. Their primary produce supplier is Taylor Farms in the Salinas Valley, CA. This is an industrial farm which treats their lettuce with a combination of 12 or so different chemicals and pesticides which serve to make the lettuce look more green and fresh than it does naturally.

Onions & Pickles

McDonalds acquires their onions and pickles from Martin-Brower and Gold west Foods respectively. Both of these distributors dehydrate their vegetables and then transport them to McDonalds, where they are soaked in water for a certain amount of time until they are back to their original moisture levels.

Big Mac bun

While the bun may seem like the safest thing on the Big Mac, this is yet another uneducated mistake by the consumer. The Big Mac bun contains chemicals and additives such as: high fructose corn syrup, ammonium chloride, azodicarbonamide (which is banned in many parts of the world), calcium propionate (preservative), and many others.

“Secret Sauce”

While this has long been thought of as “what makes the Big Mac the Big Mac” it is in fact just one of the factors making the Big Mac so unhealthy. Some of the known ingredients in the “secret sauce” include high fructose corn syrup, vegetable protein (aka MSG), sugar, and caramel color.

My views on McDonalds and the Big Mac were GREATLY altered after conducting this research, because it was really made clear to me for the first time just how much McDonalds ignores health and safety issues in favor of profits. As shown by the use of unhealthy materials such as beef from corn fed cattle and pasteurized process cheese, McDonalds chooses to use materials that have a better chance of making them a profit regardless of the implications, and I believe the public should be made aware of this.

That’s why I agree with groups such as “McSpotlight” and “McCruelty” which are focused on making the public aware of the unethical actions of McDonalds, and providing the people with alternatives and ways to show their disappointment with such a major franchise. I believe that it's okay to use certain resources over others if you believe they will bring you a profit, but when they put the consumer at risk, it becomes unethical.

Is Nutella as sweet as it seems?

Nutella is creamy hazelnut spread that millions of families have enjoyed for breakfast for years. It is acclaimed for its sweet and smooth taste but one day as I was eating it I wondered, how is this tasty treat made? So I started to dig around online and found some interesting things. I started off on the Nutella website and found that.

Nutella is produced by a brand named Ferrero that originiated out of Italy in the 1940s becaue of the shortage of cocoa beans. Since then Nutella has flourished and can be found all over the world. On the Ferrero website it has a list of ethical business and food ingredient promises which are as follows:

Ethical Source of Cocoa: Ferrero is involved in working towards the economic and social development of the world's cocoa farming communities, as well towards a supply chain free of forced child and adult labour.

Ferrero participates in the common industry commitment established in 2001 under the Harkin-Engel Protocol, aimed at developing standards for certification that cocoa beans and their derivates have been grown and processed without any of the worst forms of child labour.

Ferrero is a participant of ICI, the International Cocoa Initiative, indirectly up to 2006 and a direct member starting in 2007. Furthermore, through the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF), Ferrero works towards improving the well being of cocoa farming communities.

Palm oil: Ferrero has been a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) since 2005. RSPO was created in 2004 by organisations involved in the supply chain of palm oil, to promote the growth and use of sustainable palm oil through co-operation within the supply chain and its stakeholders. For more information see rspo.org.

FERRERO also participated in the recent Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC).

(http://www.nutella.com.au/company/ethics/)

I wanted to look more into each of these subjects. Regarding Child labor Ferrero claims that they try to grow and process their cocoa beans without the worst forms of child labor. However hazelnuts are one of the main ingredients of Nutella and the conditions in which they are harvested is atrocious riddled with child labor with rigorous 12 hour day’s work with only an hour break and an earning of one euro an hour. Ferrero is the number one buyer of hazelnuts in the global community and 75% of the world’s hazelnuts come from Turkey. Ferrero admits to using Turkish hazelnuts. On their website Ferrero claims that “cocoa beans and their derivates have been grown and processed without any of the worst forms of child labour “ However does not say anything about the conditions in which their hazelnuts are being grown and produced and the conditions in which hazelnuts are harvested in Turkey go against their website’s claim. “Research by the Turkish education union Egitim Sen (a member of Education International) shows that many children are missing three to six months of education every year, even though Turkey has a law for eight years of compulsory education. Children work along with their parents in harvesting hazelnuts. The families are living in poverty. During the harvesting season the parents and their children are living in tents in make-shift camping sites, often without sanitation or running water.” (http://www.stopchildlabour.eu/stopchildlabour/English/News/articles/Bitter-Hazelnuts-Stop-Child-Labour-urges-companies-to-transparency-and-action)

