To What Extent is Fast Food a Reliable Food Source for Developing Countries?

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According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, of the total 768 million undernourished people in the world, more than three quarters are from developing countries. This food crisis is caused due to inadequate food systems. Factors such as conflict, natural disasters, and economic disruptions have hindered the development of food systems and increased global insecurity. More recently, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, global food insecurity has risen more than the past five years combined (2021). On the other hand, developing countries such as Cambodia have seen rising popularity in fast food chains according to the U.S. Commercial Service trade specialists (2019). Foreign franchises such as KFC, Dairy Queen, and Burger Queen have entered the market and have become increasingly dominant in Cambodia’s food industry. This begs the question: To what extent is fast food a reliable food source for developing countries?

Workers in developing countries have less time to eat than workers in developed countries. For example, when analyzing economic prosperity, countries today are significantly unequal. Not only do developed countries earn more per hour on average, but they also work less on average. For example, in Switzerland, people earn $70/hr on average versus Cambodia where workers earn $2/hr as of 2017, according to Ortiz-Ospina and Giattino (leading researchers from Oxford and Duke). Because workers in Switzerland can earn more per hour, it’s possible for them to work less whereas workers in Cambodia need to work more in order to compensate. While this doesn’t mean all workers in developed countries work less, it does mean that workers in developed countries have the opportunity to.

A study done by Professor Bick, Fuchs-Schundeln, and Legakos from the American Economics Association documented how hours vary with income across countries from an international survey. Countries at the bottom of the income scale worked an average of 28.5 hours per week versus the countries at the top of the income scale that worked 19 hours per week (2016). The researchers tested other factors such as age and gender, but each time the results stayed the same. The more developed the country, the fewer hours a worker worked.

Additionally, according to the World Health Organization, longer working hours led to an increased risk of health conditions such as stroke and ischemic heart disease. Such diseases that were caused by long working hours resulted in 745,000 deaths as of 2016 (2021). Not only does it increase a person’s risk of those health conditions, but mental health is affected as well.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way many people work, oftentimes adding more hours to people’s schedules (2021). Dr Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus, a WHO Director-general, said,” Teleworking has become the norm in many industries, often blurring the boundaries between home and work. In addition, many businesses have been forced to scale back or shut down operations to save money, and people who are still on the payroll end up working longer hours,”(2021). In addition to potential health conditions, working conditions can decrease a worker’s physical and mental capabilities as well as their well being.

Longer working hours not only leaves less leisure time that could be used to improve conditions, enjoy free time, and earn an education but most importantly, make meals. Fast food production provides a means for people in developing countries to have access to meals that would have been skipped due to stress, physical conditions, or tight schedules.

However, one drawback to fast food is that it is typically high in sodium and fat (Sim & Laohasirwong, 2019). A cross-sectional study done by researchers from Thailand’s Department of Public health showed that Cambodia’s obesity rate is influenced by fast-food consumption among working-aged people (Sim & Laohasirwong, 2019). Due to its convenience, many workers opt to eat from fast-food restaurants, which has led to major health concerns. According to the CDC, obesity is associated with poorer mental health and overall reduced quality of life (2021). It is also one of the leading causes of death worldwide, as well as diabetes and cancer (2021).

Yet, fast food is fairly affordable. Credit Suisse finance analysts West and Voronetskaya released a report on McDonald’s “$1 $2 $3 Dollar Menu” (West J. & Voronetskaya, 2017) that assessed the impact of the new menu. The menu consists of products that range from $1 to $3. Despite the low prices, the food items were bought in such large volumes that McDonald's was able to profit off of the menu. In fact, demand for McDonald’s products increased by 11% (West J. & Voronetskaya, 2017). Other fast-food franchises such as Burger King and Wendys followed suit, creating their own version of the dollar menu (West J. & Voronetskaya, 2017).

Unhealthy foods are also cheaper than healthy foods according to researchers from the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Drexel University (2017). When measured per calorie, healthier foods have been found to be more expensive. That same report showed that when purchasing food, the biggest deciding factor for a consumer was the price (2017). While choosing the healthier option seemed ideal to consumers, the unhealthier option was the more budget-friendly choice. Other consumers also opted for the unhealthy choice because it was more convenient. The researchers then suggested that by subsidizing healthy food, healthy food could become more affordable as well, similar to fast food (2017).

Fast-food chains such as McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendys are able to create $1 food items by buying all the ingredients wholesale. In fact, McDonald's has become one of the world’s largest buyers of beef, pork, potatoes, lettuce, and tomatoes according to George Cohon, Canada’s McDonald Head (Nowak, 2015). Bulk buying has not only shaped fast-food practices but has also brought cost-effective prices to the masses.

However, despite being budget-friendly, fast food franchises are often major contributors to emissions. Fast-food franchises have adopted a practice of buying ingredients in bulk, which means a huge demand for livestock and crops. According to a report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, livestock makes up “14.5 per cent of all human-induced emissions” (FAO, n.d.). The beef is collected through supply chains that also use fossil fuels that makeup 20% of the livestock’s sector’s emissions (FAO, n.d.). Other meats such as pork and chicken products create tons of emissions as well, most of which take the form of methane. All these factors contribute heavily to climate change.

To answer the question about the reliability of fast food, it is important to remember certain factors. In order to feed more people, there must be an efficient food system that can generate tons of food, at an affordable price, and is time-efficient as well. Because of these three things, fast food is a reliable food source for developing countries.

Regarding time efficiency and cost, these are both things that benefit from adopting fast food. However, its unhealthiness and detrimental sustainability practices are not favorable. For developing countries, however, if healthier food could be subsidized in an ethical and sustainable way that would make it more affordable, then fast food would be a very reliable food source.

If these two things are not implemented, then fast food could be effective to bring more people to developing countries' food, but only in the short run. While it would be convenient, it would have negative impacts on the environment and on people’s health. Treatment, medication, and medical attention can be expensive and hinder economic improvement. On the other hand, unsustainable practices would negatively impact the environment and possibly other farming practices.

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