Ramona Stumpe

The Impact of McDonalds

McDonaldsThe impact on us, our society and the

environment

Kontakt:
RamonaStumpe@googlemail.com
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Ramona Stumpe

The Impact of McDonalds

Table of contents

I.

Introduction.....3

II.

From animal to burger.....4

1. Meat for hungry costumers in America........4-5
2. Wrong commercials in Germany .........5-6
3. Genetically manipulated animal feed......6
4. Buns, vegetable and cheese.........7

III.

Experiment...........8-9

IV.

Health effects....10
1. ``Supersize Me``.. 10-11
2. Other health aspects.......11

V.

Effects on society and environment..12

1. Fast food society...12
2. Destruction of cultures..13
3. Manipulation of children.......13
4. Effects on environment.........14

VI.

Summary and forecast...15

VII.

References....16-18

VIII.

Attachment...19-21

IX.

Declaration of Authorship.....22

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The Impact of McDonalds

I.

Introduction

When you think of fast food, what is the first thing that comes into your mind? Probably
it is McDonalds.
Even in a small town you can find such a restaurant. It is very easy to get there, because
of its central location. You do not have to wait long for your food. You can eat fast and
disappear immediately. Or, even easier, you can use the drive thru, where you get your
food directly in your car.
All this seems to be a very good idea in a society, in which the golden rule is: Time Is
Money1. Every day, 64 million customers visit one of the 32.737 McDonalds
restaurants in one of the 117 countries (Effective year-end 2010). 2
This success story started with Dick and Mac McDonald in California. They opened a
Bar-B-Que in 1940. Eight years later, they shut down this restaurant for three months
and reopened the first McDonalds, where you could get hamburgers, cheeseburgers,
etc. In 1954 Ray Kroc, a 52 year-old Multimixer salesman, visited McDonalds to make
business with the brothers. He was fascinated by the idea and in 1955 he opened his first
McDonalds in Illinois. Ten years later, there were more than 700 restaurants in the
Unites States .The concept went international in 1967, when McDonalds restaurants
opened in Canada and Puerto Rico. Ray Kroc died in 1984 but that did not affect the
group McDonalds.3 Since then, there have been many innovations and now McDonalds
is the biggest fast food chain in the world and an icon of globalization. It is part of our
world and a symbol for ``The American Way of Life``
But where there is light, there is also shadow and whether McDonalds use fair and
legal means is a question that nearly nobody asks oneself. McDonald's is the epitome
of capitalism - a success story of shabby business practices [...] a morally corrupt
organization that is not doing anything illegal, says a reporter from the Time
Magazine4.
What is really behind McDonalds? Does it destroy our food cultures? What does it do to
us, our society and the environment? What is the difference between a bone gnawing
subhuman of the Stone Age and us with our finger food?
This is what I am trying to find out.
1

Benjamin Franklin, http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=3&page=304a

McDonalds Corporation Annual Report 2010
3
``McDonalds History``,
http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/mcdonalds_history_timeline.html
4
``Big Mac- The unauthorized story of McDonald's``,
http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/books/boas.html
2

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The Impact of McDonalds

II. From animal to burger

1. Meat for hungry customers in America
One thing is clear: For burgers you need meat and McDonalds is the largest purchaser
of meat in America, regardless whether it is beef or chicken. Where does the meat come
from? On the Internet page McDonalds.com the company answered on the question,
whether McDonalds buys beef from South America. It says that this is not true and that
they just get their beef from the United States.5
But is it true what they say? According to employees working at the meat factory Monte
Cillos in San Jos, they do deliver meat to the USA: ``Of course we deliver large
amounts of meat to the McDonald's headquarter in the USA. This is so cheap here. A
little bit also remains here in the country, because there are some McDonald's
restaurants, but the mass goes to the USA.``6 Truck driver approve that they deliver
meat outside the frontiers to the USA and Edmund Brandt, who works for the German
development aid, also says that McDonalds surely buys meat in South America for the
sector in the USA.7 What does this mean to us?
If McDonalds uses meat from South America you can say that they share responsibility
for the deforestation of the rainforest. At least 80% of the deforestation is used for
grassland for cows and other animals8 which consequently destroys our world.
Besides that, McDonalds is corrupt. This proves Jos Lutzenberger, former
Secretary of State for the Environment in Brazil and the most famous ecologist in Latin
America. A Manager of McDonalds wanted Lutzenberger to say that ``McDonalds
was never involved at the destruction of the rainforest. However, Lutzenberger did not
embark on this and corroborated the reproaches, when he said, that they are a part of the
destruction.9
Followingly, we do not really know where the meat for American restaurants comes
from. But do we know what the meat is made of? This is a difficult question.
McDonalds says that they use 100% beef for the burger.10 In contrast, you find many
5

