Takeout food boxes contain a carcinogen
Styrofoam is light, cheap, and a great insulator, making it the material of choice for takeaway food boxes the world over. Unfortunately, styrene – the principle building block of styrofoam – has been labelled a carcinogen by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. Worse, styrofoam releases styrene when it is exposed to a heat source… freshly cooked food, for example.
McNuggets are machine-cut into four shapes
You might have assumed that the shape of McDonald’s chicken nuggets is random, but closer inspection will reveal that they actually come in four distinct shapes. These are named the boot, the bell, the bone, and the ball. Before they are deep fried, nuggets go through a cookie cutter-like machine that is responsible for giving them their shape.
IHOP puts pancake batter in its omelettes
If you’ve ever wondered why IHOP’s omelettes are so sweet and fluffy, it’s because they’ve got pancake batter in them. The fast-food outlet’s pancakes are legendary, and the company decided to cash in on their winning formula by using it for the omelettes too. Whilst it does make them undeniably delicious, it also means that the omelettes – a traditionally healthy breakfast food – are packed full of sugar.
Subway got sued after their ‘footlong’ subs were found to be less than 12 inches
In 2013, a lawsuit was filed against Subway after someone measured one of their supposedly footlong sandwiches and discovered that it came up short. The case went viral and Subway agreed to settle out of court, but a prominent judge poured scorn on the plaintiffs’ lawyers, accusing them of taking the majority of the settlement in exorbitant legal fees.
McDonald’s burgers don’t rot for 14 years
In 1999, David Whipple bought a McDonald’s hamburger to prove to his friends that it contained enough preservatives to keep it from rotting for a month. He put the burger in a paper bag, put it in the boot of his car, and promptly forgot all about it. Two years later, Whipple stumbled across the burger and – to his astonishment – discovered that it hadn’t decomposed. With his curiosity thoroughly piqued, Whipple decided to continue the experiment and kept the burger for another 12 years, after which it (alarmingly) still looked exactly the same.
Domino’s is rolling out delivery robots
In 2021, Domino’s teamed up with Nuro to design the world’s first self-driving delivery robot. Customers in Australia and Texas (regulatory approval has been slower in other places) can choose to have their pizza delivered by R2, a four-wheeled robot which pulls up outside your house. The pizza is kept in a heated compartment inside the robot, which customers can access via a pin that is issued when they place their order.
Subway used to be called Pete’s Super Submarines
With over 36,000 locations across the globe and around $10 billion in yearly revenue, Subway is one of the largest fast-food chains in the world. The company was founded in 1965, but it didn’t adopt its now-iconic name until 1968. For the first three years of its life, the company was named Pete’s Super Submarines after cofounder Dr Peter Buck, with the change presumably coming after someone in the marketing department complained about what might be the least catchy name in history.
The Quesarito is a secret item at Chipotle
Despite persistent rumours to the contrary, McDonald’s doesn’t have a secret menu. Customers seeking an off-the-menu experience are better off heading to Chipotle instead, where they can request the Quesarito, a burrito made with a cheesy quesadilla wrap. Going off-menu doesn’t come cheap, however, with the Quesarito costing an additional $3.50.
Pizza Hut once delivered a pizza to the International Space Station
In 2001, Pizza Hut made history by becoming the first takeaway company to deliver food to outer space. The pizza – which was seasoned with extra spices to compensate for the loss of taste that astronauts experience – hitched a ride on a Russian resupply rocket. The publicity – which cost around $1 million – remains one of the most legendary PR stunts in fast-food history.
Ben & Jerry’s was nearly a bagel company
When Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield were brainstorming business ventures, their first idea was to launch a bagel company. They planned to call it UBS – United Bagel Service – but abandoned the project after they discovered the cost of producing bagels. The duo invested in an ice cream machine instead, and the rest is history.
Fry sleeves are sometimes coated in toxic chemicals
You know that bag your fries come in? Or the the one your burger is wrapped in? Researchers sampled 400 of them from various takeout spots and chains and found that 38% of burger wrappers and 20% of fry sleeves contained fluorine, a chemical associated with fertility issues, a weakened immune system and even cancer.
Ice could contain fecal matter
Hold the ice whenever you’re eating somewhere on the cheap and fancy a drink. Food Safety Magazine explains that ice machines are prone to microbial contamination. One report found fecal bacteria in ice served as McDonald’s, KFC and Burger King across the United Kingdom. Sure, we’ve all said “this drink tastes like c**p,” but we certainly didn’t expect this…
Grill marks are usually BS
If you’ve ever bought a takeout burger and opened the thing up to rearrange or just remove the tomatoes and lettuce, you may have noticed your burger has grill marks. These are mostly fake and simply added to make it appear as if your patty is high-end and not mass produced.
