Chain Restaurant Workers Reveal The Items They Refuse To Eat

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Abandon all hope for an appetite, ye brave soles that dare to read further. This thread has a high probability of changing your lunch plans.

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-fast-food-workers-refuse-to-eat-2013-10?op=1

Fast food and chain restaurant employees see how our food is prepared.

A recent Reddit thread asked them "what item on the menu would you absolutely not eat and why?"

Thousands of supposed former employees responded.

Some named menu items that were too unhealthy, while others felt squeamish about how the food was prepared.

NOTE: Reddit sources are anonymous, and can't be independently verified by Business Insider.

Subway's crab meat

"It was made by taking imitation crab meat and mixing it in with a giant tub of mayo. When making the sandwich the thing would come out slathered in mayo. Might as well just have ordered a mayonnaise sandwich," writes statisicalhornist.

McDonald's McRib

"The way it looks before we put the sauce on it is absolutely revolting. It doesn't look like meat at all, it looks like a scab," writes lioninacoma.

Oreo Madness at TGI Friday's

"Costs something like $6.50, for literally just one relatively small Klondike Oreo ice cream sandwich, taken out of its individual packaging, and slapped on a plate with some powdered sugar and chocolate sauce," according to a post by somethingboring.

Fish sandwiches at Burger King

"You had four vats of oil that you cooked fries in. After about two days, the oil got too dark for fries. So we switched it over to the ones for chicken. Since it was darker, it was ok. Then that goes on for a week. After a week of massive frying. The oil is black as motor oil. At that point, it's switched to the Fish Filet vat. That's the only thing you cook in that vat," writes JohnnyDollar.

McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich

"These are a scam for how much you pay. You get the same bun as a cheeseburger, a tiny amount of dirt cheap sauce, a deep-fried fish square and you don't even get a full slice of cheese," writes Mortaris.

Cheesecake Factory's Bistro Shrimp Pasta

"It's seriously just cream, butter, parmesan, and fried shrimp. They toss in mushrooms and spinach in an attempt to disguise it as something other than a heart attack in a bowl. It doesn't work for me," writes serosanguinous.

With 3,000 calories, the dish was ranked as one of the unhealthiest in America.

McDonald's Big Macs

"Same amount of meat as a double cheeseburger, one less slice of cheese than a double cheeseburger. And three times as expensive as a double cheeseburger. Just ask for a double cheeseburger made like a Mac," writes iBuzzKill.

Arby's Roast Beef

"I can't eat the roast beef after working at Arby's. If you touch it while it's raw you'll never get it off your fingers," writes 45scienceandreason.

Papa John's garlic sauce

"It's a tub of trans fat," says mathee-us.

Subway's steak

"Having to prep it completely ruined it for me. It's essentially a frozen meat log that you have to break apart with your bare hands," says equestribitch.

Wendy's flatbreads

"The Wendy's flatbread chicken sandwiches are the same price as their normal menu chicken sandwiches, but you literally only get half the chicken. The flatbread is not even that good," advises kitfyre.

Wendy's chili

"The meat comes from hamburger patties that sat on the grill too long to serve to customers. They take them and put them in a bin and then throw them in the fridge," writes Cozmo23. "When the chili is made they take it out, boil it, chop it up, and dump them in the chili. It's all safe, but a lot of people seemed upset when I told them about it."

Burger King's veggie burger

"The Veggie burger at Burger King is delicious, but they are often cooked on the same section of the grill that meat products are cooked," says Nohbudy. "It's company policy to split the grill, so non-meat products can be separated but not everyone follows it, especially during a lunch rush."

Chicken lettuce wraps at PF Chang's

"Costs under a buck to make and we sell it for $8," says tengonoidea.

KFC Pot Pies

"82 different ingredients. Can't complain otherwise though. Manager runs a very clean restaurant," writes user Qp1029384756.

Chipotle tortillas

"There are 300 calories in a tortilla ALONE. That, plus all the calories in everything else, you could easily have a burrito with 1500 calories or more," And there's a ton of sodium in everything. Pretty much the only purely healthy thing there is the brown rice," writes RoneTone.

