6/8/14
It is amazing just how popular the McDonald’s fries have become. They have become so popular that the majority of people don’t even give them a second thought. They look fantastic, smell irresistible and taste divine. You never see anyone leaving any, once they are in a persons hand they all disappear.
You may be surprised what goes into making this irresistible fast food. Think about it, there are not many McDonald’s meals that are not accompanied with a pack of french fries. Often they are the upsized pack because it is cheap, and well, lets face it yum! Maybe it is time to have a look at what these things actually are. Here is how the famous McDonald’s French Fries are made.
Potatoes:
Most people know that McDonald’s uses certain varieties like Russet Burbank so that they are nice and oval and so that they contain the right amount of starch and sugar so that we end up with the perfect fries. At least that is what the advertising promotes. They want you to think that it is the potato itself that makes the fries so irresistible. Well if you are thinking that way you might be wrong. Keep on reading……
After the potatoes are sliced they are bleached to remove excess sugar. This can often cause brown spotting on the fry’s beautiful golden finish.
Sodium acid pyrophosphate:
The colour is so important. After all the fries need to look the part. Even after they are fried the colour may not be perfect due to phenolic compounds which react with the potatoes iron content. This has to be fixed. Adding sodium acid pyrophosphate delays this chemical reaction. The result is fries that maintain their beautiful white colour all the way to your tray.
Vegetable oil:
Sounds healthy right? Vegetable oils are chemically extracted and are some of the worst oils that a human can consume. The oil mix is that McDonalds use is a concoction that is almost unbelievable. It includes soybean oil which is 16% saturated fat, canola oil with 8% saturated fat and most unbelievably the absolutely worst oil product, hydrigenised soybean oil with a massive 94% saturated fat.
To give the fries that beefy flavour the oil also contains meaty tasting amino acids like hydrolysed wheat and the milk protein called casein which according to the China study can cause liver cancer.
More of the same, oil again:
When you witness the fries drop into the fryer at any McDonald’s just realise that this is not the first time they have been fried. The fries are first dipped at the factory, they are then bagged and frozen after which they are re-fried at the restaurant.
At the second frying corn oil is added along with an additive called TBHQ or terbutylhydroquinone. Studies show that in rats when consumed in high doses this chemical can cause tumours including stomach cancer.
Because the oil sits in big containers for long periods as the oxygen removes hydrogen from the lipids the oil can go rancid. TBHQ in this case works as an antioxidant replacing the depleted hydrogen.
Dextrose:
In initial process the potato was bleached and the natural sugar was removed means that brown spotting is likely to occur during frying. Who could ever eat a fry with brown spots? To fix this a corn based sugar is added. This now compensates for the extracted natural sugar and creates a perfect golden crispy skin. Yum!
Salt:
The salt used is iodised salt which amongst other things is a known cause of high blood pressure.
Conclusion:
Next you you dig into that irresistible pack of McDonald’s french fries enjoy your delicious serving of fat, salt, sugar & chemicals.
techly.com.au “If you knew what was really in a McDonalds French fry, would you still eat it?” 02 Jan. 2013.
