Those who are aware of the PAFC’s real, non-superhero identity will know that she is NOT a fan of fast food. She thinks it is a waste of ingredients, not to mention incredibly poor for your health.
So when I stumbled across this article, I simply HAD to share it and my thoughts about it.
So, previously a company could approach the Heart Foundation and pay a sum of money in order to have their “Tick of Approval” placed on their food. This had been going on for five years, the first being a McDonald’s meal that was given approval for the Tick.
The main argument against the scheme is that it shields fast food outlets from actual.y making their food more healthy across the board. I completely agree with this argument, personally. Unfortunately, people are far too easily led into the false thinking that just because it has a picture saying it’s healthy, that must mean it is. Rather than checking the actual content statistics, a picture replaces real thought.
The Heart Foundation comes back at this notion by saying that they do actually check content and then have them independently checked in such fields as “…saturated fat, salt and kilojoules and making sure there is … healthier nutrients like calcium and fibre.” They also claim in the past 5 years, there have been big changes in awareness of healthier ingredients available to the fast food industry.
So what does this all mean to the average person looking for a healthier option?
For starters, it means you’ll have to be more aware of what it is you’re ordering. You will have to actually think about where it is you’re heading for food, their reputation for healthiness (I mean, let’s face it, NO ONE can say that fast food in general has the reputation of being truly healthy), and what your nutrition requirements (PDF)Â actually are. In short, you’re going to have to think about your food. What a novel concept!
This means that fast food outlets are going to have to check their menu options and adjust them drastically if they still want the “health conscious” punters out there to buy their food. Mind you, I do think that people who go to fast food outlets looking for a healthy option are just kidding themselves in the first place.
In the end, we are all going to have to stop relying on little pictures to help us make educated food choices and start doing the real thinking for ourselves.
(Image Courtesy of The Heart Foundation : http://www.heartfoundation.org.au)
***UPDATE***
I was looking for further information I could post on here, as per the suggestions of one of my university tutor’s. I came upon the McDonald’s website where you can plainly see that they are still advertising meals that are STILL marked with the Heart Foundation’s “Tick of Approval”. I have emailed the Foundation, asking how this can be if they have retracted the offer, but have not, as yet, heard anything back. Stay tuned dear reader. I shall find out what is going on with this.
nephthysnile 
It isn’t just fast food we should be checking the nutritional value of. How many of us bother to read the fat, sodium, preservative information etc on all packaged foods?
I have to admit that I would glance at it, but not really make an educated decision based on the content. Not until I had a health scare did I really start to concern myself with the nutritional balance of what I was eating. It would seem to me, as well, that a lot of people buy into the popular theory of cutting out fats and salt, but don’t actually realise that you still need some of both.
I guess even though the concept of “moderation” is shoved down our collective throats from primary school, we are still unable to apply it to our everyday lives.
Long Live the Perth Food Critics !! Fast food eg: Maccas and some others is a waste of what was perfectly good ingredients. If they didn’t adulterate it so much it would be more tolerable and nutritious. With that said I always love a GOOD hamburger with real salad, real cheese, real meat patty and a good serve of Bar-B-Que sauce, on a real hamburger bun (not 25% sugar) with the odd chip on the side.
Proof of this comes from a quote by a famous character
“mmmmmmm …. hamburger ” (Homer Simpson, 2009).
I love making hamburgers at home. It’s really good “family” or group activity. Getting your hands into your food. And it’s amazing how much better the ones at home taste when compared to the “fast food” version.
Nice quote, by the way… 🙂
Great point, we need to know what our daily recommendations are as well as being able to read the fine print to work out what is really healthy and what is rubbish.
There is nothing like a real hamburger or home cooked pizza for taste and nutrients.
I have to agree. As I said in reply to the comment above, home cooking is just so much fun. As much as I love eating out, and I really do love it, cooking at home for family and friends is lovely too. Home-made pizza is delicious and completely customisable, rather than the illusion of such, which is what you get out…
Just FYI, if you want a burger that would NEVER win a tick but that will remind you of days of old, try the Kitchen Sink Burger at Munchies in Freo… If my arteries can stand another one, I’ll review it 🙂
Sounds like a plan Bernard. I look forward to reading it. 🙂
A lot of people are naive to the fact that for both the heart foundation and McDonalds its a business deal. The Heart Foundation makes its money to keep its self runnning by selling it’s ticks, albeit with slight conditions of trade, and McDonalds shells out for the tick as advertising and to try and gain cred. Health and nutrition are more a side order of fries in the deal, than the meat in the bun..
I sometimes get rather disheartened when I try to show people the REAL state of things around them. I had a screaming row with a friend once because they simply did not believe me that it was a business arrangement for both the Heart Foundation and fast food outlets. They were absolutely convinced that the credibility of the Heart Foundation wouldn’t allow them to commit such a heinous act of fraud. It really is quite worrying on a much larger scale as well, that people accept the mis-information that is spoon-fed to them…