Monday, March 1, 2010

Bad effects of the fast food

As we are all aware of the ill effect of fast food, drastic steps should be taken to reduce the consumption of fast food as soon as possible.
Malaysians ecspecialy the younger generation choose fast food over traditional food because they think fast food are more cheaper and convenience compared to the old traditional food. But most of the traditional foods are easier to be prepared, can be prepared by anyone at home and more cheaper. In the other hand, most of the fast foods only can be baught from fast food outlets.
Traditional food might be alternative to fast food if it had been promoted wisely. To be more effective, traditional food should be introduced from kindergarden itself so the youngs wil be familiar with traditional food and it’s taste as well. This can also could prevent the obession to fast foods.
Futhermore, Malaysians should be educated of the dangerousness of this fast foods. A recent study conducted by the Oxford University shows that almost 70 % of the respondents don’t know that fast food could cause cancer! In our society itself, not many people are concern what kind of food they are taking which is caused by lack of infomations on healthy food.


The awareness should not be only concerntrated on younger generation only but also other part of society because not only younger generation who consumes fast food. Reading materials such as flyers, books and so on can be placed at public places regarding the effects of fast food and proper ways reduce its consumption.
By knowing this information, public will more concern of their health and will try their best to lead a healthy life style. So they will obviously lessen the intake of fast food in their daily life and also will practise other type of other than fast food. To be more effective, medias should play vital roles in spreading infomaton like what they are doing now about smoke and it’s effect.
In a more progressive manner, government could play a very important role too. It may implement higher taxes fast food and give more subsidies for non fast food outlets. This eventually will lead to more non fast food outlets compared to fast food outlets. Imedeatly public will have less choice on fast food and automatically will turn up to non fast food outlets. The subsidi will help and encourage more non fast food enterprenuers so that could with fast food outlets. In the other hand, high taxes on fast food will make consumers to think of other alternatives and as time goes they will move on to other options.
This might seem some sort of unfairness but lets take a minute, how many fast food restaurants do really care about their customers in every aspect that they could? All they want is 100 % profits and they will do whatever to dump their products on us without thinking of the consequences on our health.
Nowadays there are also ready made fast foods which can be prepared easily at home. Implimentation of taxes and subsidies alone would not realy help this problem to be solved.In my opinion, quota also should be implemented on these ready made fast food to reduce the usage of it when the import of these foods are lessen, the price will hike up and will make users to choose other kind of food.


by,
Sathia

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Do You Think That The Existance Of Fast Food Can Help People To Save Money and Time?

America has been called a "fast food nation" and for good reason. Everyday, one out of four Americans eats fast food. If you are eating out, fast food restaurants are often the cheapest option, but unfortunately, not usually the healthiest one. Eating just one fast food meal can pack enough calories, sodium and fat for an entire day, but the quick-and-cheap temptation can be hard to resist. As a smart consumer, we can make healthier choices and still enjoy the convenience of fast food restaurant.


With today's hectic lifestyles, time-saving products are increasingly in demand. Perhaps one of the most obvious examples is fast food. The rate of growth in consumer expenditures on fast food has led most other segments of the food-away-from-home market for much of the last two decades. Many workers prefer take fast food as lunch meal because it’s cheaper than other foods and save time for waiting food. Thus, the demand of fast food is an increasing number and many fast food restaurant also make some promotion to their loyal customers such as Mc’ Donald have McValue Lunch has 10 different choices in a week and the price from Rm 5.95 only. Not just for the workers but the students also prefer sit at fast food restaurant to having lunch meal, discussing homework, surf internet and so on. In addition, it also a place for them to enjoying a meal without high expenses.
Demand and Supply on Fast Food

People want quick and convenient meals; they do not want to spend a lot of time preparing meals, traveling to pick up meals, or waiting for meals in restaurants. As a result, consumers rely on fast food. Knowing this, fast food providers are coming up with new ways to market their products that save time for consumers. Where is the demand and there are the supply, so, we know that high demand of fast food also will increase the supply on consumer. When the supply of fast-food restaurants increases, the time cost of obtaining fast food decreases and consumer theory predicts that this will lead to an increase in the demand for fast food. This increase in the demand for fast food, which tends to be more calorically dense, is likely to increase the weight gain of mothers who substitute towards fast food.

Following video is for fun =)







by,
Venessa

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

The Pros and Cons of Fast Food

Fast food! It lives up its name, its fast and its food. The demand of fast food already became a necessity. Most people replace our regular breakfast, lunch and dinner to these fast foods, in example McDonald’s, KFC, Wendy’s and Pizza Hut. We all know it became a part of our lives, but we are not that sure the effects of fast food brought to us, so today we will discover it here. =)

The Pros of Fast food
Economics
Fast food industries play the important role in the society in term of economics. We use some country as example, the typical fast food nation United States of America.

• The McDonald’s Corporation has become a powerful symbol of America’s service economy, which is now responsible for 90 percent of the country’s new jobs. In 1968, McDonald’s operated about one thousand restaurants. Today it has about twenty-eight thousand restaurants worldwide and opens almost two thousand new ones each year. An estimated one out of every eight workers in the United States has at some point been employed by McDonald’s. The company annually hires about one million people, more than any other American organization, public or private

• McDonald’s is the nation’s largest purchaser of beef, pork, and potatoes - and the second largest purchaser of chicken.