``Meats``
http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/food_quality/see_what_we_are_made_of/your_questions_an
swered/meats.html
6
Siegfried Pater, Zum Beispiel McDonalds, Gttingen 2003, p.71
7
Ibdb.
8
``Greenpeace- Erfolg zum Schutz des Amazonas``
http://www.greenpeace.de/themen/waelder/nachrichten/artikel/greenpeace_erfolg_zum_schutz_des_
amazonas/ansicht/bild/
9
Cf. Zum Beispiel McDonalds, p. 72
10
``Is your meat real or fake?``, cf. footnote 1

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comments on the internet which say something else. And what about the chicken? It is
only known, that groups like Tyson Foods, Keystone Foods and Lopez Foods handle the
meat for McDonalds restaurants11 and they do not give any information what kind of
meat they use, where it comes from and if they use additives.

2. Wrong commercials in Germany

In Germany it seems to be similar to America. Here, the customers do not know what
exactly they eat either. Some years ago there was a commercial on German television
that shows quality scouts working voluntarily for McDonalds and checking whether the
fixings for a burger come from good German farms and if they have a good quality.12 A
new commercial shows a farmer couple at their beautiful farm saying that they deliver
to McDonalds.13 When you see this, it seems as though the meals from McDonalds are
very healthy and have only good fixings in it. But can McDonalds really know which
meat comes from which farm?
The main supplier of McDonalds Germany is the OSI group, known in Germany under
the name Esca Solution.14 On their website you do not find any information about the
production and they do not answer emails. Foodwatch.de suspects, that they butcher
animals from abroad, for example the Czech Republic.15
Seemingly, the meat production of McDonalds is not as transparent as they show in the
commercials and that is the reason why nobody can really know if the animals on the
farms and the fattening farms have a species-appropriate husbandry.
Cows and especially chicken live on little space in their own excrements, which affords
bacteria the opportunity to breed. In order to prevent this, the animals get antibiotics, in
fact 900 tons per year in Germany. It shapes up a germ named ESBL in the stomach of
the animals which is resistant against all antibiotics. After the butchering the germ is
still on the meat and so the germ can get into our stomachs. Investigators say that every
25th German carries the ESBL germ and per year 200 people die at it because it cannot
be cured with antibiotics.16

11

``Do you use American meat?``, cf. footnote 1

Cf. www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JS4wfnSZkw, commercial 2008
13
Cf. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNFoUj9jz5E&feature=related, commercial 2011
14
``Die McDonalds-Story``, Jrg Roheeder & Joachim Hirzel
www.focus.de/finanzen/news/fast-food-fir-mcdonalds-story_aid_213071.html
15
``Was steckt hinter McDonalds Bauernhof-Idylle?
http://foodwatch.de/kampagnen__themen/etikettenschwindel/mcdonalds_qualitaetsscouts/index_ger.
html
16
``Wenn Lebensmittel krank machen, Stern TV from 08.02.2012
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This is not just a problem of McDonalds meat, but the company is the largest purchaser
of meat in the world and is also guilty.

