Junk food or genuine nourishment: The nutritional value of some South African fast-food chains

Integer programming is used to test the nutritional completeness of two fast-food chains operating in South Africa, McDonald's and Kentucky Fried Chicken. It is shown that a fully nutritional and varied daily diet can be made up from McDonald's menu items, but the same is not true for Kentucky Fried Chicken. This exercise is highly suited to introduce students to mathematical programming: skills learned include formulating mathematical programming problems, mastering linear programming software and exploring the Internet for relevant data.