Luckily I live in a region that is made up of good people who for the most part, can appreciate a diesel pickup. Our community includes farmers and construction workers, as well as those who take the business of recreation seriously. I’m glad I live in a neighborhood that includes 10 times more boats, camp trailers and snowmobiles than Prius owners. But of course every town has a few greener-than-Kermit types who will always think of me as an environmental terrorist. But hey, whatcha gonna do?
As an industry we’re already hamstringed enough by strict EPA regulations, but to have to fight against the stereotypes is nothing short of frustrating.
But when I came across a University of California Riverside study that found that commercially cooked hamburgers cause more air pollution than diesel trucks, I had to take a double take. Burger joints pollute more than diesel trucks? Who knew? The study, which focused on commercial charbroilers found in burger restaurants, said the equipment generates grease, smoke, water vapors and combustion products, which emit a large amount of particulate matter into the air.
“For comparison, an 18-wheeler diesel engine truck would have to drive 143 miles on the freeway to put out the same mass of particulates as a single charbroiled hamburger patty,” said Bill Welch, the principal engineer.
I hesitate to even bring this up, since I’m on a first-name basis at my local fast-food joints. The last thing I’d ever want is to close down my second homes. I looked at this study as a positive, meaning we’re not the only ones contributing to air pollution and diesel trucks aren’t nearly as bad as some people think. But of course the researchers at UCR are already working to develop a contraption to trap the particulates. Hopefully this won’t mean new regulations in the burger business. If the EPA jumps on this it would probably lead to my burger taking twice as long to cook, needing twice the power to cook it and then of course it would probably cost twice as much for my lunch.
I can see it now: the EPA goes in full force at Burger King and my Whopper price goes from $3.79 to $5.29 overnight, causing 20 percent layoffs and 35 percent decrease in profit margins.
But if this was the case it could lead to a crossover where the creative minds in our industry could help out the burger industry. I’m sure there are a few aftermarket companies that could come up with a delete to fix the problem. But of course it would be for “race only” burgers or something like that.
The study did report that grilled burgers produce fewer particulates in the air than charbroiled ones, so that’s good news for everyone. It’s worth doing a quick YouTube search if you didn’t catch this report making its way around the Internet last fall.
What’s scary though is the response from some people who were quoted in the report.
“Either way, we’re living in a world (where) we’re still going through pollution. But the difference is we are getting some type of benefit from (the burger),” said Maria Segura.
The diesel truck has no benefit to her? Does she think the burgers were delivered to the restaurant in a solar-powered truck? What about the diesel tractors that farm the land that grows the corn that feeds the cows that provide the meat for the burgers?
Despite stupid comments, I liked this study for obvious reasons. But if it leads to me needing a permit to have a weekend barbecue with Homeland Security flying over backyards looking for violators, then we’re going to have a REAL problem.