3. Genetically manipulated animal feed

An even bigger secret is exposed by foodwatch.de. Since April 2004 there have been
protests and campaigns against McDonalds because ``McDonalds Germany uses,
according to their own statements, 48.000 tons of beef into burger per year. [] The
animals get, besides grass or hay, a daily allowance of a so called high-performance
feed. This includes eight to ten percent Soya, from which a big part is
genetically modified``17. Since 2004, genetically modified animal feed has to be
marked, but this EU Regulation does not apply to the animals which get this to eat.18 So
the customers do not know what exactly they are eating.
The dangers of genetically modified food are especially ``the development of new
allergies and further antibiotic resistances``.19 Meanwhile every fourth German has an
allergy and this disease propagates continually.20
Greenpeace has conducted some campaigns against genetic engineering of animal feed.
``Los genos- genetic engineering weeks at McDonalds`` was one of the actions, for
which more than 50 Greenpeace activists protested in chicken costumes in Munich in
2000.21 Foodwatch.de even had a quotation from a company which can deliver enough
animal food for the whole burger production which would only cost 1,4 cent more per
burger22.
Nevertheless, all endeavors from Greenpeace and foodwatch.de did not work.
McDonalds did not react and so nearly 2,7 million customers in Germany [effective
year end 2010]23 eat meat which is fed with genetically modified feed every day.

17

``Burgerbewegung Aktion fr mehr Wahlfreiheit``

http://foodwatch.de/kampagnen__themen/mcdonalds/index_ger.html
18
``EU-Verordnungen zur Kennzeichnung genetisch vernderter Lebens- und Futtermittel``
http://www.gentechnikfreie-regionen.de/hintergruende/recht/eu-recht/eu-verordnung-zurkennzeichnung-genetisch-veraenderter-lebens-und-futtermittel.html
19
``gesundheitliche Risiken, cf. Previous footnote
20
``Aktuell: Allergien in Deutschland``, www.allergiewelle.de/aktuell-allergien-in-deutschland/
21
Zum Beispiel McDonalds, p.94
22
Cf. Footnote 16
23
``McDonalds in Zahlen und Fakten
http://www.mcdonalds.de/unternehmen/ueber_mcdonalds/zahlen_und_fakten.html

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4. Buns, vegetables and cheese

As we cannot really know where the meat comes from and what is behind the
production, what about the other fixings of the burger? On request after many mails, I
got a list with all ingredients of the fixings from McDonalds from which I take the Big
Mc as an example [see attachment]. On the list concerning buns you see FSB and
Kamp. These are the companies where McDonalds gets the buns from. Both use wheat
flour and soya flour for the buns which cannot be genetically modified because of the
EU Regulation.
Thus, you see many E-numbers. These are emulsifiers, which are consumables for
baking. Foodwatch.de convicted McDonalds in 2004 of new lie. The fast food
company made a commercial in which they promised a bun without additives. But
according to the food law the application of the word ``naturally``, which the company
used, is forbidden in the context of the emulsifiers. McDonalds had to stop the
commercial company and had to pay a punitive damage to foodwatch.de. 24
I asked a doctor if the emulsifiers are dangerous for our health. She said that they are
not dangerous for ones health but that they can cause allergies25.
Under ``salad`` you find lettuce and the onions which are just dried. The cucumber,
nevertheless, has the emulsifier E211 in it. Its a preservative which can be the actuator
for ``skin rash, respiratory ailments and an unclear sight26. The cheese contains
artificial colors and other fixings, but it is not dangerous for health.
You do not find any actual information about the source of the fixings. But Siegfried
Pater wrote in his book ``Zum Beispiel McDonalds`` in 2003 that ``the buns are made
of US wheat in Pfungstadt. The cows get fattened in south Germany, butchered and
processed to mincemeat paddies. The cheese comes from Dutch farms. Cucumbers,
mustard and mayonnaise are delivered by the Bavarian company Deweelle. The salad is
imported from California in winter and from Spain in summer. The onions come from
the USA. The French fries are bought in the Netherlands. The ketchup is from a US
company in Italy``.27 This information is nine years old now, but it possibly has not
changed much.

