Introduction

For our commodities research project I decided that I would like to research McDonald’s french fries. This commodity is a part my day-to-day life, whether I want it to be or not. Especially where I am from, America, there are McDonald’s everywhere. Whether you are at the mall looking for a cute dress, at the movies, or getting ready to board a flight if there is a food court then there is most likely to be a McDonald’s. One of the things that people get with whatever they order is french fries. I do not eat them as often as I would like to because they are not healthy but, they are around me and although they are not in my house hold they are everywhere else I go. Even though french fries are up there on the list of most popular sides and snacks, potatoes, what french fries are made of are also a very common food staple.

Here at Ecole we eat potatoes at least once a day. They are incorporated into a lot of our meals, whether it be fried, mashed, cut, sliced, and diced. We have a lot of different ways of eating

potatoes and I know that potatoes are a big part in a lot of other cultures as well. That is why I decided to focus on McDonald french fries. I wanted to know why out of all the potato dishes that exist, french fries become so popular? And why pretty much the whole world take such a liking and make McDonald’s french fries so popular.

French fries also tie into some themes that we talked about in class, such as poverty, feminization of poverty, stratification, food insecurity, gender, and health. One would assume that

french fries is just food and really has nothing to do with economics. In fact they are supposed to be two complete different things. But, actually they all tie into one big problem. People who are low

on the socioeconomic scale are often forced to eat McDonald’s,simply because McDonald’s is cheap and affordable for those who are on a budget. That ties in with stratification and the difference of classes. Less privileged people are more likely to eat at McDonald’s once or twice a week. Which ties in to the theme of poverty and the feminization of poverty because those who are poor are usually food insecure and with McDonald’s dollar menu, McDonald’s is a safety net for many families when they do not know if or when they will have a meal again. There is also a connection between french fries, poverty, and health. Those who are less fortunate often cannot afford to eat healthy food. Therefore they have to eat cheap fast food. Eating fast food causes them to gain weight and become obese. Obesity is linked to various health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and much more. As seen in the documentaries American Winter and A Place At The Table (http://www.americanwinterfilm.com/ ; http://www.magpictures.com/aplaceatthetable/ ) with health problems comes high medical bills. People who struggle to pay medical bills, mostly uninsured, are even less likely to be able to afford healthy food. This is an example of the poverty cycle.

 

Cultivation

French fries are made of potatoes. Potatoes are a food staple. Culturally and politically potatoes have had a great impact on not just what we eat but in the way we eat as well. But, potatoes have not always been around. They originated in the Andes Mountains in South America (www.livescience.com). It was discovered almost 7,000 years ago by pre-colombian farmers. Westerners did not come in contact with potatoes until 1537 when the conquistadors made it to Peru. In about 1570 the potato made it to Europe. Though the potato, also known as a tuber, was put to very limited use by the

Spanish. Potatoes at that time were considered food for the lower class. It took 30 years for potatoes to spread across Europe. Once the potato arrived in Europe, the Europeans discovered that the leaves of the potato were poisonous. The Europeans also realized that a potato left too long in light will turn green which can cause people to get sick. In 1840 there was a disastrous potato blight in Ireland. A disease known as Phytophthora infestans which was a fungus that was caused by other types of fungus led to a potato famine in Ireland.

Now potatoes are not just grown by Colombian farmers but by different people around the world. At one point potatoes were grown in restricted cooler climates but now potatoes are being grown in almost any climate.

Production

McDonald’s started selling french fries in 1954 when Ray Kroc found the McDonald’s brothers at their small but successful restaurant in San Bernardino, California. But, that was back then when they had one small restaurant now that McDonald’s is a world-wide restaurant chain. The french fries are now known world-wide and have a big life cycle.

McDonald’s has a variety of potatoes that it likes to use but on the list of favorites is the Russet potato. It needs a lot of sunlight and according to (McDonald’s.com) it is very important hat the potatoes look perfect and every black peel, green sunburn, and black spot is removed very carefully. Once at the farm, the potatoes are put into a bin and then are placed on a conveyor belt where they are sprayed with a forceful amount of water to remove all the bigger pieces of dirt. Workers stand at the bottom of the conveyor belt and pick out dirt that the machine missed. The potatoes are then loaded onto a truck to take to a McDonald’s factory. Once the potatoes have gotten safely to the factory they go onto more conveyor belts where the peels of potatoes are shocked off by high pressure steam. The peels are turned into bio fuel which makes up 15 percent of energy used to run McDonald’s factories. Next, the potatoes are, one at a time, shot through the potato cutter at approximately 65 kilometers per hour. At this point, the fries are still raw and are blanched and put through a dryer. They are then put into a solution that keeps the fries from turning brown like an apple when it is cut and shipped to nearing McDonald’s franchises.

