While Wendy’s, Taco Bell and KFC each has announced a switch to new cooking oils free of heart-clogging trans fats, McDonald’s stood by.
Until now. After testing 18 varieties of oil in more than 50 blends during the last seven years, McDonald’s told the Tribune last week that it finally struck gold. It found a suitable trans-fat-free oil that won’t change the taste or texture of its top-selling menu item: french fries.
Already, McDonald’s says it is supplying about 1,200 of its American restaurants with the new oil after starting to secretly test it last summer.
By early 2008 in the U.S., the golden arches plans to be cooking all its fries as well as chicken nuggets and other fried items in the vegetable oil blend that doesn’t have the same unhealthful effects as trans fat.
McDonald’s decision to jettison trans fats represents a late but significant move. As obesity rates have risen, the fast-food industry has come under pressure from health and nutrition advocates, consumers and governments to change its menu offerings. McDonald’s being the largest and best-known purveyor of burgers and fries, it has taken the most heat.
After an embarrassing retreat from a 2002 announcement that it soon would eliminate trans fats from menu items, McDonald’s used the time in a methodical and deliberate search for a new oil. The hamburger giant feared a quick solution that tampered with the taste of the fries could have catastrophic consequences for the chain.
“We don’t want to jeopardize the iconic nature of the french fry, which is so important to our brand,” Jim Skinner, McDonald’s chief executive, said at a recent investor conference. “Yet we have a responsibility to serve the best french fry … that balances between value and nutrition.”
McDonald’s executives, citing customer reaction in test markets, say fries cooked in the new oil remain true to their traditional taste, appearance, texture and aftertaste.
“Our customers don’t want better,” said Barbara Booth, director of the sensory science laboratory for McDonald’s. “They want the same.”
Booth said she believes the fries prepared in the new oil taste the same as the ones that have been sold by the chain since it opened its first hamburger stand in 1955 in Des Plaines.
A few of the company’s executives aren’t so sure. But Kevin Cook, senior vice president for U.S. restaurant systems, says he accepts the reaction from customers who have tried the new fry at 1,200 restaurants using the oil on a daily basis.
Field tests of the oil have been ongoing in several markets, including Phoenix, since last summer. In feedback sessions, customers repeatedly have told McDonald’s that they can’t discern a difference, Cook said.
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Fry facts
– McDonald’s first started looking at a trans-fat-free oil in 1999.
– The new oil, a blend of canola and soybean, not only produced a “slightly crisp,” “light golden brown fry” after frying for exactly 3 minutes and 10 seconds, it gave the fry “a fresh baked potato” texture.
– It is only the fourth oil McDonald’s has allowed to touch its fries in its more than 50-year history.
— Tribune
