McDonald's French Fries

Ingredients

People have always been dubious of what actually goes into McDonald's food. Thanks to a video released earlier this year that shows exactly how they make their French fries, they have left little mystery in the process (video).

The popular franchise released the video, featuring Grant Imahara of Mythbusters, in January 2015 to dispel any myths about the way they make their well-known fries.

"Does McDonald’s USA use real potatoes?" the company wrote in their video description. "Why do the fries always taste so good? Are they mashed and formed in a mold? There are a lot of questions about our fries so Grant Imahara is going to investigate our fry making process in his own way."

In the video, a McDonald's representative walks Imahara through the fry-making process backwards and shows him that the company actually does use real, whole potatoes for their fries.

"I've been asked by people to show them the machine where you take the mashed up potato goo and you inject it into these molds in order to make the perfect french fries," Imahara says.

"We don't do that here," his guide explains.

Instead, she shows him a machine that shoots whole, fresh potatoes through slicer grids at 60 to 70 miles per hour.

A machine then runs the sliced potatoes through an "ingredient dip" consisting of dextrose, to maintain a consistent golden color, and sodium acid phosphate, to keep the fries from turning gray in the freezer.

"No wonder the fries always taste the same," Imahara muses.

Then, the potato strips are partially fried to make sure they get what the McDonald's representative calls a "crisp outer shell" before they move through a 50 yard long freezer tunnel.

This video is part of a marketing campaign that the franchise launched in October 2014 intended to show transparency in their manufacturing and preparation practices, Time reports.

"This is our move to ensure we engage people in a two-way dialog about our food and answer the questions and address their comments," said Kevin Newell of McDonald's USA, a company that reportedly serves 28 million people per day.

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People have always been dubious of what actually goes into McDonald's food. Thanks to a video released earlier this year that shows exactly how they make their French fries, they have left little mystery in the process (video).

The popular franchise released the video, featuring Grant Imahara of Mythbusters, in January 2015 to dispel any myths about the way they make their well-known fries.

"Does McDonald’s USA use real potatoes?" the company wrote in their video description. "Why do the fries always taste so good? Are they mashed and formed in a mold? There are a lot of questions about our fries so Grant Imahara is going to investigate our fry making process in his own way."

In the video, a McDonald's representative walks Imahara through the fry-making process backwards and shows him that the company actually does use real, whole potatoes for their fries.

"I've been asked by people to show them the machine where you take the mashed up potato goo and you inject it into these molds in order to make the perfect french fries," Imahara says.

"We don't do that here," his guide explains.

Instead, she shows him a machine that shoots whole, fresh potatoes through slicer grids at 60 to 70 miles per hour.

A machine then runs the sliced potatoes through an "ingredient dip" consisting of dextrose, to maintain a consistent golden color, and sodium acid phosphate, to keep the fries from turning gray in the freezer.

"No wonder the fries always taste the same," Imahara muses.

Then, the potato strips are partially fried to make sure they get what the McDonald's representative calls a "crisp outer shell" before they move through a 50 yard long freezer tunnel.

This video is part of a marketing campaign that the franchise launched in October 2014 intended to show transparency in their manufacturing and preparation practices, Time reports.

"This is our move to ensure we engage people in a two-way dialog about our food and answer the questions and address their comments," said Kevin Newell of McDonald's USA, a company that reportedly serves 28 million people per day.

What Are McDonald's French Fries Really Made Of? (Video)

People have always been dubious of what actually goes into McDonald's food. Thanks to a video released earlier this year that shows exactly how they make their French fries, they have left little mystery in the process (video).

The popular franchise released the video, featuring Grant Imahara of Mythbusters, in January 2015 to dispel any myths about the way they make their well-known fries.

"Does McDonald’s USA use real potatoes?" the company wrote in their video description. "Why do the fries always taste so good? Are they mashed and formed in a mold? There are a lot of questions about our fries so Grant Imahara is going to investigate our fry making process in his own way."

In the video, a McDonald's representative walks Imahara through the fry-making process backwards and shows him that the company actually does use real, whole potatoes for their fries.

"I've been asked by people to show them the machine where you take the mashed up potato goo and you inject it into these molds in order to make the perfect french fries," Imahara says.

"We don't do that here," his guide explains.

Instead, she shows him a machine that shoots whole, fresh potatoes through slicer grids at 60 to 70 miles per hour.

A machine then runs the sliced potatoes through an "ingredient dip" consisting of dextrose, to maintain a consistent golden color, and sodium acid phosphate, to keep the fries from turning gray in the freezer.

"No wonder the fries always taste the same," Imahara muses.

Then, the potato strips are partially fried to make sure they get what the McDonald's representative calls a "crisp outer shell" before they move through a 50 yard long freezer tunnel.

This video is part of a marketing campaign that the franchise launched in October 2014 intended to show transparency in their manufacturing and preparation practices, Time reports.

"This is our move to ensure we engage people in a two-way dialog about our food and answer the questions and address their comments," said Kevin Newell of McDonald's USA, a company that reportedly serves 28 million people per day.