What happens behind the scenes?
Next time you buy fast food, take a moment to consider where it comes from and how it was handled before reaching your plate.
Do we really know where our food comes from and if it is safe to eat?
I don’t think so. Just think about it, in the past few months there have been stories of fly eggs found in MacDonalds chicken nuggets, frogs in Woolworths salad and now the most recent, workers at the KFC in Braamfontein caught washing chicken with a hose pipe on a dirty concrete floor.
Not to mention the rumours of cockroaches and rats lurking in various supermarket chain stores.
Just thinking about it makes me want to gag, and I find myself inspecting my food, just waiting for something to jump out at me.
There are health and safety rules and regulations in place, but behind closed doors, I don’t think the workers actually follow the rules. This is very scary, because you can’t trust anyone.
Besides the gross factor, unhygienic practices in the fast food outlets pose serious health risks and could result in an outbreak of illness.
In addition to the unhygienic handling of food, consumers also have to worry about the harmful hormones used in the production of food as well as genetically modified meat, dairy, fruit and vegetables being sold in almost all grocery stores. And buying organic food is hellishly expensive.
Considering all of this it seems consumers are better off growing their own fruit and vegetables in their back yards, and keeping their own livestock. But this is impossible for most people.
So where to from here? I don’t have the answer, but I can tell you I will not be buying takeout any time soon and I will be scrutinising all the labels on products I buy.