Buffalo Wild Wings' grilled chicken

"It's actually just frozen cubed chicken. Instead, I would recommend the blackened chicken salad. For that they actually used a chicken breast and grilled it with the blackened seasoning," writes iamkingjames.

-t
 
Xtreme Eating 2013
Extremism Running Amok at America's Restaurant Chains

http://www.cspinet.org/new/201301161.html

Federal Rules for Calories on Menus Long Overdue, Says CSPI

January 16, 2013

A milkshake with a slice of apple pie blended right in. A 3,000-calorie plate of pasta. A breakfast that includes deep-fried steak and pancakes (and hash browns and eggs and gravy and syrup). Obesity rates may show signs of leveling off, but it looks like America’s major restaurant chains are doing everything possible to reverse the trend, according to the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. The group unveils the latest "winners" of its Xtreme Eating Awards in the current issue of its Nutrition Action Healthletter.

"It's as if IHOP, The Cheesecake Factory, Maggiano's Little Italy, and other major restaurant chains are scientifically engineering these extreme meals with the express purpose of promoting obesity, diabetes, and heart disease," said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson. "You'd think that the size of their profits depended on their increasing the size of your pants."

Most people wouldn't sit down to eat a 12-piece bucket of Original Recipe KFC all by themselves, says CSPI. Yet The Cheesecake Factory somehow crams about that many calories into a single serving of its Crispy Chicken Costoletta—though the bucket of KFC has less than half the saturated fat, "only" two days' worth as opposed to the four-and-a-half days' worth in the costoletta. In fact, the Crispy Chicken Costoletta has more calories (2,610) than any steak, chop, or burger meal on The Cheesecake Factory's famously oversized menu.

To put these numbers into context, a typical adult should consume about 2,000 calories and no more than 20 grams of saturated fat and 1,500 milligrams of sodium per day. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends consuming no more than six teaspoons of added sugars for women and nine teaspoons for men. The Xtreme Eating dis-honorees include:

IHOP serves a breakfast consisting of deep-fried steak with gravy, two fried eggs, deep-fried potatoes, and two buttermilk pancakes. The Country Fried Steak & Eggs combo has 1,760 calories, 23 grams of saturated fat, 3,720 mg of sodium, and 11 teaspoons of added sugar. CSPI says that's like having five McDonald's Egg McMuffins sprinkled with 10 packets of sugar.

Johnny Rockets' Bacon Cheddar Double burger has 1,770 calories, 50 grams of saturated fat, and 2,380 milligrams of sodium. An order of the chain's Sweet Potato Fries adds another 590 calories and 800 mg of sodium. The chain's Big Apple Shake—a milkshake that actually contains a slice of apple pie—has 1,140 calories, 37 grams of saturated fat, and about 13 teaspoons of added sugar. That meal delivers a total of 3,500 calories (nearly two days' worth), 88 grams of saturated fat (four-and-a-half days' worth) and 3,720 mg of sodium (two-and-a-half days' worth. It's like eating 3 McDonald's Quarter Pounders with Cheese, a large Fries, a medium McCafé Vanilla Shake, and 2 Baked Apple

The Deep Dish Macaroni & 3-Cheese at Uno Chicago Grill has four cups of pasta; Cheddar, Parmesan, and Romano cheeses; an Alfredo sauce made from heavy cream, cheese, rendered chicken fat, and butter; and a crushed Ritz Cracker topping. With a day's worth of calories (1,980), three-and-a-half days' worth of saturated fat (71 grams), and two days' worth of sodium (3,110 mg), eating this entrée is like eating a whole Family Size box of Stouffer's Macaroni & Cheese—with half a stick of butter melted on top.

One might think that the Bistro Shrimp Pasta from The Cheesecake Factory is one of the less fattening things on the menu, what with its shrimp, mushrooms, tomato, and arugula. It actually has more calories than any other entrée (at 3,120), along with 89 grams of saturated fat (enough to keep your arteries busy from Monday morning to noon on Friday, says CSPI). It's the nutritional equivalent of three orders of Olive Garden's Lasagna Classico plus an order of Tiramisu.

