Top 10 Worst Fast Foods

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Super Stupid Mutant Burgers named 2010 Worst Fast Foods

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HAMILTON: A new food group – labelled “Super Stupid Mutant Burgers” by Keep Canada Slim President Lee Fairbanks - swept the top six places in the 2010 Keep Canada Slim Worst Fast Foods awards.
Keep Canada Slim is a privately-owned company that creates weight loss books, CDs and DVDs. They also created the Healthy Eating Challenge for schools.
Thanks to a consistent effort to increase fat, calories and salt Wendy’s Baconator – now rebuilt as the Triple Baconator with Cheese moved from Third Place two years ago to take the coveted top prize.
“Two years ago the Baconator was only one patty and bacon and a measly 840 calories,” explains KCS Founder Lee Fairbanks. “Since then Wendy’s added a second and then third patty to make a truly appalling food choice with 1330 calories and a worthy recipient of the Worst Fast Food - Heart Attack on a Plate award. In addition to calories, the Triple Baconator with Cheese has 86 grams of fat – up from 51 two years ago, and a whopping 3180 milligrams (mg) of salt compared to 1880 in the single burger.”
The Institute of Medicine recommends adults consume less than 1500 mg of salt per day.
Rounding out the top six were the Burger King Triple Whopper w/Cheese (1240 calories, 83 g fat and 1470 mg sodium), Burger King Triple Whopper (1150 – 76 – 1060), Wendy’s Deluxe Triple Burger (1140 – 71 – 2470), Wendy’s Triple w/Everything & Cheese (1030 – 62 – 2110) and Burger King Double Whopper w/Cheese (1000 – 65 – 1390).
Fairbanks notes that approximately 60% of the calories from these mutant burgers come from fat sources and he criticizes the two chains for a marketing approach that he says cons Canadians by appealing to our long-standing love affair with hamburgers. The Dietitians of Canada recommend adults contain between 20-35% of their calories from fat.
“Hamburgers are a traditional Canadian food, but I don’t know of anyone who makes double and triple burgers at home, let alone adding bacon and cheese to three patties. These are mutant foods – and help create mutant humans,” he suggests. “Why anyone would feel the need to eat three patties at once?”
He suggests these products are positioned as “good value” by companies since the cost of a triple burger is not three times that of a single burger. In the 2008 contest, A&W’s aptly named “Chubby Chicken Dinner,” won the Worst Dinner/Lunch Award.
“The Chubby Chicken Dinner has disappeared from A&W's website, so perhaps it is a thing of the past. The chicken pieces are now listed individually, which allows people to order a smaller quantity,” explained Fairbanks. “However the new Triple Baconator tops the A&W meal by 100 calories and 18 fat grams, so it wins first prize straight up.”

Worst Drink

Not surprisingly, milkshakes took the top 3 spots for Worst Drink, with A&W easily retaining top spot with a large Chocolate Milkshake that offers 1720 calories, 47 grams of fat and an amazing 254 grams of sugar.
“Nothing comes close to this appalling choice,” says Fairbanks. “This is really 4 or 5 meals in a glass,” offered Fairbanks, “plus about a week’s worth of sugar. Two hundred and fifty-four grams is about 60 teaspoons of sugar. It amazes me that any company could even create such a product as this. The shake also has 1130 mg of sodium – about half a day’s adult allowance. Most of us wouldn’t consider a milkshake as a major source of salt in our diet.”
The 2008 second place drink - Burger King’s large Fruitopia with 860 calories and 213 grams of sugar has also disappeared from their website but BK retained second place with their Large (32 oz.) Strawberry Milkshake (940 calories, 13 grams fat, 610 mg sodium and 163 grams of sugar)  with Harvey’s 14-ounce chocolate milkshake in third (730 – 33 – 520 – 78).
“Harvey’s actually reduced the calorie and nutrient totals on their milkshake, so that’s at least a small sign that someone is paying attention,” points out Fairbanks. “On the other hand, A&W increased all contents on their Grandpa Burger to land in a virtual tie for 10th spot. Maybe they are trying to kill off Grandpa.”
Surprise newcomers on the list include KFC “medium” fries (940 – 47 – 2120) and Taco Bell’s Double Beef Burrito (800 – 43 – 1850).
“The KFC fries have about twice as many calories as other companies,” says Fairbanks. “Taco Bell’s two entries to be honest, are exceptions to their menu which is really filled with reasonable choices.”

Worst Breakfast

Another surprise showed up in the Worst Breakfast category as Subway took first and third places with Mega Breakfast Wraps (760 – 46 – 1720). In the more traditional bacon and eggs menu items, A&W added 100 calories to their Bacon & Eggs Deluxe to move into second place ahead of last year’s top entries, BK’s Enormous Omelette Sandwich and McDonalds Big Breakfast, which dropped to 4th and 7th place. BK had two other offerings in 5th and 6th place
Subway also received a dishonourable mention for their Ranch Dressing, 320 calories, 35 grams of fat and 560 mg of sodium.
“This is really liquid fat and salt, and has more calories and 7 times as much fat as their 6-inch low-fat sandwiches,” says Fairbanks. “And again, most people aren’t even counting their dressing as a meal, so these rank as ‘hidden calories’.”
Rounding out the Top Ten list for Lunch/Dinner are three poutines. All contents were taken from company websites and were current as of July 28, 2010.
Keep Canada Slim (KCS) President Lee Fairbanks said the awards were created to focus attention on food choices. “We are asking these companies to remove these foods from their menu,” said KCS President Lee Fairbanks. “No Canadian should be encouraged to eat them. In the meantime we urge Canadians to boycott these items by refusing to purchase them.”

Contacts:

Lee Fairbanks
289-700-1375
bigskinny@keepcanadaslim.com

Burger King Media Relations: 416-626-7455
McDonalds Media Relations: 877-786-3342
KFC Media Relations: 866-809-5965 ext. 234
Harvey’s Customer Service 877-439-1122
Wendy’s Consumer Relations 905-849-7685
Taco Bell Customer Service 866-664-5696
A&W Customer Service 866-720-5144
Subway Franchise Headquarters 800-888-4848