Urban Legend: McDonald's 4

Master Of Puppets · Posted: Apr Fri , 2007 12:15 pm Post subject: Urban Legend: McDonald's 4

Beef tallow in french fries

Although McDonald's claimed it switched to vegetable oil in the United States in 1990, and would no longer use beef tallow to fry its french fries, it was rumored to the dismay of vegetarians and Hindus that the practice of using beef tallow to fry french fries remained.

McDonald's switched to using vegetable oil instead in 1990, in an attempt to market its french fries as being more healthful than in the past by reducing the saturated fat content. However, the company retained beef extract as a flavoring ingredient, because customers preferred the flavor of beef tallow. Therefore, the french fries were not vegetarian; however, this was not publicized. Vegetarians, especially Hindus, were indeed disappointed as this information became known, as they felt the company had implied the fries were vegetarian, and the company was sued successfully in 2002. McDonald's issued an official apology and made a payment of US$5 million in damages, which was distributed between a number of Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, vegetarian and academic groups.

It should be noted that most non-U.S. McDonald's do not use any beef extract. The beef content of American McDonald's french fries is unchanged, despite the lawsuit settlement. The fries are not vegetarian.
McDonald's Canada still uses an A/V (Animal/Vegetable) shortening See ingredients for deep frying french fries and hash browns. The oil is a mixture of beef fats and cottonseed oil. McDonald's Canada, however, uses vegetable oil for all chicken and fish products, and uses beef fat exclusively for fries and hashbrowns. McDonald's Canada makes this information readily available to everyone, and makes a point of notifying people who identify themselves as vegetarian.