Critique an article edit
- Sources missing from "history" section
- Heavy reliance on only one source for "benefits" section
- Inferences made from article quotes. Twisting and adding bias
Potential Articles edit
Criticism of Fast Food edit
New section (~2 paragraphs), adding 2 paragraphs to existing section, or improving 2 sections of an existing article
I am thinking of looking to the negative effects of corn syrup and other abundant ingredients in fast food. Also update the article to better define what fast food they are talking about. Moreover, the industry's response to criticism needs to be updated (including companies' movement toward organic/green practices). The article has a very consumer-based outlook on the problem, so maybe it would be good to add an environmental section.
Packaging waste
A Clean Water Action study in four Bay Area cities found that 49% of street litter comes from fast food. The EPA states that the annual recovery of the 1 million tons of plastic plates and cups that are used by the sector is “negligible.”
NRDC’s “Waste and Opportunity 2015: Environmental Progress and Challenges in Food, Beverage, and Consumer Goods Packaging” report evaluated performance in the areas of “materials source reduction, reusable packaging, use of recycled content, use of recyclable packaging, and actions taken to promote materials recycling.” With four levels of performance: Best Practices, Better Practices, Needs Improvement, and Poor, no brands earned the level of Best Practices.
Fast food industry’s response to criticism
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.
Nutrition and Health edit
In 2016 the company replaced the high-fructose corn syrup in its hamburger buns with sugar and removed antibiotics that are "important to human medicine from its chicken". They also removed artificial preservatives from their cooking oil, pork sausage patties, eggs served on the breakfast menu, and Chicken McNuggets. The skin, safflower oil and citric acid from the McNuggets was also replaced with pea starch, rice starch and powdered lemon juice. These changes were made in an effort to target "health-conscious consumers."
Source reduction
Many fast food chains have reduced their material usage by “lightweighting”, or reducing material in a package by weight. McDonald’s made over 10 reduction in packaging weight in 2012, such as a 48% reduction in the chicken sandwich paperboard carton, and an 18-28% reduction in its plastic cold cups. Starbucks has reduced their water bottle weight by 20% and cold cups by 15%.
MacKerron, Conrad B. Waste and Opportunity 2015: Environmental Progress and Challenges in Food, Beverage, and Consumer Goods Packaging. Rep. no. R:15-01-A. N.p.: NRDC, 2015. Print.
Cage-Free Hens
Over 160 companies in the food sector have announced that they are planning to shift to eggs from only cage-free hens, most by the year 2025. The list includes McDonald’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Carl’s Jr., Burger King, Denny’s, Jack in the Box, Quiznos, Shake Shack, Starbucks, Sonic, Taco Bell, Wendy’s White Castle, and Subway, among others. The full list can be seen at: http://cagefreefuture.com/docs/Cage%20Free%20Corporate%20Policies.pdf
Strom, Stephanie. "McDonald's Plans a Shift to Eggs From Only Cage-Free Hens." The New York Times. The New York Times, 09 Sept. 2015. Web. 05 Mar. 2017.