McDonald's, KFC, Taco Bell Rated Worst by Customers

Three cheers for 2015 fast-food aficionados!  

Selling 20th century-style greasy, salty, cheap fast food is a loser in the 21st century, per a recent nationwide survey of 70,000 customers. Customer preferences in 2015?  

• Fast and casual food eateries that have eliminated artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives from their fare. 
• Meats produced without antibiotics and synthetic hormones.  
• Produce grown in a sustainable manner, so pesticides aren't necessary to grow crops.  
• Food not dripping with grease, and often including freshest produce.  

Think Chipotle, Panera Bread, and Chick-fil-A, the three top vote-getters in the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index.  

Think 21st-century corporations that equate healthier fare... for customers and for the environment... with healthier profits.  Corporations with founders or management that act like they give a damn about community and world.  

The losers in the 2015 American Customer Satisfaction Survey of fast and casual food corporations?  From the bottom:

• McDonald's - Rock-bottom last (by a wide margin)
• Taco Bell - Tied for second-to-last 
• Burger King - Tied for second-to-last 
• Jack-in-the-Box - Tied for second-to-last 
• KFC - One point from tying for second-to-last 

Observed survey authors, "Customers seem to perceive the traditional burger chains as increasingly tired brands — industry competition is fierce, and shifting consumer preferences for healthier food is taking a toll."

Customer satisfaction winners in 2015? The top four are:

#1 - Chick-fil-A, which includes in its Environmental Stewardship and Social Responsibility website sections, company policies on recycling, water usage, energy efficiency, air quality, and waste, and states that "We know that how food is grown and sourced is of importance to customers. We are working to understand and take the right actions to ensure a sustainable and competitive menu in the future."

#2 - Chipotle Mexican Grill, a company dedicated to Food with Integrity, which means:

• "...vegetables grown in healthy soil, and pork from pigs allowed to freely root and roam outdoors or in deeply bedded barns."
• "There's no place for non-therapeutic antibiotics and synthetic hormones on the farms that produce our ingredients."
• "We serve more local produce than any restaurant company in the U.S. In 2014, we served over 20 million pounds of locally grown produce, and plan to increase our numbers every year."
• "We set minimum space requirements for the animals producing the meat and dairy products that end up in our restaurants. We work with our suppliers to ensure the highest possible animal welfare standards."

#3 - Panera Bread, which sets forth under Our Beliefs - Food as it Should Be, goals of:

• Clean Ingredients - " We’re committed to sourcing and serving high-quality ingredients without artificial additives including added MSG, artificial trans fats, and ingredients we don’t believe need to be in your food."
• Transparent Menu - "We’re committed to transparency that empowers guests to choose how they want to eat."
• Positive Impact - "Panera is on a journey to ensure the highest possible animal welfare standards (including)... our reduction in use of antibiotics and confinement."

#4 - Papa John's Pizza, which promises "Better ingredients. Always had them. Always will." and specifically lists all ingredients on their website. Among company commitments:

• No trans fats
• No fillers in our meat toppings
• No cellulose
• No partially hydrogenated oils

Eating home-cooked meals made with freshest ingredients is far healthier than a steady diet of fast food, no matter what their corporate promises.  

But we all eat out, and these days, we usually opt for convenience as well as taste.  

Three cheers for 2015 fast-food aficionados, which includes... well, all of us, it seems.  We're making better choices for our health and for our communities and world.  

And finally,,, finally!...  customer choices are sinking the cynical fortunes of those industrial corporate bastions of  cheap 20th century-style greasy, salty, sugary fast food filled with chemicals, additives,preservatives, fillers and artificial flavors, colors and textures.  

Power to the people!  

U.S. Pork, Beef Laced with Drug Banned in Europe, China, Russia

American beef, pork, and turkeys are now considered sub-standard in more than 100 countries because the U.S. government allows meat processors to add ractopamine, a growth-hormone drug, into feed for cattle, pigs, and turkeys bound for food sales. 

Last week, Russia joined the ranks of countries greatly restricting (or entirely banning) U.S. beef and pork imports as too tainted with drugs for human health.

Just imagine... the home-grown meat we eat in the United States is thought too dangerous for Russian consumption. Russia warned the USDA two months ago, but drug-laced U.S. meat continued.  Sergei Dankvert, Russian chief of food safety, then announced and informed the USDA that...

"Since the violations continue and we are finding ractopamine in meat shipments from the U.S., we plan starting February 11 to impose restrictions on the import of this product."  

What Is Ractopamine?  
Ractopamine is/was....

A drug fed in the final weeks before slaughter to "improve the rate at which the animals convert feed to lean muscle" rather than fat. Since industrial factory-farmed animals are usually excessively fat due to lack of exercise, ractopamine is used to generate more lean meat.

Manufactured by a division of Eli Lilly and Company, Elanco. Lilly is a massive, U.S.-based pharmaceutical corporation with 2011 global sales of $24.3 billion. Other Eli Lilly products include Prozac, Methadone, and Cialis.  (Since 2000, the Eli Lilly PAC has given more than $10 million to U.S. politicians: about 60% to Republicans, 40% to Democrats.)

Classified as harmful to human health by the European Union, China, Russia, Taiwan, and 97 other countries.  As a result, ractopamine use is banned in these countries and regions. (Click here for list of Adverse effects of ractopamine.)

Approved in 1999 by the USDA "based solely on research data provided by Elanco, the drug's manufacturer."  Further, 

"...a detailed evaluation of the study by European food safety officials in 2009 revealed that 'Only one human study was used in the safety assessment by Elanco, and among the six healthy young men who participated, one was removed because his heart began racing and pounding abnormally.'" (Sources -  Huffington Post article by Andrew Gunther, and NBC Business News article, Dispute over drug in feed limiting US meat exports)

Claimed by the USDA to be "safe" for human consumption when ractopamine residue remaining in meat is below certain limits set by the USDA, a level considered unacceptably high by the EU, China, Russia, and the United Nations body for global food-safety.

However,  Food Safety News reports, "The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service does very limited testing for the drug..." 

In 2010, the U.S. tested for ractopamine residue in none of the 22 billion pounds of pork produced.  Only 712 samples were tested from 26 billion pounds of beef produced in 2010. Per NBC News, results of these tests were not publicly released. 

Harmful to the health of pigs and other animals. NBC News reported in early 2012:

"Although few Americans outside of the livestock industry have ever heard of ractopamine, the feed additive is controversial. Fed to an estimated 60 to 80 percent of pigs in the United States, it has resulted in more reports of sickened or dead pigs than any other livestock drug on the market, an investigation of Food and Drug Administration records shows...

"Ractopamine leaves animals' bodies quickly, with pig studies showing about 85 percent excreted within a day. But low levels of residues can still be detected in animals more than a week after they've consumed the drug... 

"When Elanco studied the drug in pigs for its effectiveness, it reported that 'no adverse effects were observed for any treatments.' But within a few years of... approval, the company received hundreds of reports of sickened pigs from farmers and veterinarians..." 

NBC News noted that Elanco received a 2002 warning letter from the FDA (part of U.S. Health and Human Services, unlike the USDA):