Faecal Substance Found In Popular Food Chains In UK After Testing

The reason why some people are cynical about eating food outside is that one can never really be sure about what they are being served. From stale to purely adulterated the quality of the food is always questionable.

Just to validate it for you, in a test run by BBC's Watchdog programme, faecal bacteria has been found in ice at McDonald's, KFC and Burger King across the UK.

More than 10 random branches of these popular food chains were examined and bacteria, known as faecal coliforms was found. 3 McDonald's samples, 6 of Burger Kind samples and 7 of KFC samples were found contaminated.

The ice at all these stores was tested for coliforms and has been advised 'not-safe' for human consumption.

It's extremely worrying. When we're finding the sorts of numbers we're finding here, you have to look at the people making the ice, handling the ice, which they then transfer into customers' drinks.

And then you also have to look at hygiene failure with potentially the machines themselves,are they being kept clean?

It is pleasing that Escherichia coli (E. coli), the bacterium that is the most accurate and reliable indicator of faecal contamination, was not found in any ice samples from McDonald's restaurants.

Low levels of two other indicator bacteria, coliforms and enterococci, were found in some ice samples.

These can be used as an assessment of water hygiene but, as they are widely distributed in the natural environment, they are not reliable indicators of potential health risks.



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Green Tea And Metabolism

Diet-Ditching Millennials
Ah, youth. Millennials are less concerned about calories and fat in the foods they eat than the population at large and are more inclined to use technology as a health and wellness tool, according to the International Food Information Council’s 2015 Food and Health Survey. The survey also found that millennials (born between the early 1980s and the early 2000s) are more likely to believe higher-protein foods may have unhealthy attributes, are more apt to use diet-related apps and online support groups, rely more heavily on the support of family and friends in their efforts to maintain a healthy diet, and tend to trust health and nutrition bloggers and to feel more optimistic about the healthful potential of food innovations and new inventions. “Millennials are a unique generation, and their approach to health and fitness is no exception,” Sarah Romotsky, R.D., director of health and wellness for the IFIC Foundation, told Food Business News.

Happier Hens
Taco Bell is going cage-free. The fast-food chain’s parent company, Yum Brands, has announced that it will switch to using only cage-free eggs in all 6,000 U.S. Taco Bell locations by the end of 2016. The Mexican food mecca’s move to use eggs from hens not confined to small cages follows those of many other large restaurant chains, including McDonald’s and Burger King, but its transition is slated to happen far more quickly. McDonald’s has said it will complete its move to cage-free eggs over the next decade, whereas Burger King announced several years ago that it would complete its transition by 2017.

Go Green, Sure, but Not for Weight Loss
Perhaps you’ve heard that drinking green tea boosts your metabolism. In its ongoing in-depth tea series Tea Tuesday, NPR’s The Salt surveys the research and concludes that, despite its reputation as a weight-loss and weight-maintenance aid, green tea, if it raises your metabolic rate at all, probably does so only a teeny bit. “The caffeine in green tea could raise your metabolic rate ever so slightly, but it wouldn’t have a different effect than coffee,” Mayo Clinic endocrinologist Michael Jensen told The Salt. The studies indicate that green tea can have some health effects – helping to regulate blood pressure, for instance. But “unless you’ve gained or lost a lot of weight,” Jensen said, “your metabolism stays pretty stable over time.” Oh, well.

MONGOLIA: Burger King Opened First Store In Mongolia,

Burger King has opened its first store in sparsely populated Mongolia, joining companies from Pizza Hut to Porsche in anticipating an economic boom from the Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine.

Sandwiched between China and Russia, Mongolia has long been dependent on mining and animal herding and still has no McDonald's or Starbucks. But it has begun to see an influx of foreign fast food and other brands. KFC came in 2013, then Pizza Hut last year, and now the world's second-largest burger chain.

The interest in the country of 3 million people comes despite a deep deceleration in growth rates to about 3 percent in the first half of this year from 17.5 percent earlier in the decade. However, after years of deadlock over taxes and royalties, a deal reached in May between the government and mining giant Rio Tinto over the $5.4 billion Oyu Tolgoi mine could help spur renewed growth.

"Now is a good time to be coming in," said Jim Dwyer, executive director of the Business Council of Mongolia.

On the edge of Chinggis Square in the capital Ulaanbaatar, luxury brands Louis Vuitton and Ermenegildo Zegna already have set up boutiques. While these stores are largely empty now, they and others are banking that better times will come.

International car brands that have trickled into Mongolia include Volkswagen and BMW. Porsche opened a showroom in Ulaanbaatar in February with models ranging in price from $70,000 to $300,000.

Jason Broome, in charge of Porsche's Mongolia business, said the local franchise now serves 30 customers.

Burger King has partnered with Mongolian franchisee, Max Group, one of the country's largest conglomerates, engaged in mining, food and beverage, agriculture and real estate. Meal prices range from about $2.5 to $5.5, less than 1 percent of the average monthly salary of $734.

Media company worker Banzragch brought his son to the launch of the Burger King store because he remembered sampling the chain's food overseas and being happy with both the taste and the price.

"Even during harder economic times like now, the price is reasonable," Banzragch, who gave only one name, said at the outlet that opened earlier this month in a busy commercial district of Ulaanbaatar.

Max Group President Ganbaatar Dagvadorj said it plans to open 10 Burger King stores in Ulaanbaatar and then expand elsewhere in the country.

"By bringing Burger King here, we are providing jobs for hundreds of people and looking to expand it to employ thousands," Ganbaatar said.

Also at the launch was student Nyamdavaa, who said she first went to a Burger King while studying in France. "It tastes as good here as it did there," she said.