Burger King has introduced a new low fat french fry with 190 calories, 8 grams of fat, and 210 milligrams of sodium for a value size serving. These “Satisfries” are crinkle cut and thinly coated with batter so they don’t absorb as much oil. But can a french fry actually be healthy?

No Burger King meal is complete without a side of french fries or least that’s what the fast food giant has trained us to believe over the past 30 years.

And if the grade F meat on their burger offerings doesn’t strike your fancy, french fries may be your main course in those touch-and-go times when fast food is the only option. However, I was never under the assumption that my french fry splurge was anything other than a diet misstep. Now Burger King is trying to change that image with Satisfries, low fat french fries that supposedly have 40 percent less fat and 30 percent fewer calories than those offered by their nemesis, McDonald’s.

“One out of every two Burger King guests orders our classic French fries and we know our guests are hungry for options that are better for them, but don’t want to compromise on taste,” said Alex Macedo, President North America, Burger King Worldwide, Inc. “When it comes to what we eat, we know that small changes can have a big impact. We see Satisfries as one of the biggest fast food launches and are excited to bring this great tasting French fry to our guests.”

Small Steps: the Obesity Epidemic

To call these low fat french fries a ‘small’ step is putting it mildly. Other words that come to mind include microscopic, itty-bitty, and puny. Still, this isn’t the first step Burger King has taken in the past few years, reworking their menu with items like the cranberry and apple salad and the mango smoothie. They even took half of the cheese off their hamburger.

But can a company known for a menu item called the Whopper do anything other than make a population fatter? Fast food chains have done a bang up job so far, contributing to an obesity epidemic of mammoth proportions. In the U.S., one-third of adults are obese and even if you’re not, it still costs you. The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008 because the medical costs for people who are obese are $1,429 higher than those of normal weight.

Real Change with Real Impact

When it comes to Burger King’s changes, let’s give credit where credit is due, but realize that more work is in order. Next step, reduce Burger King’s serving sizes, especially on soda, which is a leading cause of weight gain and empty calories in this country. Make refills a thing of the past. And make more vegetarian and vegan options available at fast food establishments.

But the step that’s most important of all is to make fast food a treat, not a regular part of the American diet. For road trips when there’s no other options or after a night when only hangover food will do–then maybe consider Burger King’s new low fat french fries. But otherwise, whether low-fat or not, pass on the fries and the fast food in general.

Related on EcoSalon:
Why We Have to Live Without Fast Food: Foodie Underground
10 Fast Food Chains to Steer Clear Of
What Does Our Fast Food Consumption Actually Look Like?

Image: Steven Depolo

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Hamburgers visualized.

There are a lot of fast food chains in the United States.

Stephen Von Worley – a master at data visualization – put together this “Beefspace” map, taking information from AggData and mapped out various fast food chains according to location. The points are color coded, black is McDonald’s, red Burger King, yellow Wendy’s, magenta Jack In The Box, periwinkle Sonic, cream Dairy Queen, green Carl’s Jr., and cyan Hardee’s.

A close-up of East Texas, Mississippi, and Louisiana

What is clearly an overwhelming amount of fast food chains in a country that is facing a serious obesity problem, the result is visually stunning and mind boggling all at the same time..

See more close-ups of the map here.

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ColumnAn interview with Burger King’s Executive Chef.

The food coverage approach at EcoSalon can be summed up as: “Good food, from good places, with good people.” That can be broadly interpreted, but as the Foodie Underground columnist I get the chance to take a look at the food movement from the perspective of food lovers. After all, “from supper clubs to mini farmers’ markets to beyond…weekly!” was the original thrust of this column. So I was intrigued when I was approached by Burger King to interview the fast food chain’s Executive Chef John Koch. With a new bacon-related launch – we’re living in a “Bacon Nation,” I’ve been told – they had most likely come across one of my various references to bacon-wrapped-anything that has topped foodie menus over the course of the last two years.

Being someone who, for the most part, strictly abstains from fast food, I was interested to see what someone who plans the menu of a nationwide chain had to say about the process behind what they serve, where it comes from and its nutritional value. I agreed to an interview and found myself one early morning on a Skype call with the man behind the Chef’s Choice Burger, which includes new and improved bacon, as well as a variety of other moves that Burger King is making towards what they deem in a press release as “real food.”

