Food Poisoning

Here’s a study in contrasts. First, another single-topic blog I’ve just run across “Bitter Greens Journal”, a running critique on industrial agriculture, which cites this review discussing how caloric inputs to conventional agriculture, food processing and distribution are substantially greater than the caloric value of the foods themselves. Second, this recent article in USA Today about how restaurants are trying to increase market share with massively caloric and fatty menu items, no doubt enormously popular with massive people. There couldn’t be a more perfect positive synergistic feedback loop of growing the gross domestic product, while depleting resources and threatening public health.

A few slices from the USA Today article:

Burger King went enormous. Since its March introduction of the Enormous Omelet Sandwich — with two slices of cheese, two eggs, three strips of bacon, and a sausage patty — breakfast sales have jumped 20%, says Denny Marie Post, chief concept officer. Never mind its 730 calories and 47 grams of fat.

At the same time, she says, BK sells about 100 Whoppers for every Veggie Burger and roughly 10 Whoppers for every salad. Its fried chicken sandwiches outsell grilled chicken about 10 to 1, she says.

"When someone has $5 to spend for lunch," she says, "it's hard to take the risk of buying something that might not be satisfying."

Pizza Hut got even cheesier. The new triple-cheese 3Cheese Stuffed Crust Pizza is such a hit that it took in 20% of the chain's business within four days of introduction, says Tom James, marketing chief. The chain sells roughly one lower-calorie Fit N' Delicious pizza for every 100 pan pizzas, he estimates.

Ruby Tuesday went colossal. Less than two years ago, Ruby Tuesday led the industry by posting trans fat information on menus. Now the chain's menus no longer mention trans fat, even though it still uses trans-fat-free canola oil. The latest menu change has been to rename its Colossal Burger — two half-pound burgers on a triple-decker bun — the Ultimate Colossal Burger to try to keep up with the grandiose names at the competition. "That's what people want," says Rick Johnson, senior vice president.

IHOP is stuffing food. The pancake chain is converting its limited-time promotion of Stuffed French Toast — filled with sweetened cream cheese — into a full-time nationwide menu item. The promotion had been brought back three times in two years. As for healthier foods, they're barely a blip. Less than 1% of guests "show any meaningful interest" in better-for-you foods, says John Koch, product vice president.

Ben & Jerry's has wider cones. The ice cream chain has dropped all three of its no-carb ice cream flavors and introduced a wider cone that's made to hold two scoops of ice cream instead of one. "We don't have better-for-you customers," says David Stever, marketing director. "We have full-fat customers who may feel guilty once in a great while."

KFC is fried, again. The chicken chain is testing plans to bring back the Kentucky Fried Chicken name, along with new menu items linked to its Southern roots. Among them: candied yams, spicy gravy and sweet potato pie. It's also extending its popular line of chicken Snacker sandwiches to sausage.

"We call it Southern-inspired comfort food," says Gregg Dedrick, KFC president. After months of consumer testing, these were the kinds of foods people wanted, he says.

Andy Pudzer of CKE Enterprises, the creator of the 1,420 calorie Monster Thickburger sold at Hardee’s and Carl’s Junior, looks at it this way:

"These products sell better than health-conscious products," he says. "We don't tell consumers what they want. They tell us."

And if the consumers said they wanted cyanide and white arsenic. . . ?

Perhaps you can’t really fault the restaurant industry for playing to peoples’ hindbrains by focusing on palatability that emphasizes primordial taste preferences for sugar, salt and fat. Obesity lawsuits against fast food vendors may be satisfying to the progressive-minded, but at some level most people must have even a dim awareness that not eating clean has long-term health consequences. We’re not talking about undesirable product characteristics that are not readily apparent, such as the health risks potentially associated with brominated fire retardants or phthalates. The federal government is saying clearly to people that:

[g]ood nutrition is vital to good health and is absolutely essential for the healthy growth and development of children and adolescents. Major causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States are related to poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle.

Lifestyle-related morbidity and mortality is becoming a looming social problem, with healthcare insurance for more Americans descending into crisis. It’s not solvable through market forces, since the restaurant and food processing industries currently don’t bear any of the healthcare costs associated with consumption of its products. But imagine the price for a Monster Thickburger if it included the costs for its contribution to coronary bypasses performed in this country. After that, lunch consisting of a grilled chicken breast with some raw veggies, an apple and a couple of rye crackers would start looking pretty good for your $5.

Phillip Longman published an interesting article in Washington Monthly a couple of years ago, suggesting that the money being used to prop up benefits in a healthcare system that is already financially unsustainable, instead be used to bribe people into acting preventively and taking better care of themselves (sign me up!). The entire article provides an interesting, and from my viewpoint, a sensible perspective on where our healthcare system needs to be heading – it’s well worth reading.

Have to go now, I got to get on my bike and head over to the gym.

Postscript: it sounds like many public health officials are now distancing themselves from the CDC report which concluded that overweight wasn’t associated with significantly increased health risks. Edited slightly from the original to note that food industries other than restaurants don't bear any of the healthcare costs associated with the consumption of low nutritional value foods.