Shocking Ingredients In McDonald’s French Fries
Image: Shutterstock
Let’s pre-conclude that the basic ingredients that McDonald’s uses for its French fries are more than just potatoes, oil, and salt.
And as you are salivating at the mere mention of French fries, it wouldn’t even cross your mind that this might be the worst thing to do to your body. All under the name of crunchy French fries!
Image Credit: Andrey Armyagov / Shutterstock.com
McDonald’s recently disclosed some hidden ingredients as part of its “transparency campaign”. Apart from potatoes, salt, and oil, which, under the common presumption, were all that were traditionally needed to cook French fries, there’s a lot more to McDonald’s French fries. A total of 17 ingredients are used. And here are a few of ‘not so healthy’ ones:
1. Genetically Modified Canola Oil
Genetically modified hydrogenated soybean oil is not only obtained from unnaturally grown and genetically engineered soybeans, but it also undergoes hydrogenation that makes it less saturated than its natural and real self, therefore making it unhealthy for consumption in the longer run.
2. Safflower Oil
Despite being considered a traditionally healthier alternative to cooking oils, the oil used in making French fries at McDonald’s is heated to temperatures so high that they damage the nutritional value of safflower oil and alter its chemical composition, making it one of the food items that create inflammation in the digestive system.
3. Natural Flavor
Though it contends to be from natural vegetarian origins, the natural flavoring has been found to contain monosodium glutamate (MSG), a chemical known for its toxic effects on the brain and nerves.
4. Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate
The amazing, consistent, and uniform color in all the French fries is not the result of the cooking talents of the chefs at McDonald’s. Instead, an ingredient regulates the coloring of the French fries. The chemical industry that manufactures this ingredient enlists this product as dangerous for consumption, and yet, McDonald’s continues to use it for the very same purpose.
5. Citric Acid
This is used as a preservative, and is surprisingly one of the least harmful substances used in the “Happy Meal”.
6. Dimethylpolysiloxane
Though this ingredient acts as an anti-foaming agent in the food, it is actually an industrial chemical used in a construction process called “caulking”, and for sealing structures. Clearly, something that belongs in a carpenter’s or plumber’s toolbox, and nowhere in your body.
7. Vegetable Oil For Frying
This includes seven other ingredients including canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), citric acid, and dimethylpolysiloxane. Most of the ingredients have already been talked about above, and corn oil, just like all the oils used in McDonald’s, comes from genetically engineered corn plants.
8. TBHQ
Tertiary Butylhydroquinone, a food additive, is a petroleum-based compound. I repeat, petroleum. In studies conducted on this substance, it was found that the repeated consumption of this ingredient led to tumors, visionary disruption, convulsions, liver enlargement, ADHD, and paralysis.
So, the next time you want to uplift your mood with cheese-dipped McDonald French fries, or bring a smile on your little munchkin’s face with a happy meal, you might want to give it another thought. Just saying!
