Sad, But Somehow Ironic...
The AP reports that McDonald's CEO Jim Cantalupo died this morning of a heart attack. Mr. Cantalupo was sixty years old. Now, Base10 sends his condolences to the family of Mr. Cantalupo, but the juxtaposition of events here unfortunately calls attention to the fact that fast food providers are peddling slow death to consumers much like cigarette manufacturers. An example:

A Big Mac has 33 grams of fat. A large french fries has 25 grams of fat. That makes the fat content of a typical McDonald's meal a whopping 58 grams of fat. But wait, let's top that off with a large chocolate shake, an additional 33 grams of fat. Now one single meal at McDonalds--and one which can hardly be called atypical--contains 91 grams of fat. This is 141% of the recommended daily allowace of fat consumption. That's the daily allowance.

McDonalds is not alone in such ridiculous nutritional content. Peruse Wendy's or Burger King's websites and you'll find equally appalling examples. I know the counter arguments: I should be free to eat what I want, you can't blame obesity on the food maker, etc. However, when a company like McDonalds relentlessly markets it products to children (and perhaps less educated urban adult populations that may not know better), this is called asymmetrical information. It is a breakdown of free market economics and justifies government intervention. What the American public has gotten from the industry so far is a half hearted and ultimately failed attempt by McDonalds to eliminate transfatty acids from its frying oil.
- posted by Base10 @ 11:58 AM