24

``Die Brtchenlge von McDonalds``

http://foodwatch.de/kampagnen__themen/etikettenschwindel/mcdonalds/index_ger.html
25
Interview with Doctor Robbers, 23.02.2012
26
``E211 Nariumbenzoat``, http://das-ist-drin.de/glossar/e-nummern/e211-natriumbenzoat/
27
Zum Beispiel McDonalds, p.27

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III. Experiment
My idea was, to buy a burger and just let it stand without touching it for some weeks.
Thereby you could prove that there are preservatives or other contents in it. I bought a
burger from McDonalds and roasted one by myself.
On the Internet, there are many similar experiments which have started a big discussion
about the food of McDonald`s restaurants in America, but I wanted to see by myself
what would happen. In the attachment you find four pictures, one for every week.
My forecast was that the burger from McDonalds gets hard but nothing else. I also
thought that the burger I roasted would go mouldy. When I saw the burgers side by side
I rejected this theory because they looked so similar that I had problems to figure out
which the burger was I had roasted. Maybe the products I used and the products
McDonalds uses are made by the same food company? But I found out that they do not
use the same supplier and I could not find any clues that Kamps (McDonalds) and
Euco (Edeka) work together. For what reason the burgers are so similar is something I
cannot answer.
The result of my experiment is very interesting. The fact that the buns are hard is
normal, because they have gotten very dry. But the meat is hard, too. You can see
differences (see attachment). You can see dried fat on the burger I roasted. Otherwise it
looks quite fresh. The McDonalds burger is cracked and you can look through the
burger because of a gap. It is for sure that the burger cannot be eaten anymore
I thought of what the result means to me. Both burgers did not go mouldy and I cannot
imagine that this is very healthy for us. Concerning the result I can say that I am
relieved that not only the McDonalds burger got dry. Maybe I should have made an
absolute Bio-burger with meat from a farmer and self-made buns, because for this
experiment I used prefabricated products, and then the result might be different. The
only thing that scares me is the difference between the meat. Is this the evidence for the
findings in chapter II saying that the meat has no high quality?
A trainee of a meat production company confirms this accusation. She says that low
quality meat is used for McDonalds products28.
McDonalds made the statement that if food is/ or becomes dry enough, it wont grow
mold or any bacteria``29. In some cases that might be the explanation, but my burgers

28

Interview with a trainee of a meat production company, who wants to remain anonymous, 28.02.2012
``Happy Meal stays forever young, video,
http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/10/15/happy-meal-stays-forever-young/

29

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stood in the storeroom where the heating is never on and the window is open so there is
fresh air, and in winter the air is not dry.
I asked many organizations what this result means for us. Susanne Sachs, dietitian of
the consumer advice centre in Hessen, says that this result is not saying that there are
preservatives in the burgers. She thinks that the humidity was too low and that some
salts can preserve the meat.30
So we do not really know who is right and who tells the truth. What are the fixings of a
McDonalds burger? When there is something in it like preservatives, is it illegal that
McDonalds do not mention it? What does it mean to our health?