“Bacon is also a “real food,” which is another big trend right now. We are becoming more aware of additives and heavy processing. We’re moving toward clean foods, foods and ingredients we recognize and can pronounce. Real foods.”

But what does “real food” mean to a nationwide chain known for pumping out highly processed, highly caloric meals? When it comes to bacon, at least, it means that Burger King is stepping it up in the fast food realm, opting for naturally smoked meat as opposed to “spray on smoke.” (This is how some fast food chains achieve that smokey flavor.)

An interview with Burger King’s executive chief and columnist Anna Brones.

Koch cites Burger King’s efforts towards selling “real food” with such examples as “eggs [prepared] in house every day” and “domestically sourcing” all bacon. What that means is that other restaurants are doing the opposite, warming up pre-made eggs and importing their bacon from abroad. But simply because Burger King is taking a step away from such a direction, is what they’re doing really very forward, let alone enough to make a significant change in the food system?

I turned to Jeff Harvey, President and CEO of Burgerville, a Pacific Northwest-based chain food restaurant with 38 locations (soon to be 39) in Oregon and Washington. In the Northwest, they’re known for their seasonal milkshakes – blackberry is an annual hit – as well as their commitment to locally-sourced ingredients.

Burgerville’s model is based on creating personal relationships with farmers in the area, working with growers to understand who they are and what they can provide and then introducing them to Burgerville’s distribution partner, Sysco.

“It’s not a moral thing, not an ethical thing, it’s a business thing,” says Harvey.

Their burgers are made with pastured, vegetarian-fed and antibiotic-free beef from local farms. The chain partners with companies like SeQuential Biofuels, which recycles cooking oil into biofuels and in 2007 helped the chain convert used oil into 39,750 gallons of biodiesel. Burgerville also purchases wind power credits equal to 100 percent of their electricity use. The chain’s efforts get it plenty of accolades in the sustainable business community.

But is such a model a viable option for larger fast food chains?

“Do we believe you can expand that model? For us the answer is yes. Is it economically feasible? I think that is a big question in terms of how companies have built their model,” says Harvey.

Ultimately, the chosen model depends on the goal of a food provider. “The commitment to local only works if the [company’s business] model is intended to build vitality and sustainability in the local marketplace. You do need genuine relationships to accomplish that. You can’t do that if you’re a nationwide chain,” says Harvey.

Going local, after all, means a commitment to production on a much smaller scale, something that isn’t possible for nationwide chains.

“If everybody in the world, especially the big players, declares ‘local is our thing’ … that should raise concerns to people. When you are committed to local you are committed to lower capacity. If you start to push local beyond what the capacity of the land is you move beyond sustainability,” says Harvey.

If the model can’t be changed, what opportunities do larger chains have for improvement? A clear option is the nutritional value of what they’re serving. Americans spend nearly $100 billion on fast food a year, and with an ever-expanding obesity rate, the impact that fast food chains could have on public health is clearly correlated.

Are the current efforts anywhere near to enough?

As Christina Munsell, a registered dietitian and research assistant at the Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale University, points out, the degree to which fast food is at fault for the state of health in America, “is impossible to quantify, but is definitely a factor.”

For Burger King, when it comes to nutrition, as Koch told me, the company follows the guidelines of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and a “total diet approach.” For Burgerville, it’s about offering a variety of choices so that guests can opt for smaller portion sizes. In short, the responsibility of healthy eating is on the customer.

The problem with focusing on calories alone, however, is that it detracts our attention from a more holistic approach to food. A strip of bacon may only have 70 calories, but that isn’t the only indicator of how it is going to influence our health. As with all foods, where it comes from, how it has been processed and how we eat it all have an impact on our health.

An active individual, I could probably loosely interpret the “in moderation” guideline, because as Koch notes, the quantity of bacon cheeseburgers that I can eat with a good conscience depends on my output. But even with a week of 30 miles of running under my belt, I wouldn’t go near one, and the reason for that goes far beyond calories. Read Omnivore’s Dilemma or Fast Food Nation, and calories all but cease to count.

So how many fast food bacon cheeseburgers should you be eating? In my mind, the frank answer is zero; the national fast food chain system, no matter how improved, by nature makes it impossible to truly focus on locally-sourced ingredients or supporting regional producers in a meaningful way. And, if you care about where your food comes from, this should be your first red flag. Beyond that, there are too many negatives attached to the fast food industry in general, from how ingredients are sourced to the inevitable labor and environmental consequences, as well as the security issues of producing standardized, inexpensive food on a mass scale.

