Beef tallow was initially used because the supplier for McDonald's couldn't afford vegetable oil. In the 1990s, as health concerns over saturated fat reached an all-time high, McDonald's faced a backlash against the use of beef tallow, and worried about losing customers, the chain switched to vegetable oil.
After spending at least $15 million campaigning against McDonald's for more than two decades, Sokolof got the attention of consumers, per Atlas Obscura. In 1990, McDonald's eventually responded to the pressure by replacing their beef tallow will vegetable oil.
In 1990, the company announced that they would replace the beef tallow with 100 percent vegetable oil. After the announcement, McDonald's stock fell 8.3 percent.
Like most fried foods, McDonald's fries are cooked in canola oil. But this didn't used to be the case. Beef tallow was initially used because the supplier for the chain couldn't afford vegetable oil. As health concerns over saturated fat grew in the 1990s, McDonald's finally made the switch to vegetable oil.
The switch was all because of a man named Phil Sokolof. After having a heart attack in 1966, Sokolof began lobbying against cholesterol and fat in fast food, specifically targeting McDonald's. He eventually got the company's attention, leading the chain to stop cooking its fries in beef tallow in 1990.
Grass fed beef tallow isn't just flavorful and a great local option for high-heat cooking, it's also a healthy option. Tallow contains linoleic acid which is considered a natural anti-inflammatory. Grass-fed beef tallow is rich in vitamin A and vitamin D.
Once at the restaurant, our fries are simply cooked in dedicated frying vats in a non-hydrogenated blend of sunflower and rapeseed oil which is 100 percent suitable for vegetarians. In fact, McDonald's French Fries are officially accredited by the Vegetarian Society.
For decades, McDonald's fries were cooked in animal fat (lard) which was supposedly what gave them their famous flavor. Eventually, the chain switched to vegetable oil, but customers complained that the fries were no longer ... No. Our fries are not coated in any fats or substances from an animal.
Consider the following enemies of cooking oil: Oxygen, salt, soap, heat, carbon buildup and water. All of these elements pose a great threat to the quality of your restaurant's cooking oil and food you serve, and are abundant in any commercial kitchen.
KFC will make the switch to low-lin oil in its 5,500 U.S. restaurants in order to reduce trans fats in its fried food products. With the announcement, KFC becomes the second major U.S. corporation to make a switch to low-lin soybean oil.
A highly saturated fat like beef tallow isn't as susceptible to useage-decay as, say, soybean oil. As long as it's stored properly in an airtight container—preventing oxidation—beef tallow will be good for many uses before you have to replace it.
Once at the restaurant, our fries are simply cooked in dedicated frying vats in a non-hydrogenated blend of sunflower and rapeseed oil which is 100 percent suitable for vegetarians. In fact, McDonald's French Fries are officially accredited by the Vegetarian Society.
The short answer here is, no, McDonald's French Fries are not vegan. But why not, you might ask. After all, French Fries are just potatoes and potatoes are vegan, so, what's the issue? The issue is their French Fries have a natural beef flavoring that contains dairy.
McDonald's burgers are made of 100% ground beef, formed into hamburger patties, and then quickly frozen at our suppliers to seal in great fresh flavor. We add salt and pepper to our burgers when they are cooked on the grill at our restaurants to bring out all that great beef taste.
Tallow is the solidified, rendered fat of a sheep or cow. With a waxy texture similar to butter or coconut oil, room-temperature beef tallow is shelf-stable; it will keep unrefrigerated in an airtight container for months without spoiling.
Before the 1990s, the crispy side dish was cooked in a vat of cottonseed oil and beef tallow, or fat, which gave the potatoes their decadent flavor and loaded them with saturated fat. In 1990, after controversy, the fast food chain made the switch to pure vegetable oil, but patrons longed for the same meaty taste.
We use a blend including canola and sunflower oils to cook with. Like all vegetable oils, it's cholesterol free. We use only 100% Aussie grown beef to serve you the best beef burgers, sourced from farmers across the country.
To ensure that our oil is free from crumbs and food debris, and to retain its quality, our cooking vats are periodically filtered using specially designed filtration equipment.
Unfortunately for vegan American McDonald's fans, the fries there aren't plant-based. This is because one of the ingredients is “natural beef flavoring,” which contains milk. “When our suppliers partially fry our cut potatoes, they use an oil blend that contains beef flavoring,” the McDonald's website states.
Are McDonald's Fries vegetarian or vegan in Australia? Yes! The ingredients list for Australia is one of the cleanest: Potato, canola oil, mineral salt (450), dextrose, antifoam (1521). So these fries are vegetarian and vegan in Australia!
Our World Famous Fries® are made from quality potatoes, including Russet Burbank, Ranger Russet, Umatilla Russet and the Shepody. The suppliers we work with first peel, cut and blanche the potatoes. They then dry, partially fry and quickly freeze the fries for our restaurants.
As for the claim that McDonald's uses pork fat in their ice cream, this is also false. McDonald's has stated that their ice cream contains no animal fat whatsoever.
At the beginning of the potato season, when we're using newer potatoes, the naturally-occurring sugar content is very low and we do need to add a small amount of sugar dextrose to our fries to ensure they maintain that golden colour.
"It's because McDonald's cooks their fries with beef flavoring mixed within their vegetable oil," divulged the content creator.
Step 2: Dip in “Ingredient Bath”
The dextrose, a natural form of sugar, is to help achieve a uniform golden color and the sodium acid pyrophosphate prevents the potatoes from turning grayish after they are cooked, according to McDonald's. Fear said these ingredients are of no health concern.