30

Interview with Susanne Sachs, 06.03.2012

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IV. Health effects

1. ``Supersize Me``
The best example which shows how McDonalds food affects on us is the movie
``Supersize Me``. It is a documentary film made by Morgan Spurlock, who blames
McDonalds and other fast food companies for the overweight in America. Spurlock
made the self-experiment not to eat other things than products of McDonalds for 30
days. There were four rules: three full meals a day, not walking more than 2000 steps
daily, eating every product on the list once and ordering a supersize menu if he is asked
to. In the film Spurlock says that he carries out this experiment because of a lawsuit of
two girls who blame McDonalds for their overweight.
First, he has his health condition checked by some doctors. They make sure that he has
a good physical fitness. Throughout the first days he is doing very well and is happy
about the experiment. But during the first weeks it gets more difficult for him to eat fast
food all the time. At the end of the month Spurlock has to scoff the food and he cannot
see it any longer.
After the month he checks his health twice and the result is incredible. In just one month
he has gained eleven kilograms, his cholesterols levels have gone up for 65 points, his
body fat is 18% now instead of 11% and his heart attack risk has doubled. Moreover,
Spurlock reports of exhaustion, depressions, mood swing and that he has no sexual life.
Further he says that an addiction to the food has developed and that he gets a headache
when he does not eat McDonalds food. The doctors say that it will not be easy for him
to become normal again.
In the case of the two girls the court disallows the indictment because the ``Plaintiffs
Have Failed to Allege that Consumption of McDonalds Food Caused Their Injuries``.31
This experiment shows which effects McDonalds food has on us. You can criticize it
by saying that it is no surprise what happened, because you should not eat McDonalds
food every day. But it is just a problem, that there are people who consume this food
regularly which leads to overweight.
More than 60% of the adults in America are overweight or obese. After smoking,
obesity is the second most common avoidable cause of death in the USA.32 The World
Health Organization is aware of this problem. They say that ``the many serious chronic

31
32

C.f. ,,Supersize Me, Morgan Spurlock, 2004 USA

Ibid.

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diseases which are connected with obesity costs one million dollar every year``.
Dangerous consequences are cancer and diabetes- diseases of our society.

33

2. Other health aspects

But what makes this food so unhealthy and makes overweight to a well known
problem? There are two main causes: The first problem is the lack of physical activity.
In every city you can find a McDonalds restaurant and in bigger cities you even find
more. Most of the time you do not have to walk 15 minutes to reach the next one. The
consequence is that the calories you get through the food cannot be burned. The second
problem is the malnutrition. A McDonalds meal contains a lot of fat, sugar, animal
products and sodium, but little dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals. All this can lead to
overweight, cancer and as well cardiac diseases.34
Furthermore, the fast way of eating supports this unhealthy diet. You have no time to
chew carefully when you are in the drive thru and when you eat in the car. But chewing
assists digestion and is important for the excitation of the gastric acid. In addition to that
a quarter-pounder (a burger) consists of 48% water and there is not much to chew. This
leads the people into eating more and into ingesting more calories.35
As I said before in chapter two, there are some other things that can be unhealthy for us,
for example ESBL. It is a germ which is not treatable because it is resistant against
antibiotics. It develops in farms when animals have no space and they get antibiotics
against their diseases. In Germany 200 people die at ESBL every year. There is also the
fact, I mentioned, that the ingredients of the burger are a cause for many allergies.
On the internet you find many comments that McDonalds food was the reason for food
poisoning. You cannot know how serious you can take this statements, but it is a fact
that ``when you find germs like ESBL on the meat you can find other germs there
which are not good for us or our stomach``, said a doctor I asked36.
All the things I wrote in this chapter are special examples. Most of the time nothing
happens when you eat at McDonalds. But examples show what can happen and
especially the overweight is a problem, which gets worse in our time.

33

``Gefahren wurden erkannt, http://www.zentrum-der-gesundheit.de/adipositas.html

``Zum Beispiel McDonalds``, p. 108
35
Ibid. p.109
36
Interwiev with Doctor Robbers, 23.02.2012
34

