I just recently received a link to an article that I unfortunately read whilst eating my lunch. As someone who has a 'cast-iron' stomach, even this article made me feel a little nauseous.

It’s written by a member of the Yahoo News team, Eric Pfeiffer, who went with the following headline: “McDonald’s confirms that it’s no longer using ‘pink slime’ chemical in hamburgers”

The fast food company has announced that it has stopped using ammonium hydroxide in the production of its hamburgers. ‘That seems quite nice of them’, one would think...until you realize what ammonium hydroxide is also used for.

This chemical is found in fertilizers, cleaning detergents and believe it or not...even homemade explosives! Why was it in the hamburger meat to begin with?! Apparently, this chemical acts as an anti-microbial agent in meat.

Again, it’s hard to use the words ‘chemical’ and ‘meat’ in the same sentence.

Pfeiffer’s article also lists six other chemicals found in our foods. However, some of them are OK and in that regard the author is over dramatizing, but the ammonium dioxide is a problem considering why it is used.

The rest of the article contains a video where a popular UK chef shows the process of how this chemical is used in meat. To say that it shocked me is an understatement, yet at the same time I’m not really that surprised either.

However, one must remember that junk food, like all other processed food, will inevitably contain some form of chemicals. You have the choice to either consume it or follow a healthier diet and lifestyle.

The fact that the abovementioned fast food company has stopped using ammonium hydroxide in its hamburgers is hardly worth the argument. This is what the company had to say on its website:

"At McDonald’s, the quality and safety of the food we serve our customers is a top priority. At the beginning of 2011, we made a decision to discontinue the use of ammonia-treated beef in our hamburgers. This product has been out of our supply chain since August of last year. This decision was a result of our efforts to align our global standards for how we source beef around the world. We are always reviewing and evolving our standards to ensure we continue to serve safe, high quality food to our customers."

---Todd Bacon, PhD, Senior Director of Quality Systems, Supply Chain Management McDonald’s USA

So based on the above statement, could one assume that the company’s priority of serving their customers safe quality food only began in August last year?!

I personally don’t think the word ‘quality’ or ‘safe’ should be used to describe junk food but that’s just a personal opinion. As I mentioned earlier, we live in a free world where people are free to make their own lifestyle choices.

However, it’s important to understand that free will comes with a cause-effect tag. The lifestyle that you choose to live (including the food you eat) will eventually result in an outcome based on how you’ve treated your body. Whether it’s a good or bad outcome is entirely up to you...not the fast food companies.