WTF Files: Would you like some Silly Putty with those fries?

In case you were thinking that food in the United States couldn't possibly be less healthy, McDonald's is on the scene to prove you wrong. CNN reports that McDonald's restaurants in the United States put petroleum products in their popular chicken McNuggets. That's right, Texas Tea in your McNuggets!

"CNN has revealed that the fast-food chain makes this popular menu item with the chemical preservative tBHQ, tertiary butylhydroquinone, a petroleum-based product. McNuggets also contain dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent also used in Silly Putty."




Yep, the same stuff they put in Silly Putty. But eating a little Silly Putty never hurt anyone, right?

Apparently Mickey D's only puts these petroleum products in McNuggets in the United States.

"McDonald's says the differences are based on the local tastes: In the United States, McNuggets are coated and then cooked, in the United Kingdom, they are cooked and then coated. As a result, the British McNuggets absorb less oil and have less fat.

Dimethylpolysiloxane is used as a matter of safety to keep the oil from foaming, [Lisa McComb, who handles global media relations for McDonald's,] says. The chemical is a form of silicone also used in cosmetics and Silly Putty. A review of animal studies by The World Health Organization found no adverse health effects associated with dimethylpolysiloxane.

TBHQ is a preservative for vegetable oils and animal fats, limited to .02 percent of the oil in the nugget. One gram (one-thirtieth of an ounce) can cause "nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse," according to "A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives."

Aren't you glad you live in the U.S.!

How about some salmonella with them eggs?

Hopefully you've heard by now that there is a major food recall going on. This time it's eggs that are being recalled because of salmonella contamination. The media is all over the recall. But to me it's a non-story. The American food supply is not safe and hasn't been since corporations began selling us our food.

When you put a couple of hundred thousand chickens in a barn, where they can't spread their wings much less actually move then what do you expect. Corporate chickens live a hell-like existence. Their living conditions are astoundingly unhealthy. So why is anyone surprised that factory eggs have been contaminated with salmonella? Heck I'd be surprised if eggs weren't contaminated.

And this and the food recalls of the past several years are only the beginning. Stay tuned because as corporate food companies look for ways to maximize profits it's food safety that will suffer.

Note: There were a few videos I found of corporate factory egg operations but they were so gross I decided not to post them.

Detroit food desert

An abandoned food market in Detroit

I live in a mostly White community. There are certain privileges to that such as being within walking distance of at least ten grocery stores and three farmer's markets and one discount grocery store. In the city of Detroit, a mostly Black city, there are no chain grocery stores, a few discount grocery stores and hundreds of corner stores which sell what is described as inferior and over-priced food items.


Detroit is known as a food desert. And almost all food deserts are located in majority minority communities.

The city of Detroit lost its last two legitimate grocery stores in 2007. Since then the city has tried to attract large chain grocery stores to no avail. Detroiters with transportation can shop at suburban grocery stores. But those without transportation are forced to shop at either the local convenience store or discount markets.

How can a city survive much less thrive when healthy affordable food is so scarce? How can those with health concerns survive with few healthy food choices? And how can children be expected to be healthy and thrive when they don't have access to healthy food?

Urban farming in Detroit

The Detroit city government has been talking about urban farming as a way to solve this problem. But I doubt that that can solve the problem entirely. So I'm wondering why the city doesn't open its own grocery stores? Not only would it solve the problem of Detroiters not having access to healthy and affordable food but that would also create jobs.

Cities create and operate power companies, public transportation companies and libraries for the public good, so why not grocery stores?

Anyway, I stumbled upon an article about this and was saddened for the people of Detroit. I have, in the past, taken for granted the variety of choices I have to buy food but I won't be in the future.

Mmm, mmm, good!

Some beef, we don't know which because the FDA won't force beef companies to tell us, comes from the off-spring of cloned cows.

Most of the food we eat contains genetically altered/ engineered ingredients. But of course there is no law requiring companies to label what is genetically altered.

Most of the time we have no idea where our food is grown, processed or packaged. There is no law requiring companies to label food with that info.

A toxic chemical called BPA (bishphenol A) is in most canned foods. BPA has been in the news lately and the media is acting as though this is a new discovery when a simple google of BPA shows that this info has been around for a few years.

There is mercury in most fish. So much so that doctors warn pregnant women to severely limit their intake of fish.

A chemical called Benzene is found in most soda. The chemical forms when a chemical reaction occurs between ascorbic acid and potassium benzoate. The FDA has known about this since 1990 but withheld the info from the public for 16 years. Benzene causes cancer.

Black History Month: Jim Crow Coca-Cola vending machine

The Jim Crow era in the U.S. was not only a period of great hatred it was also a time when racists showed their true stupidity for the world to see. Case in point are Jim Crow segregated soda vending machines. Notice in the photo above the "Whites Customers Only" painted on the machine.

They also made double-sided coke vending machines where Whites would buy cokes from one side and Black people from the other side.