• The McDonald’s Corporation is the largest owner of retail property in the world. Indeed, the company earns the majority of its profits not from selling food but from collecting rent.

• McDonald’s spends more money on advertising and marketing than any other brand. As a result it has replaced Coca-Cola as the world’s most famous brand.

(The information is taken from: http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/s/schlosser-fast.html)

The Cons of Fast Food
Burgers and fries always the top choices in fast food. People like it, buy it and eat it. They never know what is behind the curtain. Fast foods always related to health issue, where people should have always take note of it.

• Processed Meat
With the low price of food, we can already know that the cost of the industry spent on the food is low too, which means that the quality of food won’t get as good as fine dining. Processed meat is the best choice of the fast food chain to provide to consumers, because it is cheap and it can produce a lot. We can find Sodium Nitrite in processed meat in burgers, sausages, hams and also some instant food. Sodium Nitrite is dangerous and there is a believe that it is the primary cause of pancreatic cancer in humans who consume even moderate quantities of processed meats. The food industry use it because this chemical just happens to turn meats bright red.

• Obesity
Obesity has already became the main issue faced by americans. "The food industry would love to explain obesity as a problem of personal responsibility, since it takes the onus off them for marketing fast food, soft drinks, and other high-calorie, low-quality products," Ludwig says.However, "When you have calories that are incredibly cheap, in a culture where 'bigger is better,' that's a dangerous combination," says Walter Willett, M.D., D.P.H., professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health.

• Heart attack and diabetes
Fast food can also consider as junk food. It contained high level of carbohydrates, sugar, salt and fat that will increase the level of cholesterols in blood and also extremely high level of salt (sodium) that will cause to the heart attack.

• Some other dieses
Food Additives: Unknown Effects
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) maintains a list of over 3,000 chemicals that are added to the processed food supply. These compounds do various things to food: add color, stabilize, texturize, preserve, sweeten, thicken, add flavor, soften, emulsify and more.
Potential side effects from the additives vary, and are controversial. For just one common food additive, monosodium glutamate (MSG), for example, the following symptoms have been reported: Numbness, Burning sensation, Tingling, Facial pressure or tightness, Chest pain, Headache, Nausea, Rapid heartbeat, Drowsiness, Weakness, Difficulty breathing for asthmatics. As is the case with most food additives, some people have no side effects, but others may become ill.
(The information is taken from: http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/05/10/19/all-the-health-risks-of-processed-foods----in-just-a-few-quick-convenient-bites.htm)

This is an interesting video clip that can help you make decision to eat fast food or not to eat it.

These are the pros and cons about fast food. It is up to you to make decision to eat fast food. Either enjoy the excitement for a little moment and suffer for the whole life, or practice the healthier life style to live longer with your loves one. =)


by,
Peggi

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

What is fast food and why is it so popular?

Fast food - History
Although fast-food restaurants are often seen as a mark of modern technomicrobiological culture, they are probably as old as the grandmothers of cities themselves, with their style varying from culture to cultare. Ancient Roman cities had bread-and-olive handstands, East Asian cultures feature pot-noodle shops. Flat bread, and falafel are characteristic of the Middle East.

The modern history of fast food
is connected with the history of the hamburger, as the earliest fast-food outlets sold hamburgers as their primary product. The American company White Castle is generally credited with opening the first fast-food outlet in 1921, selling hamburgers for five cents apiece. [1] White Castle later added five holes to each beef patty to increase its surface area and speed cooking times. White Castle was successful from its inception and spawned numerous competitors.
McDonald's, the largest fast-food chain in the world and the brand most associated with the term "fast food," did not appear until 1948 when a hot dog stand under the McDonald's brand name opened in San Diego. Ray Kroc, the distributor of an industrial milkshake mixer that the original McDonald's used, joined the founders of McDonald's in 1954 and began expanding the franchise. [2]
Wendy's, founded in 1972, is credited with pioneering the use of the "drive-thru" window to allow consumers to purchase fast food without having to park or exit their cars. [3]
http://www.naturalnews.com/fast_food.html

What is fast food and why is it so popular?
Fast food is any food that is quick, convenient, and usually inexpensive. You can buy fast food just about anywhere that sells food and snacks. Vending machines, drive-thru restaurants, and 24 hour convenience stores are probably the most common places to find fast food. It's so popular because for under $5.00 you can usually get a filling meal. However, fast food is inexpensive because it is usually made with cheaper ingredients such as high fat meat, refined grains, and added sugar and fats, instead of nutritious foods such as lean meats, fresh fruits, and vegetables.


Found this song quite suitable to our discussion, silly but funny. Enjoy =)


by,
Mohd. Hanis

Monday, January 18, 2010

Welcome to our blog =)

Good day to everyone! Welcome to our blog. This blog is created by 4 people with different mind and idea. We are…

Peggi ,
Venessa,
Hanis, and
Sathia.

Thanks to Miss Wong for giving us a chance to create a blog.
The blog work as a platform for us to discuss what we think about and how do we feel about for certain thing. But the most important is we share what we got and we learn from each other. Hopefully our blog can motivate and bring ideas for some who read our blog. Please enjoy reading our blog and do not feel hesitate to critic us. =D

Peggi