Over the years, my family and I have hosted several Japanese exchange students during the summer months.  Their first food request after they get off the plane is always the same – “American Hamburger”.  Although McDonalds now spans the globe, a burger in Tokyo is just not as good as one in the U.S.  Sadly, thanks to Food Revolution Chef Jamie Oliver, American burgers will never be the same.  Burger King, Taco Bell and now McDonalds have all removed a key ingredient from their beef.  The rules for fast food purveyors used to be pretty simple.  If you are going to sell it as beef, it has to come from a cow and it has to meet minimum standards for bacterial content.  In seeking to meet these requirements and still turn a profit on a 99 cent burger, the industry got pretty creative.  Who would have thought that ammonium hydroxide (also used in fertilizer and homemade explosives) would come into play?  I can’t help but wonder what other undiscovered delicacies might be out there in our processed food.  There’s a strong case here for becoming a “grow your own” vegetarian.

http://youtu.be/RBkwUt-bqIo