Consumption and Distribution

There are many different kinds of french fries. There are thick cut fries, steak fries, shoestring fries, jojos, crinkle fries, curly fries, hand cut fries, and even tornado fries. Every restaurant is known for having some type of fry. People and society as we know it have a

very big demand when it comes to french fries. But french fries don’t just appear fried, salted, and ready to eat. They go through many steps in order to become a french fry from that round golden potato. But is the process they go through healthy? It depends.

If you visit McDonald’s websitehttp://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/product_nutrition.snackssides.120.small-french-

fries.html it will give you an exact ingredient list. There are 17 ingredients on the list. Shocking considering the only things that should be on the list are potatoes, salt,and oil. Some of the ingredients on the list include; hydrogenated (soybean oil), chemically preserved and anti foaming (citric acid), and artificially colored (sodium acid pyrophosphate).Why are these things in our food? Quite frankly, to look and taste yummier. Many fast food chains including McDonald’s dust their fries with dextrin and kashi for flavor coatings and crispier tastes. For image, so our food is being treated for appearance purposes and not for our health.

Consumption and social affects

Yet, somehow french fries are still very popular and on some peoples daily menu. Every year Americans eat 29 pounds of french fries. Surprisingly the rate of McDonald’s french fry sales are going down now because McDonald’s wants to shift its focus on Breakfast items. (PBS.com) But, nonetheless people are still consuming this fatty delicacy with either a hamburger or chicken nuggets and of course a dipping sauce, Whether it be BBQ, ranch, sweet and sour, ketchup, mustard and much more. Fries are being consumed in big numbers every day. Every one in four Americans eat french fries every day. Which translates to 71 million obese people in American and 50 million overweight individuals. That means 121 million people in America have weight issues. Much of it due to the fast food industry. In 1960 one American consumed 81 pounds of fresh potatoes and four pounds of frozen french fries. Today the average American consumes 49 pounds of fresh potatoes and 39 pounds of frozen french fries. French fry corporations purchase frozen fries at 30 cent a pound and resale for six dollars a pound. Most potatoes are grown in Idaho, but farmers are not being paid very well. It takes 1,500 acres to grow potatoes and out of every $1.50 sold for large french fries farmers get about two cents. In order for a farmer to break even it needs $5.00 for every hundred/weight sold. So, french fries do have an important impact on society.

Waste and Disposal

It is very clear that McDonald’s has been around and will be around for a while and is not going anywhere anytime soon. Social, political and health issues are things that are publicly talked about but what about the environmental issues that come with making these delicious fries? I recently looked into how McDonald’s disposes their food and paper products and found some very interesting things.

McDonald’s UK, helps the environment by recycling its cardboard, kitchen milk bottles, and used uniforms. All of the recycling is picked up by the same truck that drops off the food to the restaurants. According to the McDonald’s website; they have redesigned things like the ‘big mac’ box which now saves 423 tons of material every year. (Mcdonalds.com) McDonald’s also states that one of the biggest challenges it faces is that most of the recyclable material is ‘ food-contaminated’ which causes difficulties.

It appears as though McDonald’s is trying really hard to ‘go green’. All of their takeaway bags, napkins, and cup carriers, are made from 100 percent recycled material and in total 80 percent of all of McDonald’s packaging comes from renewable resources.

The big question; what exactly does McDonald’s do with the oil after it cooks their french fries? They have tried to reduce the oil amount they use by making a low oil fryer that can cook the same amount of products with 40 percent less oil. And uses four percent less energy than standard fryers. So, McDonald’s looks like they are doing their best to ‘reduce, reuse, and recycle’.

Alternatives

But, there are also other alternatives to Mcdonalds and their oily french fries. Instead of eating fast food; the best alternative would be to make your own french fries at home. And you do not even have to stick to potatoes. There are many different kinds of fries one

can make at home as well. From sweet potato fries, to chick pea, parsnip, rutabaga, and feta fries as well.

Mcdonalds itself is starting to offer salad instead of fries with their meals. They will try to make healthier choices available in 30-50 percent of the restaurants in the next three years and 100 percent by 2020.

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