Smoothie King combines peanut butter, banana, sugar, and grape juice in its Peanut Power Plus Grape Smoothie. Some may think that sounds healthy, but a 40-oz. large size has 1,460 calories and three- and-a-half days' worth of added sugar (22 teaspoons). Make that six-and-a-half days' worth, since the 17 teaspoons of naturally occurring sugar in the grape juice aren't any healthier than added sugar. There's an additional 12 teaspoons of sugar coming from the banana and nonfat milk.

Few would consider eating an entire, eight-serving Entenmann's Chocolate Fudge Cake. Yet a slice of the Chocolate Zuccotto Cake at Maggiano's Little Italy is roughly equivalent, with almost a day's worth of calories (1,820), three days' worth of saturated fat (62 grams), and four days' worth of added sugar (26 teaspoons).

The full list of winners is available here.
http://cspinet.org/new/pdf/extreme_eating_2013.pdf

Calorie counts will soon be required on chain restaurant menus, thanks to the landmark health care reform legislation signed by President Obama in March 2010 and upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in June. Draft regulations that implement the calorie-labeling provisions have been released by the Food and Drug Administration, though final regulations have been stalled for months, according to CSPI.

"I hope the Obama Administration promptly finalizes overdue calorie labeling rules for chain restaurants," Jacobson said. "Not only do Americans deserve to know what they're eating, but, as our Xtreme Eating "winners" clearly indicate, lives are at stake. And perhaps when calories become mandatory on menus, chains will begin innovating in a healthier direction, instead of competing with each other to make Americans heavier and sicker."

CSPI's Nutrition Action Healthletter is published 10 times a year, has 850,000 subscribers, and accepts no advertising.

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Researchers Reveal What's Really In Fast Food Chicken Nuggets
http://www.businessinsider.com/whats-really-in-chicken-nuggets-2013-10

Researchers tried to find out what was in chicken nuggets from two fast food chains, with disconcerting results.

The researchers, from University of Mississippi Medical Center and Baptist Medical Center, both in Jackson, Miss., examined nuggets from two unnamed national fast food chains, according to the study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Medicine.

The nugget from the first restaurant "was composed of approximately 50% skeletal muscle, with the remainder composed primarily of fat, with some blood vessels and nerve present," according to lead author Dr. Richard D. deShazo of the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The second nugget contained "40% skeletal muscle," as well as fat, connective tissue, and bone.

The conclusion?

"Chicken meat was not the predominate component in either nugget," the researchers write. "Fat was present in equal or greater quantities along with epithelium, bone, nerve, and connective tissue."

Skeletal, or striated muscle, isn't what most people imagine when they think of chicken meat.

McDonald's chicken McNuggets are made from 100% breast meat chicken, according to its website.

-t
 
I tried the McRib..... once. I thought it was awful. Sure as hell tasted nothing like Ribs to me.
 
Researchers Reveal What's Really In Fast Food Chicken Nuggets
http://www.businessinsider.com/whats-really-in-chicken-nuggets-2013-10

Researchers tried to find out what was in chicken nuggets from two fast food chains, with disconcerting results.

The researchers, from University of Mississippi Medical Center and Baptist Medical Center, both in Jackson, Miss., examined nuggets from two unnamed national fast food chains, according to the study published in the September issue of the American Journal of Medicine.

The nugget from the first restaurant "was composed of approximately 50% skeletal muscle, with the remainder composed primarily of fat, with some blood vessels and nerve present," according to lead author Dr. Richard D. deShazo of the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

The second nugget contained "40% skeletal muscle," as well as fat, connective tissue, and bone.

The conclusion?

"Chicken meat was not the predominate component in either nugget," the researchers write. "Fat was present in equal or greater quantities along with epithelium, bone, nerve, and connective tissue."

Skeletal, or striated muscle, isn't what most people imagine when they think of chicken meat.

McDonald's chicken McNuggets are made from 100% breast meat chicken, according to its website.

-t




Source:
http://www.naturalnews.com/041646_chicken_mcnuggets_forensic_food_analysis_st range_fibers.html
 
Cheesecake Factory's Bistro Shrimp Pasta

"It's seriously just cream, butter, parmesan, and fried shrimp. They toss in mushrooms and spinach in an attempt to disguise it as something other than a heart attack in a bowl. It doesn't work for me," writes serosanguinous.