Vegetarian options aren’t always vegetarian
Even though takeout is very vegetarian-friendly these days, most veggies should stay clear as the hygiene and attention to detail isn’t all that. And they’d be right to have such reservations. For example, both the plant-based Whopper and regular Whopper at Burger King are cooked in the same broiler, leaving a whole lot of meat juice in your supposedly vegetarian patty.
Drive-thru workers can see you
That’s right. Next time you’re ordering a drive-thru, even if you can’t see any obvious cameras, give them the benefit of the doubt and save that bogey for another time. Refrain from making faces at the incompetence of the voice on the other end, because they can see you. More importantly, they are handling your food.
You’ll probably spend more on self-service machines
Self-service machines are a true game changer. No awkward interactions, no mob of hungry customers telling you to hurry up. If you’re in a foreign country, you can even get a kick out of the menu options not found in your native land. But mix it up in the future, cause you’re likely to spend 20% more than you are at the counter. It’s the same liberating, unlimited time benefit to self-service machines that encourage you to buy and thus spend more.
Your eggs aren’t really eggs
Takeout isn’t reserved for the later hours when you’ve had a few shandies. A lot of people grab takeout first thing before work. Breakfast takeout is pretty much identical to what you’ll get later on in the day, only they throw an egg in. Beware, though: a lot of places cut costs by using Premium Egg Blend, which contains glycerine, a solvent common in shaving foam and soap.
Some bread is made with yoga mats! (sort of)
Until very recently, Subway had been using a chemical called azodicarbonamide in their bread recipe. Azodicarbonamide is a substance that has previously been used to create yoga mats! It’s good news that you no longer have to worry about consuming it now, but how about all those Subs you’ve wolfed down in the past?
Fake cheese is rife
No-one’s expecting artisan cheeses when it comes to takeout, but you might be alarmed to hear that the cheese on your quick fix food isn’t entirely made up of bona fide cheese. Research has found that most of it includes chemicals, additives and fat, leaving your beloved cheese less than 50% genuine.
Healthy options are worse for you
Sometimes, even when buying takeout we like to take what we think is the healthier option. Alas, you shouldn’t delude yourself that the lettuce on your kebab or the side salad with your pizza is reversing the effects of greasy food. Salads in these takeout establishments are known to contain double the amount of calories in a burger and are plugged with chemicals and additives.
Milkshakes have up to 59 ingredients
In theory milkshakes are pretty straightforward: why, it’s just milk and ice cream, right? However, in most fast food outlets they’re actually complex, and not in the exciting way. Artificial flavours such as strawberry are teeming with chemicals and preservatives, as well as sickly additives like high fructose corn syrup which acts as a sugar substitute.
Junk food can shrink your brain
Nobody is under the impression that junk food is good for them (we hope). But our concerns are mostly to do with weight gain, and we never even think about the impact it may be having on our brains. The journal Neurology found that consumption of trans fat, a common ingredient in takeout food, causes brain shrinkage that can lead to Alzheimer’s!
Leftover food is carried over to the next day
Again, this is something we all fear but when you’re in a pinch or drunk, or both, hygiene standards aren’t really that important. But it’s true, food left over in fast food outlets at the end of the day is very often brought back out and reheated the next day. And why wouldn’t it be, when it’s teeming with a gazillion preservatives?
Vanilla flavoured with anal glands
Not human, don’t worry. Beaver anal glands. Not like that is any better, really. Yes, castoreum – an ingredient found in vanilla flavouring and baked goods – is a secretion from the anal glands of beavers. If that doesn’t make you reconsider that extra helping of ice cream after your savoury course, we’re not sure what will.
Expired meat is sold to your favourite spots
In 2014, junk food lovers were horrified when undercover reporters filmed an American-owned Shanghai factory changing the dates on expired meat and shipping it off to McDonald’s and Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets across China. Thank goodness this was just a one off and probably isn’t happening anywhere else – or so we hope…
Hash browns are worse for you than cheeseburgers
Ah, the humble hash brown; simple, yet devastatingly effective, and an essential part of any fast food breakfast. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but if you’re regularly picking up these things under the golden arches it’s likely to play havoc with your health. Hash browns contain more fat and calories than both cheeseburgers and Big Macs!
