Talk:Criticism of fast food

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Rafaelasabo.

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Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment
This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 17 February 2020 and 15 May 2020. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Niuhemao.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 19:37, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Bias/OR
This article has a good deal of bias and lacks counter arguments to offset said bias. Additionally, there a some biased words (weasel words) that disrupt the neutrality of the article. --Jeremy (blah blah • I did it!) 20:33, 15 April 2012 (UTC)

It also seems to be more of a criticism of the livestock practices associated with fast food instead of the industry itself. 173.79.233.238 (talk) 22:35, 12 March 2013 (UTC)

Under the topic "Food Poisoning Risk" The fact that most fast food restaurants cook their foods in beef tallow should be stated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Twest14 (talk • contribs) 19:14, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

I stated that the American Heart Association says that we should consume about 16 grams of saturated fats per day. 74.87.193.254 (talk) 18:59, 4 October 2013 (UTC)

I am going to add a section titled, "Consumer Responsibilty" because this article seems to blame the fast food industries for the consumers problems. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Twest14 (talk • contribs)

Childeren do not have a cognitive defenses against marketing, so this makes them targeted more by fast food industries. 74.87.193.254 (talk) 19:38, 4 October 2013 (UTC) Revised my section "Consumer Responsibility" and made it neutral. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.87.193.254 (talk) 19:25, 25 October 2013 (UTC) Going to state that Mcdonalds is going to offer healthier options in the section titled,"Health based criticism". That being said, other fast food chains may follow. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Twest14 (talk • contribs) 20:22, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

Proposed Merge
Fast food worker strikes→Criticism of fast food

I am proposing that the four or five sentence article Fast food worker strikes be merged into this one as part of the labor criticisms section. That one is over referenced to multiple small sources with a huge amount of link rot. While the event received a great deal of press coverage when it happened, the 24-hour news cycle has moved on (WP:Recentism. --Jeremy (blah blah • I did it!) 07:48, 5 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Support. The article isn't really about any specific ff strike, but strikes in general. I think that this could be summed up into a few sentences/paragraph and added into this article. This isn't really a huge article, so there's no need for a spinoff at this point in time. If one of the strikes becomes so overwhelmingly notable that it merits its own article, then we can un-redirect. Tokyogirl79 (｡◕‿◕｡)   08:51, 5 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Oppose, because Criticism of fast food is based upon criticism of overall nutritional content, health risks and negative effects of fast food. The proposed merge target has little to do with the content within the Fast food worker strikes article about fast food workers striking to improve their working conditions. The only mention is in the lead, "cases of worker exploitation". Since there's currently nothing else in Criticism of fast food that covers labor strikes among fast food workers, I feel that this is an inferior choice to merge to at this time. What's the rush for this merge? Perhaps allow more time to let the Fast food worker strikes article develop instead. Northamerica1000(talk) 10:19, 5 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Oppose primarily per Northamerica1000. Callanecc (talk • contribs • logs) 03:27, 6 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Comment This article does purport to discuss "cases of worker exploitation" in the fast food industry. If the merge is not performed, I think the articles' topics should be separated more clearly. Q VVERTYVS (hm?) 15:52, 6 October 2013 (UTC)
 * Oppose While it is clear that something needs to be done with that article, merging here is not the right solution. Roccodrift (talk) 02:32, 18 December 2013 (UTC)

US bias
This article has a very strong bias towards the United States; all sources are American, and it even cites "the Department of Agriculture" without qualification, as if there's only one department of agriculture. Perhaps it should be renamed to reflect its topic more closely? Q VVERTYVS (hm?) 13:57, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

I concur. Even though I am from Canada I have trouble understanding many points in this article because it is purely american. For instance what are "Carryout Bag" laws? 138.229.24.37 (talk) 16:08, 7 September 2019 (UTC)

I agree also. This is a global problem but the article US centered. Gentleman wiki (talk) 04:11, 11 November 2019 (UTC)

Expanding
I think this article could be expanded by talking about the possible difficulties of cutting back on or cutting out fast food. I would look at the convenience or availablity of fast food conpared to heat and serve meals or even home cooked meals. Cost is also a possible venue; I usually feel a little cheated when I get fast food, moreso when I look up at the picture perfect sign/screen.Decepticon117 (talk) 00:55, 16 November 2013 (UTC)

Consumer responsibility
This could be expanded by fast foods relation to weight gain. How do people gain/lose the weight. Your source seems like it wants to blame the industry, while the industry blames the individual. How do non US country relate to this? Decepticon117 (talk) 00:55, 16 November 2013 (UTC)

