What to Not Eat... According to Fast Food Employees

We all know that Fast Food isn't the most nutritious food you can get, and we've all heard the horror stories like this one. But, most Americans still hold a special place in their hearts for fast food. After all, it's quick, it's easy, and it's cheap.I don't know if you will still feel that way after this post.

I recently stumbled upon an article about what fast food employees refuse to eat, or never recommend anyone eat. That was enough to get my attention. This originated from a Reddit thread that asked, "Fast food workers of Reddit, what is the one menu option at your employment that you would recommend people never eat? (Because of cooking safety, cleanliness, unhealthy, etc.)" And that's all it took to get over 6,000 comments in less than 24 hours with some comments that were to be expected, and some not-so-expected comments.

Caution: Be sure to have a strong stomach if you continue reading. And, also be prepared to lose your attachment to your favorite fast food item(s.) You have been warned...

So, let's begin with the global fast food giant, McDonald's. Their chicken nuggets had quite a buzz in this forum. Commentor, Dfunkatron said, "When I worked at McDonald's, I accidentally left a whole bag of about 100 chicken nuggets out on a counter for way too long. They melted. Into a pool of liquid. I never understood why. But they were completely indiscernible as being the nuggets i once knew." If you look at the picture below, you will understand exactly why that happened.

This is the "chicken" that makes up everyone's beloved chicken nuggets. Check out this site to find out more.

Next stop on the fast food train is Wendy's. After the whole finger in chili debacle, Wendy's vowed to make their chili fresh each day. Apparently, my version of fresh is TOTALLY different from that of Wendy's. Commenter Cozmo23 said this about Wendy's chili-making process: "The meat comes from hamburger patties that sat on the grill too long to serve to customers. They take them and put them in a bin and then throw them in the fridge. When the chili is made they take it out, boil it, chop it up and dump them in the chili." Mmmmm..... Tasty!

Normally, grilled chicken is the healthiest route to go when ordering fast food, but, not anymore! A McDonald's employee said that when preparing grilled chicken, "to keep it from sticking to the grill, we use three squirts of liquid margarine on the bottom of it. To keep it juicy, once we've lain the frozen blocks of chicken, three more squirts of liquid margarine are applied to the tops." And at Subway, to defrost their chicken, they let it soak in water ALL DAY, and at the end of the day, they squeeze the excess water out of the chicken, and refreeze it.

Well, I'm officially never eating fast food again. How about you? Did this effect your outlook on fast food? Do you know any 'fast food secrets' we don't? Please share in the comments.

Source: Huffington Post, Reddit, Business Insider, AOL News