they say you are what you eat
but if you eat a lot of Mickey D's what
you're made of may require a long
complicated and kind of scary
explanation welcome to watchmojo.com it
were counting down the top five facts
you probably don't want to know about
McDonald's to be fair the restaurant
chain does have some commendable
qualities but for the sake of
entertainment that's not what we're
focusing on today there have been plenty
of scandals and questionable practices
in the history of the mega corporation
but we're gonna keep things simple by
focusing on the food the marketing
behind it and its impact on the way we
eat number five there are 19 ingredients
in McDonald's french fries there's
nothing like the world-famous taste of
McDonald's crispy golden french fries
are you looking for a surefire way to
stump even the most experienced chef
just ask them to make french fries with
the caveat that they have to use 19
ingredients not chili fries
now fries with gravy not poutine just a
plate of plain old french fries that's
how McDonald's does it in addition to
your standard you know potatoes oil and
salt
McDonald's trademark french fries also
include just to name a few natural beef
flavoring sodium acid pyrophosphate to
quote maintain color and something
called dimethyl poly siloxane but don't
let all those syllables scare you
because as grant imahara the Mythbusters
will tell you in a certain transparency
campaign video it's just an anti foaming
agent there's something a little
suspicious about the way they're
celebrating the fact that their food is
made out of food if actor works so well
that you're probably already not ruling
are you okay I'm fine it just threw up
in my mouth a little bit number four
McDonald's strawberry shake contains
everything but strawberries in the
interest of fairness
let's first dispel a popular myth about
the McDonald's shake McDonald's
milkshakes are listed simply as shakes
on many menus across the world resulting
in internet conspiracy theories taking
this as proof that
don't contain milk unlike traditional
milkshakes McDonald's shakes do not
contain ice and cream but the very first
ingredient is still milk however beyond
that we're on shaky ground in the case
of strawberry shakes the ingredients
list begins a dark descent into the
chemical abyss of horror that is food
additives
do they have crusty partially gelatinous
non-dairy gun-based beverages mm-hmm
they call them shakes there are a
staggering 59 ingredients in a
McDonald's strawberry shake most of
which are lumped together under the
umbrella ingredient artificial
strawberry flavoring like methyl
benzoate hydroxy phenol to butanone 10%
solution and alcohol and solvent just
like mom used to make number three
McDonald's salads might be worse for you
than the burgers in McDonald's we're
tossing salads fresh all day every day
you're on a road trip with friends and
out of desperate hunger you pull over to
the Mickey D's your friends all order a
Big Mac and fries but you've been making
an effort to eat healthier so you opt
for the salad like a chump
well they might market their salads as
proof that they can provide nutritious
alternatives for the health conscious
and some nightmarish twist of logic
they've managed to make salads that are
less healthy than their hamburgers the
courage lies with a man who has the guts
to say no to a fast-food restaurant and
eat a salad instead the Southwest crispy
chicken salad contains more fat calories
and perhaps worst of all more lettuce
than a bacon double cheeseburger the
Caesar salad beats out a double Big Mac
in calories and fat while delivering
less protein and reeking of Caesar salad
what's their secret it's all in the
dressing I mean it's fresh when you get
it it's fresh form I pop it in my mouth
number two its marketing strategies have
been called creepy and predatory if you
in 1979 McDonald's Happy Meal is the
must-have fast-food kids meal they of
course pioneered the Happy Meals now the
mighty kids meals also with a little
gotta having toys in fact the Happy Meal
has actually turned McDonald's into the
largest toy distributor in the world
surpassing even Mattel and Hasbro with
over 1.5 billion toys distributed and
thank you for such a happy email it
might seem like a costly giveaway but
not when you consider that they aren't
just selling a Happy Meal they're making
lifelong customers out of children from
the youngest possible age so even a two
and three and for those kids are being
lured into them and it's that brilliant
marketing that drew the attention of
nutrition watchdog group CSPI
who took McDonald's to court over the
way they use their toys to lure children
into their business a marketing strategy
they referred to as creepy and predatory
if you've got a thirst for adventure
there's a special place to go
McDonald's number one McDonald's fees
sixty-eight million people a day go
ahead and do the math if McDonald's own
estimate of 68 million customers per day
is accurate that means they feed one
percent of the world's population daily
and considering the official position of
any self-respecting medical professional
regarding McDonald's can be summed up as
don't eat that
that figure paints a pretty bleak
picture of our collective health and
nutritional values McDonald's cultivates
dedicated customers young and keeps them
coming back as they get older with a
versatile an ever-expanding menu of
affordable fast food to cater to every
choice or trend oh when you put it that
way as the McDonald's training manual
proudly states they sell over 75
hamburgers every second sexually I'm not
even mad that's amazing so which of
these facts did you find to be the most
unsettling enjoying the blockbuster
taste of apples and milk has never been
this thrilling for more delicious top
tens and somewhat unsavory top fives be
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I like my milk dark very dark