 There are dozens of chain restaurants from which we can choose when we go out to eat. Some are fast-food eateries with counters for ordering, and others are traditional sit-down table service restaurants. Probably McDonalds is the most well-known fast-food chain, but dozens of other chains dot the landscape of towns and cities throughout America. (Story by John P. Thomas, republished from HealthImpactNews.com .) As of 2012, there were 263,944 fast food restaurants in America with a combined revenue of well over $100 billion. [1] If we set aside all the reasons for eating in specific fast-food restaurants, and only focus on the quality of food that is served, then where should we eat? Which restaurants offer the least toxic food? It might appear that we have dozens of choices, but this is actually an illusion. The difference between one fast-food restaurant and the next is negligible when considering the high levels of toxic ingredients that are in the food. Restaurant Cooking used to be just like Home Cooking When people traveled across America in the first half of the twentieth century up through the 1960s, they would have found numerous diners or mom & pop restaurants of one kind or another. These restaurants featured regionally authentic recipes that matched what people cooked in their homes. The restaurant kitchens were bigger than home kitchens, and mom & pop prepared food in larger quantities. If they had been cooking at home, the meals they prepared would have been the same, and they would have obtained the raw ingredients from the same sources. Even institutional kitchens such as hospitals and nursing homes cooked much of their food from scratch just as was done in most American homes through the 1960s. All that began to change in the 1970s as regional factory size 'kitchens' began to prepare frozen foods for wholesale distribution to hospitals, nursing homes, schools, military bases, fast-food eateries, and even some of America's most well-known restaurants. A network of food factories are now supplying most all fast-food eating establishments with ready to eat food they can defrost and serve, or with prefabricated food they can defrost, heat, and serve. Sometimes even first-class table-service restaurants may serve factory food in addition to what their chefs prepare. Don't Assume Restaurant Food is made in the Restaurant When you go out and eat meals at chain restaurants, you are most likely consuming food that was produced in a factory. This can even be the case for some independent restaurants. Food factories use assembly line technology reminiscent of automobile assembly lines. Football stadium size factories crank out 'food' products by the ton. The equipment they use and the processes they employ have no resemblance to home cooking or even to cooking that could be done in a local restaurant . Factory produced food is produced and distributed by several large companies who specialize in providing products for all types of restaurants. America's largest manufacturer of prepared food for restaurants is Sysco. This is how they describe themselves: Sysco is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home. Its family of products also includes equipment and supplies for the foodservice and hospitality industries. The company operates 194 distribution facilities serving approximately 425,000 customers. For Fiscal Year 2014 that ended June 28, 2014, the company generated sales of more than $46 billion.[2] Sysco is not the only source of factory food that is sold to restaurants. There are others who compete with them to provide raw food, semi-prepared food, and completely cooked food. Restaurants often receive daily deliveries of perishable and non-perishable food from these suppliers. In 1970, the commercial food service market that was served by companies such as Sysco was a 35 billion dollar per year industry. Today, it has grown to become a 255 billion dollar industry. [3] Read more at HealthImpactNews.com . Sources: [1] HuffingtonPost.com [2] Sysco.com [3] Sysco.com 