BACK IN THE '70s and '80s, the only thing that could stop me from eating those delicious McDonald's french fries was the Hamburglar (while his accomplice Grimace was out stealing shakes). But in the early '90s, health concerns led to a switch from frying with hearty beef tallow to vegetable oil, thereby changing the flavor and texture of the fries forever. Many say McDonald's french fries haven't been the same since. And they're right, though McDonald's fries still taste better than anyone else's.
Ever wonder why? Despite the move to vegetable oil, McDonald's was still using a certain amount of "beef flavoring." Not that this revelation outraged health fanatics--the amount of cholesterol in the post-1990 fries is still much less than before. But it was a shock to the vegetarian and Hindu communities who until recently thought they were eating a meatless product in good conscience (and perhaps wondering themselves why the fries were so good).
With the publication of Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation" last year--a scathing attack on the fast-food industry and culture--much attention was focused on the practices of giants like McDonald's. One reader, Hitesh Shah, was particularly drawn to the chapter entitled, "Why the Fries Taste So Good." Compared to other chapters in the book, this one is rather anodyne. (The sections on E. coli and Jack in the Box are the most gut-wrenching.) Still, Shah, a Jain who doesn't eat meat, was surprised to read that animal products were used to make french fries, especially since McDonald's had claimed to use 100 percent pure vegetable oil. An e-mail sent to Shah from the McDonald's Home Office Customer Satisfaction Department soon clarified that "For flavor enhancement, McDonald's french fry suppliers use a minuscule amount of beef flavoring as an ingredient in the raw product. . . ."
Minuscule or not, the e-mail spiraled into a class action lawsuit filed by Seattle attorney Harish Bharti on behalf of the Hindu community last year. As Schlosser explains in the afterword of the paperback edition of his book, the lawsuit alleged that "the chain had deliberately misled vegetarians about the content of its fries, causing great emotional damage and endangering the souls of Hindu consumers." This in turn led to violent protests in India, where one McDonald's restaurant was completely trashed and worse--a statue of Ronald McDonald was smeared with cow dung.
But McDonald's wasn't completely wrong either. The claim that their restaurants use 100 percent vegetable oil is true. The small amount of beef flavoring is added during the potato processing back at the plant. And the fries at McDonald's restaurants in India didn't even use this small bit of meat. Nevertheless, with statements (on the company website) that read, "If you visit McDonald's anywhere in the world, the great taste of our world famous French Fries and Big Mac is the same," and, "One Taste Worldwide," you can see how the panic erupted.
Last month, McDonald's finally agreed to pony up "$10 million to Hindu, vegetarian, and other groups whose charitable and educational activities are closely linked to the concerns of these consumers." The corporation also apologized "for failing to provide the kind of information [Hindus and vegetarians] needed to make informed dietary decisions at our U.S. restaurants." Finally, McDonald's says it is "committed to doing a better job in the future," has "enhanced its disclosures concerning the source of ingredients in its food products," and has created a "Dietary Practice/Vegetarian Advisory Panel" to avoid future miscommunications and improve its marketing to specific groups.
How will this affect the McDonald's french fry? If they've taken the first step away from beef tallow, would the next step be away from all animal products? And if so, what would that taste like? These are serious questions for non-vegetarian and non-Hindu consumers. And the importance of the fry cannot be underestimated. McDonald's is the world's largest fast-food chain, largely because of its signature golden french fry. Tampering with the side order could be disastrous.
Witness Burger King's recent attempt to market a new fry. (Their secret was a crispier fry coated in potato starch.) Despite a few taste tests showing that people liked the new fries, Burger King never made any serious gains and quickly abandoned their multimillion dollar ad campaign and reverted to the old recipe. It was a mitigated disaster in the same league as the New Coke debacle.
So while the competition continues to try and figure out how to outdo the Golden Arches, McDonald's needs to be wary of changing a good thing. It needs to reflect on its history.