Ferrero also boasts in its association with the RSPO to promote sustainable Palm Oil use. This seems to be an encouraging and “eco-friendly” answer to the deforestation due to palm oil use however many organizations no longer recognize the RSPO as being legitimate. In March of 2010 a briefing about the RSPO came out exposing its many flaws. (http://www.wrm.org.uy/publications/briefings/RSPO.pdf) Even stating that the RSPO certification is a fraud because the criteria in which the companies must abide by are flexible in interpretation and not all necessary to follow as well as the claim that palm oil can be sustainable (even within the impact of large-scale oil palm monocultures). Also in November 2009 an open letter was sent to RSPO and WWF from numerous different organizations it said “We are deeply concerned that RSPO certification is being used to legitimize an expansion in the demand for palm oil and thus in oil palm plantation, and it serves to greenwash the disastrous social and environmental impacts of the palm oil industry. The RSPO standards do not exclude clear cutting of many natural forests, the destruction of other important ecosystems, nor plantings on peat. The RSPO certifies plantations which impact on the livelihoods of local communities and their environments. The problems are exacerbated by the in-built conflict of interest in the system under which a company wanting to be certified commissions another company to carry out the assessment.”

After gathering this information I ask myself the question why? Why do companies choose child labor over dignified working conditions? Why do companies put on a mask of being concerned for the environment or actually being concerned but partner with organizations that do not live up to sustainable living standards? I believe it all comes down to profit. Businesses are in for the profit and so if they are able to get the same product from children working for a euro an hour than from an adult working in dignified conditions for 10 euro an hour the decision is simple. The connection of nation state system allows for the externalization of costs to function effectively for the profit of businesses. However this process runs on short term thinking for short term profit. If the RSPO can claim sustainable use of palm oil but have lenient criteria than companies can still participate in cheap deforestation and the consumer can have a happy conscience but in the future when all the land is deforested than the palm oil companies will fail. Long term sustainability is not thought of because the profit of the here and now blinds people and so the cheapest possible avenue to produce an item is used in order to gain the biggest profit.

Once I reflected on that I again began to ask myself a question of why does a company even claim to have these ethical guidelines to their company, why wouldn’t they just let the consumer continue to live in their ignorance? I think this is due to an awakening in society of a global conscience. I am an optimist that people are beginning to see the world around them and the need to protect the environment in order to ensure the livelihood of the coming generations. Therefore people are more concerned of the conditions in which the products they are consuming are made. Consequently it has become increasingly beneficial for companies to give the appearance of being “green”. Again, it is all for profit.

The stand in which consumers can take against companies destroying our environment is to be informed where our food is coming from. Each time we buy an item at the store we essentially are voting and saying that we approve of the conditions in which the product was produced and we give permission for it to continue in that way. By gaining knowledge about the food we eat we are able to make better decisions in what we “vote” for and perhaps one day revolutionize the way in which food is produced.

Del Monte's Banana Production

Containing vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, bananas are a convenient way to begin a healthy life. By consuming bananas, which are great sources of potassium, the chances of having high blood pressure and stroke are diminished. In regards to vitamins, bananas supply about 20% of vitamin B6 needed daily by the human body to support the immune system. Our yellow friends also include complex carbohydrates that are a very nutritious part of a healthy diet—especially when one is trying to lose some weight.

I hope that these healthy facts about bananas will make you want to go to the grocery store right now and get a few bananas to start living a much more healthy life. But wait… there are a few things that you should know before going to the store and grabbing those bananas. If you allow me, I can help you make the wisest decision in your life by picking the best bananas in the market! Are you interested? If so, then let’s go to the store! Those bananas that you are about to purchase have gone a long way before they arrived at that shelf.

It is probable that most of the bananas on the shelf were from one of the three Major banana distributors in the world—Chiquita, Dole, and Del Monte. Let’s take Del Monte Foods Co. for example. Del Monte grows their bananas in Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Guatemala. The plantations are located in these countries because of their tropical locations that provide high temperatures, vast amounts of rainfall, and rich alluvial soil. One of the major producers of bananas for Del Monte is Costa Rica. Here, good and bad things have happened since Del Monte came in and established its banana plantations on this country. Since the establishment of the banana plantations, “hundreds of thousands of hectares of rich and diverse tropical ecosystems have been transformed into monotonous and chemical drenched landscapes.” On the other hand, these plantations do provide jobs for impoverished people of these developing countries. To improve the methods of production, the Rainforest Alliance and the Costa Rican based Ambio Foundation now have the “Eco-ok” certification program. This program is meant to drive growers to have better growing techniques that will benefit both humans and the environment.

There is also some important information that you should know before deciding which type of banana you will be purchasing. Del Monte provides four different types of bananas: the Loose bananas—which are shifted in boxes to prevent damage and uncleanness; the Pre-Pack bananas—packed in bags for retail selling; Organic Bananas—bananas grown without the use of artificial pesticides [I would recommend you to get these ones if you do not want to suffer from any disease caused by pesticides]; Fair Trade Bananas—bananas with the FAIRTRADE mark guarantee that the workers are given a fair living wage and price for the product; and Plantains—a close relative to the banana mainly used in Latin American and African dishes.