Just because you can “Build it Your Way” doesn’t mean you should.

Image: Håkan Dahlström, star5112, Pink Sherbet Photography

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Food companies are like greedy cocaine dealers – cutting food with cheaper ingredients to increase profits. This is nothing new, and it’s not just happening with meat.

But first, about that beef with Taco Bell’s “beef.” Vegetable proteins are cheaper than meat and that’s why they are used as extenders by companies like Taco Bell. Texturized Soy Protein is one of the most commonly used extenders. Why is it so cheap?

Texturized soy protein is actually a by-product of soy oil, so the food industry gets to double dip while taking advantage of the massive government subsidies bestowed upon the soy industry.

Let’s take a look at the other duplicitous tactics the food companies employ in their ingredients.

Taco Bell:

According to its own nutrition statements, Taco Bell’s Cherry Limeade contains: Treated water, Sugar, Lime Juice Concentrate, Natural Flavor, Sodium Citrate, Citric Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Potassium Sorbate, Calcium Disodium EDTA, Red 40. What, no cherries? Thank goodness the water is “treated.”

In case you thought it was just the taco meat, Taco Bell’s carnitas contain pork, water, spice, roast pork flavor, natural smoke flavor, pork conditioner (modified food starch, tapioca), corn syrup solids, and a slew of other “flavors” and “textures.”

Do we want to know what “pork conditioner” looks like?

Burger King:

The Taco Filling at Burger King contains water as the first ingredient, followed by beef, and then textured vegetable protein (itself a mixture of soy flour, artificial colors, flavors, and chemicals, and starches). Burger King isn’t required to list the percentages, so it’s anyone’s guess how much meat there is in relation to this textured vegetable protein.

KFC:

I think KFC might be the worst offender. KFC’s Chicken Pot Pie lists chicken stock, potatoes (and their accompanying preservatives), carrots, peas, modified food starch, chicken fat, chicken pot pie “flavor” (consisting of hydrolyzed corn, soy and wheat gluten protein, salt, vegetable stock [carrot, onion, celery], maltodextrin, flavors, dextrose, chicken broth), as well as hydrogenated oils, chemicals, and preservatives…all before we ever hear a mention of chicken. Download the ingredient listings here.

The Apple Turnover contains enriched bleached flour water, vegetable shortening, starches, gums, conditioners, flavors, and preservatives before mentioning apples (themselves accompanied by salt, ascorbic acid, citric acid, high fructose corn syrup, water, food starch-modified, and spices).

Wendy’s:

Wendy’s, by contrast, sells food that more closely resembles food, albeit with tons of preservatives. For example, the Crispy Chicken Patty contains chicken breast, water, salt, sodium phosphates, flours, starches, spices, and a whole lot of hydrogenated oils.

Think you’re safe from all this processed material if you don’t eat in fast food restaurants? Think again.

Kellogg’s, Betty Crocker and General Mills:

Packaged food companies have been passing off sugar, corn syrup, starch, hydrogenated oil, artificial flavors and artificial food dye as blueberries. After all, blueberries are pretty expensive.

Lean Cuisine:

A stroll through the frozen foods aisle in the grocery store revels that Lean Cuisine Baked Chicken contains Isolated Soy Protein. This appears to be a piece of actual flesh, but clearly it has been broken down and processed. Likewise, the chunks of beef in the Lean Cuisine Hunan Beef contain modified cornstarch product, caramel coloring added.

Marie Callender’s:

The turkey in Marie Callender’s Turkey Breast Dinner lists Isolated Soy Protein as a main ingredient.

Hungry Man by Swanson’s:

This icon of the frozen food aisle lists water, food starch, and soy protein concentrate as ingredients in the turkey in its Turkey Breast Dinner.

What’s the solution? Eat real food as much as possible. Fresh vegetables, fruits, whole grains, meats from the meat counter, and cook for yourself. That’s the only way to ensure you’re getting exactly what you think you’re getting. And you’ll probably live a lot longer too.

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

Images: Andres Rueda, theimpulsivebuy, Sjors Provoost, .angels, D.L., House of Sims, theimpulsivebuy, theimpulsivebuy, inazakira

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