Recent edit
I thought I would give a brief break down for the changes I just made. Consider this a more in depth edit summary:


 * Rewrote lead sentence in accordance to WP:LEADSENTENCE, although I do this more out of habit and this particular article doesn't necessarily need to follow that recommendation
 * Remove psychoanalytic description of guilt projection in consumers
 * There was a paragraph describing beef tallow being used in French fries, containing saturated fats, and describing the harmful effects of saturated fats. I moved this paragraph out of the food poisoning section to the health-based criticism section. I then deleted the mention of beef tallow in French fries, since while it is true that the Center for Science in the Public Interest says this, they said this in 1984, and subsequently fast food restaurants removed beef tallow from their French fries, leaving mention of this highly outdated. I sourced the claim that saturated fats are a risk factor for heart disease, I grouped the sources, but it is still possibly excessive, so feel free to delete some of them if you so desire. I was just sacrificing fluid, light-weight sourcing to avert possible controversy.
 * changed "claims" --> "says" per WP:SAY
 * Giving better info on daily recommended caloric info + sourcing
 * Rewording awkward McDonald's/Alliance for a Healthier Generation section.
 * Removed sentence about animal fats coming under criticism, the topic could be in this article, but it would need to be fleshed out more, include mention of the low cost of trans fats, and be properly sourced.
 * E. coli, although O157:H7 and hamburgers get a lot of press, there are many significant pathogenic strains, ways to get infected, and that one particular strain certainly isn't one of the absolute worst forms of food poisoning(it isn't even the worst strain of E. coli).
 * Removed statement about businesses seeking to make a profit, and recommending the reader to make sure to eat a healthy diet as being oddities. Again, with better wording these points could be appropriate to include, something along the lines of "Due to the inherent structure of businesses, financial motives compete with social responsibilities, leaving consumers better off seeking outside information to guide their food purchasing decisions rather than relying on advertisements"

This article is still replete with issues, particularly with giving due weight to various topics, but I'm not really interested at this time in setting out to improve this page further.AioftheStorm (talk) 05:47, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

Animal Cruelty
I am going to add a section on animal cruelty. This is a criticism that needs to be added, because of the inappropriate conditions in which animals are raised in and are confined to on factory farms. It is from these farms that fast food companies purchase there meat from. Philip121 (talk) 22:30, 20 February 2014 (UTC)
 * Go for it, just make sure to try and keep discussion specific to fast food. Since most places get their meat from factory farms, a generalized discussion of the harms of factory farming would be more appropriate on the article Intensive animal farming. A good approach for this article would be a section that primarily focuses on specific relations between fast food and factory farms, ie. how much meat from fast food comes from factory farms, unique differences between factory farms supplying animals primarily to fast food chains and those supplying meat to other sources, and how fast food has influenced the growth of factory farming.AioftheStorm (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 02:34, 22 February 2014 (UTC)

i would like to add more information on these animal farms and their practices on these such farms. Relating to the treatment of these animals in which companies have bought there meat from. — Preceding unsigned comment added by MTN Dew 22 (talk • contribs) 00:55, 9 October 2019 (UTC)

Worker Exploitation
I added a section on worker exploitation, because many fast food workers have complaints/criticisms in regards to their jobs. Many of these complaints are related to the amount of pay they receive. Philip121 (talk) 22:39, 4 March 2014 (UTC)
 * I removed the section, for multiple issues. First and most importantly, it failed Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy. Next, it editorialized the issue, and used weasel words to hype the issue. I attempted to rewrite to a neutral tone; but as the source is behind a pay-wall, I was unable to clean it up to Wikipedia standards myself. --- Barek (talk • contribs) - 22:56, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

Added to Consumer Responsibility
I added to the section consumer responsibility an example of a man who went on a fast food diet and improved his health because he was responsible about what and how much he ate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Philip121 (talk • contribs) 17:50, 5 March 2014 (UTC)

Revised Edit
I have revised a previous edit concerning an experiment of a science teacher that lost weight on a fast food diet. I have added it to the negative effects of fast food section and along with this edit I gave an expert’s comment in support of the experiment. This piece of information accompanies the criticism of fast food regarding obesity. It shows that fast food is not solely to blame for our weight gain and the health problems that come along with it.Philip121 (talk) 21:17, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Added new section
I have added a section in regards to the actions fast food companies have made in response to the criticism that they receive. It's important to know that fast food companies do recognize the criticisms that they receive and attempt to do something about them. Philip121 (talk) 21:18, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

