2.5 million people in the UK eat at McDonald’s every day. In 1968 there were about 1,000 McDonald’s restaurants, all in the USA. Now there are more than 31,000 selling Happy Meals in 120 countries. Chicken McNuggets arrived in 1983. Fast food is now sold at primary and elementary schools, universities, on trains, cruise ships and airplanes. In 1970 Americans spent about $6 billion (£3.5bn) on fast food. In 2005 they spent $134bn (£78bn). The British eat more fast food than anyone else in Europe. Britons now spend £8bn per year on fast food. They spend more money on fast food than on television, videos and computers. They spend more on fast food than on the cinema, theatre, museums, books, games and toys combined. In 1925, when New Yorkers were polled, hamburgers came 19th on a list of favorite foods, behind cow tongue and spinach. If you took the 13 bn hamburgers that Americans now eat every year and put them in a straight line, they could circle the Earth more than 32 times. The first British McDonald's opened in 1974. By 1996 there were more than 70 McDonald’s and Burger Kings opening every year. British food companies spend £300m every year on advertising to kids. There is a McDonald’s University in Oak Brook, Illinois, which teaches classes in twenty different languages. Every year in the US children are responsible for more than $500 billion worth of spending. 9 out of 10 kids in the US know who Ronald McDonald is. Burger King’s kids club meals increased sales to children by 300%. The average American child spends one and a half months a year in total watching TV, and twenty-five minutes playing video games or using a PC. The average British child spends two hours and twenty minutes every day watching TV and twenty-five minutes playing video games. During the course of a year the typical American child watches 40,000 TV commercials. About half of those are for junk food. Fast food chains spend £3.5 billion every year on television advertising alone. McDonald's sells or gives away 1.5 billion toys every year. In 1997, by giving away Teenie Beanie Babies with each purchase, McDonald's increased their Happy Meal sales from an average of 10 million per week to 100 million. A reporter for the South China Morning Post revealed that workers at a Chinese factory that made Happy Meal toys were as young as fourteen years old and were paid less than 20 cents an hour (around 14 pence an hour). Whenever members of Congress attempt to increase the minimum wage which in 2006 was only $5.15 (about £3 p/hour), the fast food industry always fights hard against it. In 2003 nearly as many fast food workers as police officers were murdered whilst doing their job. Fast food restaurants are more attractive to armed robbers than convenience shops. McDonald’s fries for decades were cooked in 7% soy oil and 93% beef fat. McDonald’s, under pressure from doctors and nutritionists, switched to vegetable oil but engineered the taste of beef fat through chemicals. Britons now spend more than £52 billion on food every year – and more than 90% of that money is spent on processed foods. Without the chemical flavour industry today’s fast food industry could not exist. The aroma of a food can be responsible for as much as 90% of its taste. About ten thousand new processed foods are introduced every year in the US. ‘Artificial strawberry flavour’ (as seen in the ingredients of a fast-food strawberry milkshake) can include the following host of chemicals: amyl acetate, amyl butyrate, amyl valerate, anethol, anisyl formate, benzyl acetate, benzyl isobutyrate, butyric acid, cinnamyl isobutyrate, cinnamyl valerate, cognac essential oil, diacetyl, dipropyl ketone, ethyl acetate, ethyl amyl ketone, ethyl butyrate, ethyl cinnamate, ethyl heptanoate, ethyl heptylate, ethyl lactate, ethyl methylphenylglycidate, ethyl nitrate, ethyl propionate, ethyl valerate, heliotropin, hydroxyphenyl-2-butanone (10 percent solution in alcohol), α-ionone, isobutyl anthranilate, isobutyl butyrate, lemon essential oil, maltol, 4-methylacetophenone, methyl anthranilate, methyl benzoate, methyl cinnamate, methyl heptine carbonate, methyl naphthyl ketone, methyl salicylate, mint essential oil, neroli essential oil, nerolin, neryl isobutyrate, orris butter, phenethyl alcohol, rose, rum ether, γ-undecalactone, vanillin, and solvent. Carmine, a red food dye, is made from Cochineal extract (also known as carminic acid). It is made by crushing tiny dead insects together. The insects are harvested from Peru and the Canary Islands. It is known as E120. A 2004 study of 277 children at Southampton University found that children appeared to be far more hyperactive when drinking juice with additives - as opposed to natural fruit juice. Slaughter plants for cattle can now kill up to 400 cattle an hour — about half a dozen every minute. If you went to a fast food restaurant during the 1950s and bought a Coca-Cola, you’d probably get about 230ml of coke. That was the adult portion. Now McDonald’s smallest coke is 340ml (a “child’s portion”). The biggest coke is 900ml – which is 310 calories and contains the equivalent of almost 30 teaspoons of sugar. In 1957 the typical burger patty weighed 30 grams. Now the typical patty weighs 170 grams. At American fast food chain Carl’s Jr., their Double Six Dollar Burger has 1,420 calories. A Wendy's meal that includes a Classic Triple (three patties) with cheese, fries and a Biggie Cola has 1,760 calories. The average child aged nine to thirteen should eat about 1,800 calories per day. A ten-year-old child who has Type II diabetes can expect to lose between 17 and 26 years of his or her life.