On being evil.

Griff • Feb 26, 2011 7:15 am

McDonalds puts 21 ingredients in their oatmeal.

Sundae • Feb 26, 2011 7:23 am

Nope, just two (three, tops)
America is more evil than Europe :)

Ingredients
Your selected menu item's ingredients are below, if you want you can start again.

Milk 100% Organic Semi-skimmed Milk
Oats Quaker Rolled Oats, Stabiliser (Soya Lecithin).

GunMaster357 • Feb 26, 2011 8:02 am

I don't eat oats. I usually sow them. And wild ones whenever possible.

DanaC • Feb 26, 2011 8:05 am

They've been selling porridge oats in McD's for ages over here. It's really nice.

Clodfobble • Feb 26, 2011 8:45 am

Sundae Girl wrote:
America is more evil than Europe

Proof that McDonald's can sell good, real food, and still make a profit--but only if it's what the consumers demand.

footfootfoot • Feb 26, 2011 8:56 am

education

Undertoad • Feb 26, 2011 9:37 am

highest rated comment wrote:
Calling the product "oats, sugar, sweetened dried fruit, cream and 11 weird ingredients you would never keep in your kitchen" isn't quite accurate. Those "11 weird ingredients" include salt (a staple), modified food starch (a relative of cornstarch, another staple), and caramel color (a simple product of heated sugar). They do include chemical additives to the cream, but most commercially available cream at the grocery store has multiple additives to control its stability and texture, too.

footfootfoot • Feb 26, 2011 10:13 am

In another thread I wrote about Oatmeal 7. So named for its 7 ingredients:
Oats
milk (or water)
vanilla
butter
maple syrup
salt
cinnamon

Oatmeal 21 is not 3 times better.

Clodfobble • Feb 26, 2011 11:09 am

Those "11 weird ingredients" include salt (a staple), modified food starch (a relative of cornstarch, another staple), and caramel color (a simple product of heated sugar). They do include chemical additives to the cream, but most commercially available cream at the grocery store has multiple additives to control its stability and texture, too.

Oh, baloney. (Get it? Nyuck nyuck nyuck...) I am guessing, though I don't know, that the "salt" referred to is sodium benzoate, as the writer of this article is unlikely to have a problem with basic table salt. Calling sodium benzoate a salt is rather disingenuous, as it only occurs naturally in extremely small quantities. It is certainly not a staple in anyone's kitchen.

And while corn starch is a staple, modifying that starch is not a meaningless transformation, and can include physical, chemical, or enzymatic processes. There's no real accountability to determine which process a manufacturer uses. Nobody has modified food starch in their pantry.

What's more, caramel color is more than just heated sugar, as evidenced by the fact that it very frequently contains gluten, among other additives. Again, not something people keep in their kitchen.

Undertoad • Feb 26, 2011 3:29 pm

Wait, what does it matter if people have stuff in their kitchens?

http://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en/food/full_menu/breakfast/fruit_maple_oatmeal.html

Oatmeal
Whole grain rolled oats, brown sugar, food starch-modified, salt, natural flavor (plant source), barley malt extract, caramel color.

Diced Apples
Apples, calcium ascorbate (a blend of calcium and vitamin C to maintain freshness and color).

Cranberry Raisin Blend
Dried sweetened cranberries (sugar, cranberries), California raisins, golden raisins, sunflower oil, sulfur dioxide (preservative).

Light Cream
Milk, cream, sodium phosphate, datem, sodium stearoyl lactylate, sodium citrate, carrageenan.

Sundae • Feb 26, 2011 3:38 pm

The problem is, they are selling it as natural and wholesome.
If you couldn't make it at home those sobriquets barely fit.

As Clod say, the Eurpoean example shows McDonalds can offer healthy food (we also have plain bagels with or without Phili soft cheese/ jam and fruit bags) and make a profit. So why not offer a sensible option even if it's a loss leader? That's not a tactic unknown in America - some of the the big stores selling Harry Potter books barely covered the cost of printing and shipping.

I know Govt control of foodstuffs is anti-American, but not providing customers with at least one healthy choice WHEN YOU ARE PROMOTING UNHEALTHY CHOICES can't be supportive of your country as a whole?

I will bow out gracefully.
If my fat arse doesn't get stuck in the door.

Pico and ME • Feb 26, 2011 5:51 pm

They eff up their yogurt parfait too. Well, yogurt in general gets effed up in the USA. SUGAR AND SHIT IN EVERYEFFINTHING.

Aliantha • Feb 26, 2011 6:52 pm

Gee, they don't sell oats for breaky over here. At least, not last time I was there at breaky time, which I have to admit, was a long time ago.

bluecuracao • Feb 27, 2011 4:08 pm

Pico and ME;713486 wrote:
They eff up their yogurt parfait too. Well, yogurt in general gets effed up in the USA. SUGAR AND SHIT IN EVERYEFFINTHING.

Ugh, yeah. I hate how Starbucks employees are always instructed to ask you, "Do you want it sweetened?" after you place your coffee order. I guess too many Starbucks customers have freaked out if they didn't get sweet coffee?

Also, you can't get plain soy milk--only vanilla, which is super-sweet of course.

Thankfully, I don't find myself stuck in Starbucks-only zones too often.

Gravdigr • Feb 27, 2011 4:45 pm

JFC people! It's McDonalds, everything they do is evil. You expect it now-a-days.

Urbane Guerrilla • Mar 3, 2011 11:30 am

bluecuracao;713577 wrote:
Ugh, yeah. I hate how Starbucks employees are always instructed to ask you, "Do you want it sweetened?"

First I've heard of that. Too, I do live in southern California. Does that make it so YMMV? All they ask me is if I want a baked good too.