Added to Worker discrepancies and strikes
I have added information to the section “Worker discrepancies and strikes” regarding the criticism of fast food restaurants employment of teenagers. The argument is that teenagers do not need the money they earn, because they still have the support of their parents. However, many teenagers that do work at fast food restaurants are actually helping to support their parents and family with the money that they earn. Philip121 (talk) 21:18, 15 April 2014 (UTC)

==Added to Worker discrepancies, highlighting worker conditions during the pandemic. Specifically the cutting of hours for minimum wage workers during the pandemic and it's contributions to worker strikes.==

Added additional information related to workers who stay at restaurants and their concerns around ongoing support related to pandemic conditions. And how it correlates to more pressure in an already strained industry. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Blarney1928 (talk • contribs) 03:17, 2 November 2021 (UTC)

Added new section
I have added a section in regards to fast foods effect on the environment. This is important because the environment needs to be taken care of and because fast food has been linked to harming the environment it is a criticism that needs to be addressed.Philip121 (talk) 17:28, 29 April 2014 (UTC)


 * The source provided is not a reliable source, please find one that confirms to the standards of Wikipedia before adding it back in.--Jeremy (blah blah • I did it!) 06:42, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

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New Editor To the Page
Hello! I wanted to introduce myself. I am a student and I will be helping edit this article throughout the semester. I will be contributing by adding topics like Obesity,Comparing the Past and Present and also add missing information that I find. If anyone would like to help me contribute or have any suggestions on what I could do please feel free to message me via Wikipedia. Thanks!!Smorri52 (talk) 01:27, 18 October 2016 (UTC)

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New editor
Hello, I am a student, I am interested in the title. My purpose is to help people while they are choosing their life styles. I would like to edit on some sections, and compare some other sources with the article. I think, there are also some other information need to be added to make it more reliable. Especially on the sections: employee wages, obesity, wraps and packages, and so on. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lanolk (talk • contribs) 02:12, 2 March 2018 (UTC)

Removal of Paragraph Under "Fast Food Industry's Response to Criticism" Section
This paragraph seems to either be misplaced or unnecessary. I figured I'd open it up for discussion before just deleting it entirely.

''"There are lots of healthy damages on the human body while eating fast food products. It would be proper to know how fast food has a negative impact on human health. The researchers found that if a person eats fast foods more than a once a week, they may gain a significant amount of fat in their body. Also, there is a debate over proceeded food that has unhealthy nutrients inside that are not almost organic, where the results might be obviously harmful to the social life."

SKay (talk) 07:54, 19 February 2019 (UTC)

New Editor to the Article
I am a new user of Wikipedia. This looks like a great community, I'm glad I found it. I hope that I could learn how to edit the article here, and do my best to help this great community. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Niuhemao (talk • contribs) 02:00, 19 February 2020 (UTC) I have made a few edits to this article in the last few weeks. In the health based criticisms, I added a new condition "increased suicide attempt" and reference to it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Niuhemao (talk • contribs) 15:42, 30 April 2020 (UTC)

New references and information added
In the relationship between fast food and diabetes, the old version only provided a study of monkeys. I added a study conducted in Singapore showing fast food increase diabetes and heart disease. A reference was provided. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Niuhemao (talk • contribs) 16:37, 2 May 2020 (UTC) In the last section, fast food proximity, I added one more study and its reference.Niuhemao (talk) 16:40, 2 May 2020 (UTC) In the animal cruelty section, the original article only listed two animal cruelty events. I provided a short discussion about this phenomenon and a reference.Niuhemao (talk) 16:54, 2 May 2020 (UTC)

Expanding fast food and the pandemic data.
I'm going to add information about fast food workers during the pandemic and the risk of them contracting covid-19. Will focus on PPE and social distancing related content. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Blarney1928 (talk • contribs) 22:49, 22 November 2021 (UTC)

I will be adding more information under the fast food and the pandemic. I want to elaborate on the the second entry. I also will add information about the mental health of the fast food workers. Blarney1928 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Blarney1928 (talk • contribs) 01:59, 30 November 2021 (UTC)

I will be adding information about the demographic profiles of fast-food workers. I will be going to expand on the pandemic and fast-food workers. Blarney1928 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Blarney1928 (talk • contribs) 20:48, 30 November 2021 (UTC)

Missing topic: food swamps
The article Food swamp contains information that could easily be considered criticism of fast food. I have added a link in See also, but it might also be good to add a summary to this page.

Alpyne (talk) 10:52, 29 November 2023 (UTC)