I was ranting, several years ago, about how Breyer’s ice cream had deteriorated. Remember when Breyer’s bragged it only used milk, cream, and sugar? Now, Breyer’s, like the cheap store brand ice cream, is so full of filler and thickener, that it doesn’t melt. Look carefully at Breyer’s cartons. Some flavors no longer even say “ice cream” on the carton. They say “frozen dairy dessert” because they don’t even contain the government minimum amounts of dairy product to be called “ice cream”.
Have you seen the latest on the apple sauce products that are contaminated with lead?
Food makers may use “economically motivated adulteration” or EMA, by substituting an ingredient “to make it appear better or of greater value,” according to the FDA. But the agency also says that such actions may be food fraud and result in “lead poisoning from adulterated spices and allergic reactions to a hidden, substituted ingredient that contains even just one food allergen.”
Because adulterated food is a Shiny “traditional family value”.
Ice cream quality changed when they took out mono and diglycerides. People thought the name too chemical. Its fats or vegetable oils heated to deep fryer temp with glycerine the soap by-product.
Consumers often get what they ask for (or deserve) even when ill informed.
Rumors that McDonalds hamburgers contain ground earthworms are said to be false. But sometimes you wonder.
Didn’t they stop using animal fats in their french fries? Vegetable oils are cheaper. Remove sesame seeds from buns? What else?
The raw materials for many commercial products change constantly. Some are seasonal. Prices vary. Some are influenced by weather in far away places. Well managed companies deal with many variables to deliver a quality product all the time.
I’d guess the burger patties are boiled till sort of brown. Then hit the grill at the very last in the restaurant before serving. Whatever they are doing it is a fine leather.
I think we know Burger King runs their burgers through a broiler oven on a moving chain conveyor. They broil in batches and then steam them to warm them for serving. McDonalds could do something similar.
Ditto, frozen french fries are partially cooked before freezing so they cook quickly.
Years ago the burgers were cooked to order. In busy stores the burgers would come out fast during the rushes and people would be in deep lines. There was no steaming them. Pure Corinthian leather.
Remember, a few years ago, when the beef industry was complaining about the media calling the filler they sell to hamburger makers “pink slime”, even though it was pink and slimy, because it didn’t sound appetizing?
Because this is Shiny-land. If adulterating your food increases profits, it is good. Anyone whining about customers being cheated because they don’t get what they think they are getting is against profits, therefore is a COMMIE!
I think this is a crock. After useful cuts of meat are cut off the bones, the bones are scraped mechanically to recover additional meat. And now they add water blast to remove more finer amounts.
It gets dewatered and is very fine. It is real, authentic meat. I think now days you find it mostly in hot dogs, lunch meats, sausage, etc.
Meat packing has always been “everything but the squeal.” Why throw this meat away? It is fine in the right application. Soups, stews, pizza, meatloaf, pet food, all sorts of mystery meat.
This a gross miss use of media. They should pay big judgements for lack of common sense.
It’s not misuse and it’s not a lack of common sense. Media, all media, has turned into a form of entertainment. The only thing that counts is the bottom line, and that means as many eyeballs as possible. So, anything lurid or spectacular, even if only based on a tiny kernel of perhaps unrelated truth, makes it into the media. Today is is the very definition of “use” for media, and it is the main form of “common sense” for media, because it brings the eyeballs and thus the money.
For example, last week, media shouted about the massive Tesla recall … nearly all their vehicles ever sold! Turns out that it was only a trivial software update, and that software update was done for pretty much everyone over the weekend. Not only that, but it wasn’t a manufacturing defect, instead it was a safety feature that NHTSA recently decided ought to be changed. Some smart folks here on this very board were even taken in by that reporting last week!
An update to my earlier rant: stopped at the grocery store tonight, and took a turn down the ice cream aisle. Meijer carries two regional brands of ice cream, besides Breyer’s, Stroh’s and Hudsonville. Stroh’s and Hudsonville are the real deal, enough ice cream in the ice cream to melt at room temperature, vs the gob of thickener and filler that Breyer’s passes off as “ice cream” or “frozen dairy dessert”.
Is the Breyer’s adulterated product cheaper? Nope. Breyer’s costs $4.99. Stroh’s $4.89. Hudsonville $4.59, for the same size package. The worst quality product costs the most. Yet people seem to by it, probably based on the “brand”.
I’m going to push back ever so slightly on that one. Blanching vegetables is a common technique to make better tasting food. Most professional chefs would agree that boiling potatoes to about half done, then cooling them, then frying or broiling them gives you a better tasting potato. That works for french fries, roast potatoes, even mashed potatoes.
It also happens to work out well for fast food distribution, as the potatoes can be blanched and frozen in huge batches, then packed for shipping to franchise restaurants for final cooking.
Those in California might be familiar with In-N-Out Burger. It’s a local chain that prides themselves on their fresh french fries. You can watch them cutting the potatoes into french fries and then going straight into the fryer. Their fries are definitely different than some place like McDonald’s. I don’t think they taste as good.
In this area you will find fresh french fries at Five Guys and Penn Station. Five Guys brags about the farm that raised the potatoes they are serving today.
They do say frozen fries are a major feature at McDonalds. The potatoes must be selected for variety and stored correctly. They cannot be refrigerated. Hence, frozen makes french fries available throughout the US.
Five guys cooks their fries twice, like most chefs recommend. Their first cook is a fry rather than a blanch, but it accomplishes the same goal. Cook once at lower heat to cook the potato through, then cook again at high heat to get the crispy brown exterior.
—Peter <== who likes 5 Guys, but finds then really pricey
Yep. $23 for a double cheeseburger with fries and a beverage last trip. But very tasty. And recommended by a former President. And you can shell your own peanuts while you wait.
We do have fast food restaurants closing in this area. But so far Five Guys is a survivor. Steak & Shake has been the worst. Most are closed and for sale here. Hardees closed near me. Local Walnut Grill sold/closed two locations. iHop closed one near me.
Tough time for restaurants. Staff shortage seems to be improving. But higher costs in part due to higher pay has hurt them. And consumers are not happy about the price increases.