McDonald's originally used Atlantic cod, before declining cod catches forced McDonald's to find sustainable fish elsewhere. McDonald's is trying to maintain fish only from areas certified as sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council, but that is becoming more difficult each year. Hoki is still a major ingredient.
We use wild-caught Alaska Pollock for our Filet-O-Fish® sandwich in the U.S., which is 100% sourced from sustainable fisheries. Why is sustainable fish so important to us? Because it helps protect our oceans—something that's important to you. Interested in learning more about the Filet-O-Fish®?
5. Believe it or not, the Filet-O-Fish is actually fish. McDonald's uses Marine Stewardship Council certified wild-caught Alaska Pollock.
Filet-O-Fish Portion
Ingredients: Alaskan pollock, Water, Enriched bleached wheat flour, Modified corn starch, Yellow corn flour, Salt, Sugars (dextrose, sugar), Dried yeast, Paprika, Turmeric, Cellulose gum, Spices.
What is hoki? (Blue Grenadier) Hoki is a white fish most often found in New Zealand and around Southern Australia, as well off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of South America. Hoki is also known as blue grenadier, blue hake, New Zealand whiptail, whiptail or whiptail hake.
Blue Grenadier (also known as Hoki) are a bentho-pelagic predatory finfish found throughout Australian, New Zealand and wider southwestern Pacific Ocean waters.
Find out more about hoki, also known as blue grenadier, from southern Australia and New Zealand waters.
Our Filet-o-Fish® patty is cooked separately from meat items in 100% vegetable oil. However, due to the design of the oil filtration system, during the oil filtering process, there is a small chance the oil used to cook our fish patties can come into contact with oil that has been used to cook chicken products.
Did you know that Espersen is delivering fish to the Filet-O-Fish at McDonald's? Actually, we have done so for more than 40 years. Today we deliver the fish for all McDonald's restaurants in 42 countries – mainly on the European continent.
It's a great source of protein
According to the McDonald's menu, the whole sandwich comes to 390 calories. It has 19 grams of fat, but that extra fatty goodness is one of the reasons the fish tastes so good. Saturated fat comes in at 4 grams with 0 grams of trans fats.
Our fish sandwich recipe features a crispy fish filet patty on melty American cheese and is topped with creamy McDonald's tartar sauce, all served on a soft, steamed bun. This Filet-O-Fish sandwich has fish sourced from sustainably managed fisheries.
Pollock is a member of the cod family. They can grow as long as 3 feet but typically reach lengths between 12 and 20 inches and weigh between 1 and 3 pounds. They have speckled coloring that helps them blend in with the seafloor to avoid predators.
As far as the nutritional value of pollock, like salmon, tuna and cod, it is a good source of lean protein and low in saturated fat. All of these fish are also a good source of vitamin B12, phosphorous, and selenium.
McDonald's ultimately swapped it out for cod before its release because it ended up being cheaper, but it wasn't an easy decision because Kroc didn't want customers to negatively associate the Filet-O-Fish with cod liver oil. This ended up being avoided by referring to the fish as "North Atlantic whitefish" instead.
This oil is filtered every day. However due to the design of the oil filtration system, during the oil filtering process, there is a small chance the oil used to cook our fish can come into contact with oil that has been used to cook chicken products.
Traditional frying uses beef dripping or lard; however, vegetable oils, such as palm oil, rapeseed or peanut oil (used because of its relatively high smoke point) now predominate.
The fish and the chips must always be fried in separate oil (the sugar content in potatoes can damage the oil and make the fish overly greasy).
None of the retail fish sandwiches/fillets exceeded the FDA action limit of 1 ppm of Hg. The sandwiches provided between 8 and 146% the RfD for mercury for an individual weighing 60 kg. Mercury is present naturally in the environment, and also enters through the burning of fossil fuels and waste.
The average Big Mac calories is at around 540 calories with 25 grams of fat. When taken on its own, this sandwich provides more than 25% of an adult's daily calorie requirement and more than 40% of the daily recommended fat intake, despite being often drunk with fries and cola.
Fish is filled with omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins such as D and B2 (riboflavin). Fish is rich in calcium and phosphorus and a great source of minerals, such as iron, zinc, iodine, magnesium, and potassium. The American Heart Association recommends eating fish at least two times per week as part of a healthy diet.
Paulin said hoki was valued on the global market because it was a very white-fleshed fish which was different to the more available cod or pollock species. Because of this, however, the price of hoki on the world market fell in between cod and pollock, which meant hoki would follow when one moved.
New Zealand hoki are related to cod and hake. Their bodies, which are covered with tiny scales, are elongated and compressed with a long, tapering tail.
More hoki is caught in New Zealand each year than Australia's total annual fish catchment. “Hoki can be a good fish, though,” said Hodges. “It's absolutely great eating for fish and chips.”