Bini Dahal

Today, fast food has become a way of life for everyone. Each day more and more fast food restaurants are opening up globally to meet the demand of the growing population. However, these busy restaurants might be adding flustering ingredients in the name of service.
Around June this year, a Filipino woman posted online about her takeaway order from Jollibee, a Philippines based multinational chain of fast food restaurants. She had ordered fried chicken for her son. When trying to slice the chicken for her boy to eat, she found it really difficult. As she tried opening the chicken with her hand, it went beyond her imagination that instead of being tender chicken meat, she found encounter a deep-fried towel instead!

The towel looked so perfectly like a chicken that no one could have recognised it. The idea of using the batter was surely a genius yet fraudulent one. Surely, after this incident, the reputation of such a popular company has fallen really badly. People will now think a hundred times before ordering fast food from anywhere. But this does not mean that people’s habits will be changing anytime soon. We have always prioritised taste over health. So, we will surely forget such mishaps and return back to the same fast food restaurant.

Before the concept of inedible fast food came across people’s mind, there existed the idea of preservatives containing fast food. This kind of food has been a major cause of growing obesity and different kinds of diseases among people. Not just this, even so-called healthy edibles are slowly turning into inedible poison. Instances of fake eggs and plastic rice being available in the market are growing worldwide. The internet is filled with hacks to differentiate between real and fake foodstuffs due to this tendency.

While selling different foodstuffs is a source of income for many, it is highly disappointing to see people not even feeling guilty for their actions. Profit-making has now become so common practice that after building a certain reputation, many food manufacturers and restaurants begin flouting norms and regulations.
Rising population is also a main issue behind the degrading food quality. An increase in population results in subsequent rise in food demand, putting a big pressure on the food producers to somehow meet the needs. This causes the producers to somehow choose unfair means and this is how we, the consumers, become the target of food irregularities.

It is time for all of us to completely boycott those manufacturers and food chains that act as frauds. Regulatory bodies should be more active in terms of monitoring and punishment. If regulations are not put into force effectively, there will come a day when street food will be considered a much healthier option than fast food.

The same goes with fake foodstuffs like plastic rice and eggs that have been produced in factories rather than in agriculture and animal farms. Human body has still not been programmed to eat plastics and towels. So developing such ideas of fraudulency can be considered the wrong development and misuse of science and technology. Our brains and inventions have developed too many screwed up ideas that can cause destruction to ourselves ultimately.