Taco Bell was sued for referring to their meat as “meat”
It’s not meat. Well, if you’re asking the Alabama law firm who sued Taco Bell it isn’t. Their argument was that the taco filling couldn’t classify itself as beef as it contained more oats, seasoning and fillers than any meat. Taco Bell altered the language they use for their filling and the case was dropped.
Their delivery time promises have caused deaths
Back in the 1980s and 1990s, pizza giants Domino’s famously promised their wares would be delivered within 30 minutes, or customers would get them for free. The pressure this put on Dominos drivers resulted in so many fatal car crashes that the company’s employee death rate rivalled that of miners and construction workers. If nothing else, this might make one reconsider a career in food delivery.
Burgers don’t rot
As alarming as this may sound, McDonald’s burgers don’t decompose. Their patties can sit for as long as 12 years without decaying, which may explain the rubbery texture. Still, to be fair to Ronald and company, Serious Eats discovered that homemade burgers also fail to rot if made in the right conditions.
Pizzas usually contain flies
Bread, cheese and sauce. What could go wrong? Quite a lot if you’re getting your pie from a takeout spot. The FDA claims that tomato sauces contain “30 or more fly eggs per 100 grams” and “one or more maggots per 100 grams.” Humans unknowingly eat insects regularly so this is isn’t necessarily a huge problem. Not nice to think about though, is it?
McDonald’s was once harder to get in than Harvard
It’s a classic punchline, the McDonald’s employment. Slacking off at school? Aspire to be anything other than a CEO? Enjoy working at McDonald’s! What if we told you in 2011 accepted only 6.2% of those who applied to work at the fast food giant while Harvard accepted 7%? Maybe it’s not the cushy gig we all thought! (In fact, we’re sure it isn’t, as scores of former McDonald’s staff have spoken out about suffering stress.)
Junk food makes your child stupid
Is your child stuffing their face with burgers and pizzas and fried chicken everyday? Good luck with them getting into a fancy university and a high-flying executive career, as regular consumption of junk food has been linked with plummeting academic performances. Good luck weaning them on to leafy green vegetables, fresh fish and other such varieties of ‘brain food.’
Some takeout chains won’t stop texting you
It’s hard to get out of automated messages when ordering food online. Every other day there’s a promotion, a nudge. Come on, they say, treat yourself to our new white chocolate pizza for just $24.99! Did you know pizza chain Papa John’s was sued by a man who wouldn’t stop being contacted by them even after he opted “STOP”?
Outback Steakhouse isn’t actually Australian
Outback Steakhouse is an odd one. It’s an American chain with an “Australia theme” – except they don’t actually serve anything Australian, and most of the fare is American. What’s more, the founders of the restaurant admitted to never visiting down under in case they were too influenced by its culture when creating their menu. Definitely not ‘fair dinkum!’
Salt is absolutely smothered on
The average daily dietary requirement of salt is about 1.7 grams with maximum intake cut off at six grams. However, your average takeout meal will often contain enough salt to season your meal for the whole month. Yikes. It might add some flavour, but is really worth running the increased risk of high blood pressure, stroke and heart failure?
People don’t trust delivery drivers
A 2019 survey found that 21% of customers who used a delivery system believed drivers take some of their order on the sly. 85% of customers expressed a desire for restaurants to use packaging that would give away any wrongful tampering. Sure, this could simply be customer paranoia – but it’s not hard to imagine disgruntled employees taking advantage.
Staff are encouraged to upsell
Takeout spots and fast food chains are there to make money first and foremost, so it may not be too surprising that servers are routinely instructed to casually coerce customers into spending more money. However, customers can be forgiven for getting angry when they’ve already made their order and the server keeps nagging them to buy even more expensive items.
Chinese fortune cookies aren’t from China
Reading your fortune from a cookie after a Chinese meal is a bit of harmless fun. However, on top of the fortunes themselves being nonsense, this tradition has diddly squat to do with China. The tradition was introduced in Japan, popularised by Americans and eventually made its way to Europe. Over in China, fortune cookies are virtually unknown.
Fast food advertising is all smoke and mirrors
Again, this one might not be too much of a shock. All advertising is glorified nonsense at the best of times, but to see the effort put in to making hamburgers appear plump and full of life like they do on TV and billboards is a sight to behold. Has anyone ever been presented with fast food that looked as juicy and succulent as it does in the commercials?
They profit off global news events
When people are plugged to their TV screens in the event of something huge, they’re less inclined to waste time making a meal – in other words, it’s takeout time. Remarkably, major news events can have a big impact on sales. Back in 1994, Domino’s shifted as many pizzas during OJ Simpson’s infamous high speed car chase as they did on Superbowl Sunday, routinely their busiest day of the year.
