Going clean: McDonald’s ditches artificial additives in iconic US burgers 

27 Sep 2018 --- McDonald’s US claims to have reached a milestone moment, the fast food giant is scrapping all artificial flavors, colors, and preservatives from artificial sources from its top-selling classic burger portfolio. But the pickle still contains an artificial preservative so customers have to skip it if they want a totally artificial free burger. 

The ingredient changes are being rolled out across 14,000 US restaurants, marking this the “next major milestone in McDonald’s food journey” and to better appeal to customers looking for less artificial fast food.

The classic burgers include the hamburger, cheeseburger, double cheeseburger, McDouble, Quarter Pounder with Cheese, Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese and Big Mac.

It’s all part of McDonald’s ongoing strategy to offer healthier versions of iconic and classic products which they’re famous for and is the latest in a long line of McDonald’s menu innovation.

“From switching to 100 percent fresh beef in our quarter-pound burgers, cooked right when ordered, to removing artificial preservatives in our Chicken McNuggets and committing to cage-free eggs by 2025, we have made significant strides in evolving the quality of our food,” says Chris Kempczinski, McDonald’s US President. 

“We know quality choices are important to our customers and this latest positive change to our classic burgers demonstrates our committed journey to leading with the customer and building a better McDonald’s.”

To date, almost two-thirds of McDonald’s national burgers and sandwiches contain no artificial preservatives, artificial flavors and no added colors from artificial sources. 

To achieve this change, artificial preservative(s) were removed from McDonald’s real American Cheese, Big Mac Special Sauce, the regular bun, the Quarter Pounder bun (also known as the sesame seed bun) and the Big Mac Bun.

“We understand that now more than ever, people care about their food – where it comes from, what goes into it and how it is prepared – and we are committed to make changes to our menu our guests feel good about,” adds Linda VanGosen, McDonald’s Vice President of Menu Innovation.

The removal of artificial preservative(s) from the classic burgers is the latest in McDonald’s US customer-driven initiatives. Previous commitments include sustainably sourcing all McCafé coffee by 2020, and transitioning to cage-free eggs in US and Canada by 2025. By 2020, McDonald’s has also committed to sourcing a portion of its beef from its top 10 beef-sourcing countries from suppliers participating in sustainability programs aligned with the Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef principles and criteria.

Earlier this month McDonald’s also unveiled its new recipe apple pie which received a mixed reaction from customers. 

And in July, McDonald’s joined forces with Starbucks as a founding member of the group, The NextGen Cup Consortium and Challenge, convened by Closed Loop Partners, in a bid to develop a global recyclable and/or compostable cup solution. Both companies have committed to drive innovation of their packaging and help reduce waste. The brands estimate that 600 billion coffee cups wind up in landfills each year. 

Earlier this month, McDonald’s Netherlands introduced a chicken burger variant which replaces meat with Valess, a dairy, seaweed and fiber substitute, across all Dutch restaurants. Following in the footsteps of McDonald’s Austria, Belgium and Croatia, the McChicken Veggie and the Homestyle Crispy Chicken Veggie are now on the menu at almost all Netherlands-based burger chains to keep pace with demand as the number of herbivores continues to increase around the world.