Spotted* Burger King - King of the trans fat
“Have it your way” - The Burger King motto. If I did have it my way I would shutter the doors on every Burger King restaurant until they changed their methods of cooking. What in the name of everything nutritious is Burger King thinking? While their major rivals have been phasing out the use of trans fats since 2003, Burger King continues to poison the public with absurd amounts of hydrogenation. According to news reports, Burger King was set to banish cooking oils that contained trans fats by the end of 2007. Even with that time frame, they were still well behind the rest of the industry and were named in a lawsuit brought about by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) back in May 2007.
Perhaps Burger King did implement changes in the oil they use for on-site frying, but the nutrition guide found on their website is still littered with trans fat. Here are some interesting excerpts:
- Large Hash Browns - 13 grams of trans
- Sausage Egg and Cheese Biscuit - 6 grams of trans fat
- French Fries - Between 3 and 7 grams trans fat
- Cini-minis - 4 grams of trans fat
- BK Big Fish Sandwich - 2.5 grams trans fat
This does not look like the menu of a company that has removed trans fat from its cooking process, and is certainly not representative of a company who cares about the health and well being of it patrons. Doesn’t Burger King understand that about 30,000 heart disease related deaths per year could be attributed to over intake of trans fats? That means 30,000 less possible customers. Comon’ BK, you’re killing your clientele. It doesn’t take an MBA from Harvard to figure out that is probably not good for business. With more than 7000 resturants under BK control and hundreds of thousands of customers a day, I believe they have a social responsibiliy that they have yet to uphold.
