McDonalds has made news several times for the way they process their meats. For instance, their chicken nuggets are a conglomeration of the most inedible part of the bird (think fat, skin, and various organs that you wouldn’t normally consume) and their hamburgers are worse yet as they are treated with a substance you would never take yourself, let alone feed to your children, and that is ammonium hydroxide.
Professional chef and enthusiast Jamie Oliver exposed this fast food chain that is known internationally for their meat handling process, commonly referred to as “the pink slime process.” The basis of his claim is that this is the same process that is used for making pet food and other non-food products and just how is it that ammonium hydroxide can be good for you?
McDonald’s Response
In response to Oliver’s relentless pursuit of the way they handle their meat, many of the chain’s stores have already started using a different process. They are buying better meats and not adding ammonium hydroxide for purposes of making it “fit for human consumption.”
However, this is a trend that is more prevalent in the U.K. and Latin America, whereas the U.S. based McDonalds seem to be slower on the take. They cite cost as one of the top reasons for buying the lower quality meat that requires the additional steps to make it suitable for eating, but if that were the case, why are some McDonalds stepping up to the plate and doing what needs to be done?
The Lesson Learned
While we all know that eating fast food on a regular basis isn’t the best option for us as it tends to be higher in fat and calories, you hardly ever expect that it will include ingredients such as ammonium hydroxide. Hopefully Jamie Oliver will be the catalyst behind a change and McDonalds will continue to take the steps necessary to make their food not any worse than it already is.