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The Impact of McDonalds

V. Effects on society and environment

1. Fast Food society
The impacts of McDonalds on us, not on our health but on our life, are frightening.
This concern influences our life very much and nearly nobody realizes it. In every free
period my school mates drive to McDonalds and it is normal, because we have grown
up with it. Only people in Germany who are over 40 years old know what a world
without McDonalds is like. Fast Food is something which kids and teenagers live with.
This is shown in the school canteen. On the menu you find things like French fries and
shakes what accustoms kids on fast food. The other food you get in the canteen like
apples are often not taken. George Ritzer calls this phenomenon ``The McDonaldization
of Society``37.
How dangerous is it for kids to grow up in such a society? An advantage is that kids
will get easily food if both parents go to work. George Ritzer says that there are four
important fields that give McDonalds the success: efficiency, calculability,
predictability and control.38 The example with the employed parents stands for
efficiency. You eat fast when you do not have any time to cook. But what does it mean
for kids to grow up in such a society where everything is efficient, calculable,
predictable and controllable? Sure, it is easy but it changes the society and our lives.
Kids learn that everything has to be efficient. As soon as the kids are grown up it
influences the speed of our life. And this is already the case. It passed over on our free
time and our working periods. You should preferably reach as much as you can in one
day. Nearly nobody realizes this speed and that we have no more time for cooking or
anything else. Especially for immigrants it is hard to become accustomed to the speed of
the western world.
Whether the efficiency is bad or good is something which everybody has to decide for
oneself. You might say that the efficiency is important for globalization and without it
we would not stand here with our technologies and our knowledge. It is right;
McDonalds is an important part in the globalization (Since McDonalds is part of the
market the worldwide trade rises about 29-times39) and everyone has to decide if this is
good or not. But do we really want to live in a world where it is more important to work
efficiently in order to earn a lot of money than having fun and free time?
37

``Die McDonaldisierung der Gesellschaft``, George Ritzer, Konstanz 2006

Ibdb.
39
``Zusammenarbeit (Global Product Development)``,
http://www.net-systemintegration.de/unternehmensloesungen/zusammenarbeit/
38

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2. Destruction of cultures
Some time ago I saw a painting made by a student which read ``Eating All Over The
World`` and below you see the golden McDonalds arches. I thought about it and I
came to the result that the student is really right. As I said in the introduction, there are
32.737 McDonalds restaurants in 117 countries. In every city you can find one. If you
eat a Big Mc here or in America or France it does not matter because of the
predictability. It tastes the same everywhere. When young people take a vacation for
example in Italy, they will often eat at McDonalds although Italy stands for pizza and
pasta. That has a simple reason. You know what you get.
So McDonalds seems to destroy our food culture. But it also influences our culture in
general. Whether you drive to Paris or to Berlin makes no difference because
everywhere you go you find the same shops and fast food restaurants.40 You can only
recognize the cities at their sights. It is indifferent where you go because everything is
equal. You cannot get the feeling of a different culture.

3. Manipulation of children
McDonalds seems to be a family-friendly restaurant. There are Happy Meals,
playgrounds and the friendly clown named Ronald McDonald. But like every concern,
this is a plan to make more profit. In the chapter ``fast food society`` I said that kids
grow up with McDonalds. When they get older they remember things like the
playground and they connect the fast food restaurant with something good. Siegfried
Pater says in his book the clown Ronald McDonald is forbidden in Sweden because of
the ideology of eating and consuming as problem solver and because of the
``objections in principle against child manipulation on a grand scale``41.
Ronald McDonald is an advertising strategy which educates the kids to become a
customer. You can find him in schools and kindergartens, where he shows the kids
things like ``road safety``, ``safety at home`` and ``environmental protection``. All this
is- of course- advertising-free. But nobody can say that the kids do not remember the
McDonalds logogram on the clothes of the clown. Moreover, a walk through the city,
the gifts the kids get and the commercials help that they do not forget the restaurant42.
Everywhere is the clown, whether on family festivals, funfairs or on playground
openings and it serves the merchandise to kids.

40

Cf. ``No McDo World Map`` , Attachment

Zum Beispiel McDonalds, p. 42
42
Ibdb. P. 47 f.
41

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4. Effects on environment
The new strategy of McDonalds is that they want to become green`` and to save the
environment43. Sure, McDonalds is not primary guilty for the destroying of the
environment, but they get their products from suppliers who are guilty and McDonalds
knows that. They have the chance to get the products from other suppliers who are not
destroying our world.
The effects on the environment are for example that McDonalds USA gets their meat
from South America, where the jungles get cut down for a place for the cows.44 Many
animal-, insects- and plant species will be exterminated. Moreover, you need ten
kilogram of cereal to produce one kilo of meat, which is very wasteful. And for the
production of one kilo meat you need 15.000 liter of water. For one kilo of cereal you
need just 1.500 liter45. And the animals need fodder. In Europe the animals of the fast
food concerns get fodder from Brasilia. In the book ``For example McDonalds`` it is
said, that one fifths of the fields in Brasilia is occupied with Soya.46 30 years ago soya
was not conversant there.47 Brasilia has to produce more products for the export to get
foreign exchanges for the purchase of technologies48. So the people in the third world
have to hunger and the little farmers get dispersed, only to give the people in the
western world cheap food.
Besides the waste of animals and food, one other important resource gets destroyed. The
packaging material of the burger is- according to McDonalds- recycled. London
Greenpeace warns against this lie. Just a little part of the paper is recycled and 2000
square kilometer forest is needed to ``sate the paper hunger of the company``.49

