McDonald’s Fries have Zero Trans-Fat
McDonald’s has finished the switch to using a zero trans-fat cooking oil for it’s famous french fries. This marks an important event in the world of fast food, and while some criticize the company for not moving fast enough, McDonald’s says they are confident the rest of their menu will be free of trans-fat by the end of 2008. Currently McDonald’s uses over 75 million pounds of cooking oil per year.
My friend Jeff at Knowzy.com had alerted me to this article recently published by Chicago Business News, and today I woke up to discover a story by MSNBC dated yesterday, which says McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner made it official during Thursday’s shareholders meeting at the company’s corporate headquarters.
Someone told me that McDonald’s fries are made from potato flakes, not cut potatoes, and coated with a “sugar type” coating. True?
Hello Sandy.
No, that’s not true. For that matter, I don’t see how anyone could make french fries from potato flakes. Those are small pieces (granules, flakes) used for things like instant potatoes, mashed, whipped, etc.
McDonald’s fries are definitely real cut potatoes. By the way, McDonald’s is the #1 buyer of raw potatoes in the US. The US Army is #2.
As for a coating, I cannot comment on that. I’ve not heard anything about a sugary coating. They recipe has changed over the years, and my understanding is they used to add beef fat to the fries for extra flavor, but that practice stopped.