Now that you have learned a little more about bananas, you are free to decide which kind to purchase and consume, knowing that you are doing something good for your body. And if you chose to buy the fair trade banana, you will be making the lives of people in the banana industry a little better.

Here is a video of a regular day of production at one of the banana plantations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wVsQQ1eWRw

Sources:

McCracken, Carrie. "Banana Plantations in Central America." Tripod - Succeed Online - Excellent Web Hosting, Domains, E-mail and an Easy Website Builder Tool. 1998. Web. 13 Apr. 2011. <http://members.tripod.com/foro_emaus/BanPlantsCA.htm>.

"Global Fruit." Global Fruit - Home. Web. 14 Apr. 2011. <http://www.globalfruit.ie/index.php?option=com_content>.

Hershey's Milk Chocolate

Hershey's Chocolate Company got its start in the late 1800s in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. by a man named Milton S. Hershey. Using the surrounding farmland for all it's milk needs, Hershey flourished after weathering the Depression in the 1930s to become the world famous company it is today.



As the Chocolate World Tour says, Hershey's Milk Chocolate starts with fresh, whole milk (or non-fat milk as now is the case) and a commitment to a well-made chocolate product. Hershey's has a long legacy of providing not only a cheap, sweet treat to their consumers, it includes a long-standing investment in the local community and partnerships with countries abroad. In 2011, the Hershey Company began a pilot program in Ghana called CocoaLink-Connecting Cocoa Communities"^[1]. The President of the World Cocoa Foundation declared, "'another great example of the public-private partnerships that form the basis of WCF's programs to benefit cocoa farmers, their families and their communities'"^[2].

But what about the actual production of America's favorite chocolate?

The Hershey Company website includes an entire page, with a video and audio component^[3] and print format ^[4], devoted to the creation of their chocolate bars. But I'm going to focus on two aspects of production:


Where is Hershey’s chocolate produced? Where does Hershey get its cocao beans?

Production Locations: Believe it or not, Hershey owns production plants all over the world. Hershey's largest factory is currently located in Hershey, Pennsylvania^[5]. The original factory has since been set to close the doors and move to a larger, faster producing one being built in West Hershey, Pennsylvania. This move will cost the jobs of some 500 workers and had the workers union not demanded the factory stay within the town, it may have moved operations fully outside the Hershey area^[6].

Hershey also has factories in Lancaster, PA., producing Twizzlers, Hazelton, PA., producing Kit Kat, Hershey Extra Dark, and Cadbury bars, Stuarts Draft, VA., producing Reese’s Whipps, Take 5, Reese’s Pieces, Mounds and Almond Joys, Robison, IL., producing PayDay, Heath, Whoppers, and Milk Dudsand Guadalajara, Mexico, where Hershey’s has had a presence for 40 years^[7].

Hershey also manufactures products in Canada, Brazil, China, Japan, and Korea and as such, has ensured that Hershey becomes a rapidly rising global product.

Cocao Beans: Indonesia, Brazil, the Ivory Coast and Ghana are all producers of cocao beans used to make Hershey’s products. Hershey claims they make a commitment to the local farmers in this area, such as the case with the new cell phone network in Ghana, to give rising standards to cocao farming, eliminating child labor and trafficking and other illegal practices through their Supplier Code of Conduct^[8].

Political instability, rising food prices, and diminishing supplies of cocao trees have given cause for a bump in the production costs of Hershey chocolate in the past year, thus increasing the price of the individual candy^[9].

But many watch-dog groups claim this is not the most troubling aspect of Hershey's production. What the Hershey Company has failed to do, or address publicly, for many years is the use of Fair Trade in their chocolate production practices^[10]. Fair Trade would not only ensure the cocao farmers receive proper compensation for the work they provide, but would also help stabilize growing costs of chocolate and prevent practices such as child slavery and child trafficking. West Africa's high rate of child trafficking and labor continues only as long as major corporations refuse to put into practice policies to prevent the need for this labor base. The Ivory Coast has been well-known for selling children into slavery to local farmers^[11], a practice which calls into question not only the government of the Ivory Coast^[12], which is currently in shambles and the entire country on the brink of civil war^[13], but also the corporations purchasing cocao from the area and the consumers purchasing the finalized product, aware or unaware of this problem.

However, a coalition of laborer rights and global peace organizations have called on Hershey to step up and Raise the Bar.