43

``McDonalds wird grn``, http://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/news/unternehmen/neues-logomcdonalds-wird-gruen-1523753.html

44
Zum Beispiel McDonalds, p. 71
45
``Zahlen & Fakten`` Beispiel Fleischproduktion, http://www.wasserstiftung.de/wasserfakten.html
46
Zum Beispiel McDonalds, p. 78
47
Ibdb
48
Ibdb. P. 105
49
Ibdb. P. 108

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VI. Summary and forecast

I have rendered many themes about the question: what is behind McDonalds? You can
see that there is something odd there. In the last years you heard more often that many
McDonalds restaurants had to close and that they had to retire out of some countries
completely. The management says that this is the result of the financial crisis. But in
countries like Germany and other countries which have not had big financial problems
they open new restaurants.
I wrote this research paper to pay attention to the fact what McDonalds means to us.
I have to say that I have exaggerated some points. But I wanted to show which dangers
there are and what can happen in some special examples. Furthermore, I have
concentrated on the negative aspects to open some peoples eyes and I did not want to
show the side with the positive aspects. At the end, everyone has to decide for oneself
which opinion one has and I can just try to show some people the reverse side of the
medal.
It is also important to say that not only McDonaldss is the reason of these problems.
There are many other fast food restaurants which have a great influence, too. I took
McDonalds as an example because it is the biggest food company of the world and so
we can blame it the most for some negative aspects.
I think the number of the restaurants which close will get bigger in the next years.
McDonalds is watched in the public und it has many critics. There will be more and
more people who will fight against the fast food concerns and I hope that I can do my
share and can reach some people with what I wrote.

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VII. References
Books:
Siegfried Pater: Zum Beispiel McDonalds, LAMUV Verlag; Gttingen 2000

George Ritzer: Die McDonaldisierung der Gesellschaft (4., vllig neue Auflage),
translated by Sebastian Vogel, UVK Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Konstanz 2006

Videos/ Movies/ Broadcasts:

Morgan Spurlock, Supersize Me, 2004 USA, Fortissimofilms, USA 2004

Patrick Pleul, Wenn Lebensmittel krank machen, Stern TV from 08.02.2012

Jeanne Moos, Happy Meal stays forever young, 15.10.2010, CNN New York,
(29.02.2012), http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/10/15/happy-meal-stays-forever-young/

Was steckt hinter McDonalds Bauernhof-Idylle, 10.06.2009, foodwatch.de,

(08.02.2012),
http://foodwatch.de/kampagnen__themen/etikettenschwindel/mcdonalds_qualitaetsscou
ts/index_ger.html

McDonald's Qualitt Qualitts-Scouts 2008 Kartoffel, commercial from 2008, 24.11.2008,

(08.02.2012), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JS4wfnSZkw

McDonald's Qualittskampagne, commercial from 2011, 24.08.2011, (08.02.2012),

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNFoUj9jz5E&feature=related

Online news article:

Gerhard Hegmann: McDonalds wird grn, Stern.de, 23.11.2009, (05.03.2012)
http://www.stern.de/wirtschaft/news/unternehmen/neues-logo-mcdonalds-wird-gruen1523753.html

Jrg Rohleder und Joachim Hirzel: Die McDonalds-Story,, 29.05.2006, from FOCUS
Magazine, edition 22 in 2006, focus.de, (08.02.2012),
http://www.focus.de/finanzen/news/fast-food-die-mcdonalds-story_aid_213071.html
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The Impact of McDonalds

