This Is What's Actually in McDonald's French Fries

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McDonald’s official YouTube channel enlisted engineer and MythBusterGrant Imahara to answer the age-old question: WTF is in McDonald’s food? In this video, Imahara “reverse engineers” McDonald's French fries to find out what’s actually inside:

(Spoiler alert: It’s an all-around less shocking video than when McDonald’s revealed what’s in their McNuggets and dispelled the pink goop rumor — it’s actually brownish goop, thank you very much.)


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The video goes backwards, from fries to farm, but we’ll just flip it around and start from the beginning: McDonald’s uses real, from-the-earth, non-GMO potatoes. “Potatoes are just like people, they come in different shapes and sizes,” the production planner explains. Now you know!

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The fry shape isn’t formed in a mold; instead, the potatoes are shot through a “water knife” at 60-70 mph. Then the cut potatoes go through an “ingredient dip” to control the coloring, among other things (more on that in a minute).

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Then, they’re partially fried, “to get that crisp outer shell”—

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And then frozen before they’re sent off to McDonald’s stores.

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At the restaurant, the frozen fries are fried again and a “small amount” of salt is added. Ronald McDonald & Co., we’ll buy everything you’ve told us up till this point, because why not, but don’t you try to convince us you use a “SMALL AMOUNT” of salt on fries. That’s a lie and you should be ashamed of it.

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Well, that was a lot of pomp and circumstance to convince us there’s nothing (too) bad in Mickey D fries. And then you watch this video, which breaks down the nineteen (19) ingredients and chemicals found in that “ingredient dip.”

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Daily Mail notes that dimethylpolysiloxane is “a silicone found in Silly Putty” and tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ) is “a petrol-based chemical.” As unappetizing as those may sound, apparently both are fine to eat in the end. Oh, and there’s also beef flavoring, which just sounds gross.

Now, check out Jennifer Lawrence’s best comments about food and dieting:

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