Hershey produces 42.5% of the US markets chocolate^[14]. More than any other company in the country. If Hershey decides to employ more transparency in where it's cocao supplies come from, engaging in Fair Trade or other certification programs, then other major chocolate companies will be forced to do the same. Because Hershey refuses to tell the public where their supplies of cocao comes from, there is no way to prove they do not engage in any illegal or abusive campaigns^[15].

Multiple petitions exist to ask Hershey to begin using Fair Trade practices and a transparent form of production practices in line with their own code of social responsibility. As well as formal petitions, informal forms of protest, such as the Hershey Brand Jamming Contest^[16], which only closed on April 10^th, provide more creative brands of protest against this chocolate giant.

Hershey produces approximately one million pounds of chocolate a day.

Basic List of Products:^[17]

Hershey's chocolate bars
Hershey's Symphony
Hershey's Extra Dark
Almond Joy
Mounds
100 Calorie Bar
Hershey's Bliss
Hershey's Drops
Hershey's Miniatures
Hershey's Pot of Gold
Kit Kat Wafer Bar
Hershey's Nuggets chocolates
Hershey's Kisses brand chocolates
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Pieces
Whoppers
York Peppermint Pattie
Others
Hershey Canada
Cadbury Chocolates

Additional Resources:
The Hershey Company website
The Dark Side of Chocolate documentary with streaming video found here.
Raise the Bar Hershey
Fair Trade USA website
Table of Fair Trade Chocolate Companies

Fair Trade Coffee

I decided to talk about Fair trade coffee since we can find it all around the world. This coffee “is purchased directly from the growers for a higher price than standard coffee”i. This product requires intensive labor and the gains obtained by producers are very little; these producers are usually from developing countries such as Colombia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Mexico. ii

Moreover coffee prices are very volatile, in 2001 we saw prove of this fact: the “Coffee crisis”. The prices of the coffee fell abruptly everywhere as a result from an overproduction. A lot of people were affected by this event, from growers to retailers; the world was simply producing a lot more coffee than it was consuming. Nowadays the Fair Trade Certification gives workers a chance to improve, to work in better conditions and offer better products according to international standards or specifications of quality and sustainable production and therefore to ensure competitiveness and a fair profit for the producer.

These are the standards for Fair Trade Coffee Certification: i

Fair labor conditions: Those who work with Fair Trade farms are able to work with freedom of association, safe working conditions, and fair wages. Child labor is strictly prohibited.

Direct trade: With Fair Trade, importers purchase from Fair Trade producer groups as directly as possible, eliminating the middle man and letting the farmer compete in the global market.

Democratic and transparent organizations: Through proof of a democratic market, Fair Trade farmers and farm workers decide how to invest Fair Trade revenues.

Community development: Fair Trade farmers and workers invest Fair Trade premiums in social and business development projects like scholarship programs, healthcare services and quality improvement training.

You may wonder why it concerns you. Well, simply because this is closer than you think. Have you ever heard of (or been in) Starbucks, Wal-Mart, McDonald’s or Sam’s clubi? These places offer Fair Trade certified coffee around the world or in many countries due to the increasing demand of this product by consumers.

Is fair trade really fair?

Fair trade certifies many different products in many countries; diversity is the perfect word to describe the situation. Developed and developing countries of course don’t have the very same opportunities and capability to compete in international markets, some countries have financial resources while others are strong in labor or natural resources. There are different opinions in this respect supporting or criticizing this practice, these are some of the arguments I found:

Pros

• Fair trade protects producers from the volatile market.


• Producers can be sure that they are going to get at least enough to cover their basic costs to continue producing.


• Producers work in better conditions.


• Fair trade coffee is not more expensive than others because it eliminates the costs of middlemen.

Cons

• Large companies attract most of the consumers due to their advertising capability.


• Since eliminates middlemen from the production chain, a lot of people loose their jobs because of Fair trade coffee.


• The price for Fair trade coffee is barely above production cost.

You can decide whether these companies support fair trade because of social or economic reasons. Why don’t we talk a bit more about one of those?

Starbucks

The first Starbucks opened in 1971 in Seattle. Their mission is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.” They offer quality coffee and a unique service to keep the clients’ preference. Nowadays they are in 50 countries with more than 15000 stores.

Starbucks has some principles related to the coffee, their partners, their customers, their stores, neighborhood and shareholders, where they show that they make an efford to give quality products and behave with respect and responsibility in the communities where they are.

The coffee in Starbucks is responsibly grown, following standards in four areas: Product quality, economic accountability, social responsibility and environmental leadership.

Starbucks says that “Fair Trade Certified™ coffee empowers small-scale farmers organized in cooperatives to invest in their farms and communities, protect the environment, and develop the business skills necessary to compete in the global marketplace.”iii They started selling it in 2000.

Do you want to know more about fair trade coffee or some of the companies that we mentioned? Follow these links:

http://www.starbucks.com/

http://www.fairtrade.net/