With 3,000 calories, the dish was ranked as one of the unhealthiest in America.
Sounds healthy to me.
 
Most of these I have no problem with. Not that I eat much chain-food anyway.

The grossest one would have to be the Burger King Fish fryer - you start with horrible "vegetable" oil, fry the crap out of it, let it go rancid, repeat, and then fry the fish in it? That's not even food anymore.

And I don't care about markup of prices, or charging more for a Big Mac than a double cheeseburger. Prices are what they are to turn a profit to give these guys a job.
 
Sounds healthy to me.

Yeah, if it were real cream, real butter, real Parmesan, and real shrimp fried in healthy oils.

Chances are it's made from milk-like fats, rancid butter, "cheese-like" foam flavored like Parmesan, anti-biotic-filled prion-filled prawn, and rancid Crisco.
 
Most of these I have no problem with. Not that I eat much chain-food anyway.

The grossest one would have to be the Burger King Fish fryer - you start with horrible "vegetable" oil, fry the crap out of it, let it go rancid, repeat, and then fry the fish in it? That's not even food anymore.

And I don't care about markup of prices, or charging more for a Big Mac than a double cheeseburger. Prices are what they are to turn a profit to give these guys a job.

Complete nonsense, my first job was at a burger king and we did not use dark oil to fry the fish. It was changed regularly (cant remember how often we did) and the oil was never a few shades darker than the original oil.
 
Calories are the reason why we eat. Calories are energy. Complaining about them is like complaining that you bought 1 ouce of gold but they delivered 1,5 ounces.
You are hungry you eat. You are not hungry you don eat. Calories are not the problem. Lack of self control is. You want to lose weight?Dont eat anything that come in buckets.

I hate eating in restaurants or buying processed food. Not because of how much calories is in "there" but because you never know will some asshole spit in it, did it fell on the floor and was just picked up, were animals over-treated with antibiotics and growth hormones (probably) etc.

Thank God that my family owns farm and I have my "people" that supply me with good quality food. Funny thing is if you buy your food directly from the farmer it ends up being cheaper and healthier. You cut out middle man. If you live in rural area or small town you too probably can find farmer that will supply you with meat and other products. People dont do it because they are complacent and simply dont think about it. Food in number one expense but people rarely sit down and do a little research where they can buy it cheaper and healthier.
 
Business Insider says it's all taken from a Reddit link, and contained the link:

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/1mv5l1/redditors_who_work_in_chain_restaurants_what_item/

I still think it's cheap to take a comment thread and make it an "article", like the media even does to RPF sometimes. Unless the author of the article is the originator of the question.

There are nearly 10,000 comments total, so I think the author just did some pick-and-choose of things they thought were gross. There's equally the same amount of folks who said 'yeah that was gross' as argued for the items merits (taste or quality).

Like they talked about Wendy's chili.. another Redditor had this to say:
I worked at Wendy's for a year and a half and still eat everything on the menu. All the hamburgers that are on the grill too long get frozen and used to make the chili the next day, but that chili is fucking fantastic, how could you not eat it. They used ice cream milk substance for Frosties, basically like a thick chocolate milk and was amazing to drink before being frozen.

They still say the burger was on the grill too long, but they also say how much they loved it.

There's no verification that any of these commenters even worked for any of the places they said they did, there's no verification that some of these commenters don't work for a competing restaurant.

Sure they're probably mostly accurate, and fast food is gross - but I hate this kind of shoddy 'reporting'. Reddit threads aren't "news" they're just Reddit threads. If you think it's interesting, go to the source.

Humbug.
 
I crave a Whopper every once every two months or so, but the only thing on that list that I eat regularly is Chipotle.
And I'm not giving that up.
I'm with Barrex... calories don't scare me. Particularly when that burrito is generally one of two meals for the day for me.
2 x 1500 = 3000 which is what we're supposed to eat, right?

Of course I'm spoiled though because most times I go out to lunch I have options like Pho or kebabs.
 
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