Picture:
No McDo World Map, August 2011, (26.02.2012),
(http://riendenouveausouslesoleil.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/no-mcdo-world-map.jpg

Official Websites:
``Meats``, ``Is your meat real or fake?``, ``Do you use American meat?``,
McDonalds.com, (06.02.2012),
http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/food_quality/see_what_we_are_made_of/your_
questions_answered/meats.html

McDonalds in Zahlen und Fakten, McDonalds.de, (09.02.2012),

http://www.mcdonalds.de/unternehmen/ueber_mcdonalds/zahlen_und_fakten.html

Die Brtchenlge von McDonalds, 18.05.2005, foodwatch.de, (10.02.2012)

http://foodwatch.de/kampagnen__themen/etikettenschwindel/mcdonalds/index_ger.html

Burgerbewegung: Akion fr mehr Wahlfreiheit, 20.12.2010, foodwatch.de,

(09.02.2012),
http://foodwatch.de/kampagnen__themen/mcdonalds/index_ger.html

Sigrid Totz: Greenpeace Erfolg zum Schutz des Amazonas, 05.10.2009,

Greenpeace.de, (06.02.2012),
http://www.greenpeace.de/themen/waelder/nachrichten/artikel/greenpeace_erfolg_zum_
schutz_des_amazonas/ansicht/bild/

McDonalds History, aboutmcdonalds.com, (01.02.2012),

http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/mcdonalds_history_timeline.html

Max Boas & Steve Chain: Big Mac The unauthorized story of McDonalds, 1977,
(01.02.2012), http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/books/boas.html

Zahlen & Fakten Beispiel Fleischerzeugung, wasserstiftung.de, (05.03.2012),

http://www.wasserstiftung.de/wasserfakten.html

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The Impact of McDonalds

Adipositas Hintergrnde und Ursachen Die Gefahren wurden erkannt, zentrum-dergesundheit.de, (04.03.2012),
http://www.zentrum-der-gesundheit.de/adipositas.html

Benjamin Franklin Quote: Time is money, (01.02.2012),

http://franklinpapers.org/franklin/framedVolumes.jsp?vol=3&page=304a

EU-Verordnungen zur Kennzeichnung genetisch vernderter Lebens- und Futtermittel,

gentechnikfreie-regionen.de, (09.02.2012),
http://www.gentechnikfreie-regionen.de/hintergruende/recht/eu-recht/eu-verordnungzur-kennzeichnung-genetisch-veraenderter-lebens-und-futtermittel.html

E 211 Natriumbenzoat, das-ist-drin.de, (10.02.2012),

http://das-ist-drin.de/glossar/e-nummern/e211-natriumbenzoat/

Zusammenarbeit (Global Product Development), (26.02.2012),

http://www.net-systemintegration.de/unternehmensloesungen/zusammenarbeit/

Aktuell: Allergien in Deutschland, 12.02.2010, allergiewelle.de, (09.02.2012),

ww.allergiewelle.de/aktuell-allergien-in-deutschland/

Interviews:
Doctor Robbers, interviewed at 23.02.2012, Melle
Trainee

of a meat production company, who wants to remain anonymous, interviewed at

28.02.2012

Susanne Sachs, consumer advice centre Hessen, via email, interviewed at 06.03.2012

Other Sources:
McDonalds Corporation Annual Report 2010,
Download: http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/investors/annual_reports.html

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VIII. Attachment
Pictures from the experiment:

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

The McDonalds burger

The burger I roasted

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The Impact of McDonalds

No McDo World Map

Blue countries = Without a McDonalds restaurant

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The Impact of McDonalds

Ingredients

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The Impact of McDonalds

IX. Declaration of authorship

I hereby declare

- That I have written this thesis without any help from others and without the use of
documents and aids other than those stated above

- That I have mentioned all used sources and that I have cited them correctly according
to established academic citation rules

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