It is no secret that fast food and junk food are generally cheaper than healthier options like fresh produce. But why is this the case? Shouldn’t healthy, whole foods cost more since they’re “better for you?” The answer to this question can be found in a study by Kith University. They discovered that fast food restaurants have an average of 33% more calories on their menu items than fast-food restaurant chains do, which means customers are getting what they want at a lower price.

Their ability to farm animals at an astonishing rate allows the massive companies to keep growing larger. The more fast food restaurants there are, the more supply is demanded, and thus producers can start to lower prices.

Animals are fed cheap feed and fast growth hormones that cause them to reach market weight in record time, typically around six months.

These cheap feed options include corn, which the government subsidizes. Soybeans are also ordinary for feed, so the crop has grown in popularity in recent decades. In 2018, soybean farmers produced 4.39 billion bushels in the United States. The low price of these standard feeds allows fast food producers to grow animals fast for a meager cost.

Standards are rarely put in place or regulated to keep fast food items low in sodium and calories. This has a massive effect on the quality of the food and the people eating it.

The fast food industry is constantly changing, and as such, it’s hard to keep up with what items are on the menu. This means that there is a great deal of flexibility in adding new ingredients for those local areas where they might not be used to eating fast foods or junk foods yet.

There can also often be special deals between fast food companies and small businesses nearby so that the two types of outlets aren’t directly competing against each other. As long as people continue buying fast food over healthy alternatives, this sort of thing will probably continue happening. At least more regulations could make sure that unhealthy options like these don’t appear quite as prominently, if at all!