An Inside Look At McDonald’s Ingredients, Food Sources

Battered by weak sales and a somewhat tarnished consumer image, McDonald’s is fighting back with a marketing campaign reassuring consumers that its food meets transparency standards. The company is responding to consumer-submitted questions about ingredient sources and processing methods. For example, most of the beef comes from the U.S. Its eggs are not free-range or organic, however. To keep costs down, they come from caged chickens, which are cheaper. How close is McDonald’s cheese to being plastic? Not close at all, the company says. The “major ingredient” is natural cheese plus emulsifiers. And, yes, McNuggets frying oil contains a small amount of dimethlypolysiloxane, which keeps the oil from foaming and spattering. The stuff is also used to make putty, caulks and cosmetics.