American fast food in China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

American fast food in China - Essay Example However, McDonald's is the easily recognizable Fast-food brand in China. KFC has got the largest chains of fast-food restaurants in China with approximately 4000 fast-food restaurants. These restaurants are both domestic and foreign brands. The founder of this fried chicken chain of restaurant, Colonel Sanders, is one of the most recognized American faces among the Chinese. There have been emerging scandals that have been aired in relation to the excessive levels of antibiotics that have been used by American fast-food restaurants in China. Brands like KFC and McDonalds have been held responsible for claims that they have led to an epidemic of obesity in China. This weight gain can also be linked to the Chinese breakneck development. Other developing nations are rapidly undergoing an economic transition but China seems to be dragging behind as a result of a large majority of people gaining weight thus cannot manage to work properly to build the nation.The number of obese people in Ch ina grew from 18 million to 100 million in 2005 and 2009, whereas its national GDP doubled at that same period. However, it is quite surprising that even though China is known to have a population that eats a lot, the situation tends to be worse because China is considered to have another problem of having a malnourished nation. Other nations that experience the same are Vietnam and India. Diseases that are caused by consumption of excess sugar and fat have become popular in China. These diseases include high blood pressure, heart diseases, and Type 2 diabetes. An estimate of 9.7 per cent of Chinese country have diabetes especially, Type 2. This data is close to the findings of America which are 11 per cent of the total population. These findings were from a study conducted by New England Journal of Medicine. There are various reasons which have made the contribution towards the realization of massive profits by American fast food restaurants in China. This paper concentrates on the reasons as to why these changes have occurred and why they happen as they do. A lot of research has been done in an effort to investigate this phenomenon and Smith (2006) notes that localization of meals is what has contributed to the attraction of native customers in the foreign country. Localization of mea