10 Most Common Ingredients in Fast Food

by Cameron Scott · 2010-01-15 14:04:00 +0100
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If you guessed wilty iceberg lettuce, you're sweet but naive. I'll admit, it is hard to know what you're getting when a hamburger -- a Big Mac, to be specific -- has 67 ingredients. So thank TLC Cooking for the enlightenment you're about to receive:

Citric acid may sound scary, but it's not really. It's a processed form of citrus juice.

Niacin, an added vitamin, is a little weird but not scary.

High-fructose corn syrup is plenty scary, though. But you've heard all about that.

Caramel color -- it's not just for sodas anymore. It's for cheese.

MSG isn't just for Chinese food, either.

Salt -- a lot of salt -- is in your quickie meal. A McDonald's double cheeseburger contains 1,500 mg. Nutritionists say that's as much as we should get in an entire day.

Soybean oil is the most common fat, which isn't surprising since soy is corn's partner in taking over U.S. farmland.

Mono- and diglycerides don't even occur in nature. They are emulsifiers. Xantham gum is also the product of a laboratory and somehow or other makes things taste "smoother" -- whatever that means.

Wait, you're saying, isn't there any meat in fast food? Yup, but it's chicken that makes the top 10. Sales of chicken at fast food chains are on the rise as people try to, you know, eat healthy. As for how it's raised, I suggest you watch Food Inc.

Photo credit: Christian Cable

Cameron Scott writes The Thin Green Line blog at SFGate (San Francisco Chronicle).
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