McDonald’s Going Natural

In a shocking move, the fast-food giant McDonald’s has updated the ingredients for its seven classic burgers to include no artificial preservatives, no artificial flavors and no added colors from artificial sources. It’s not clear if this means that there is no artificial ingredients at all, but this is certainly a great step in the American diet.

From the press release:

Since 2016, McDonald’s has more than tripled the number of burgers and sandwiches* on its national menu** that contain no artificial preservatives, no artificial flavors and no added colors from artificial sources. Our pickle contains an artificial preservative, so skip it if you like. To achieve this change, artificial preservatives were removed from our real American Cheese, Big Mac Special Sauce®, the regular Bun, Quarter-Pounder Bun and Big Mac Bun.

Real American Cheese

The American cheese on all of our classic burgers is made with a blend of real cheese, including Cheddar and Colby, and other ingredients including salt, cream and color, but never oil, starch or fillers. Our American Cheese is made with no added colors from artificial sources and now no sorbic acid, an artificial preservative.

Big Mac Special Sauce

We’ve simplified the Big Mac Special Sauce ingredients without sacrificing that signature taste—by removing artificial preservatives including potassium sorbate, sodium benzoate and calcium disodium EDTA.

The Buns

We removed calcium propionate, an artificial preservative, from our regular, Quarter Pounder and Big Mac buns. The buns on our classic burgers are toasted and have no artificial flavors or added colors from artificial sources, and now also have no artificial preservatives.

The Beef

All of our beef patties are made from 100 percent pure beef—that means no additives, preservatives or fillers—and seasoned with only a pinch of salt and pepper. Earlier in 2018, we took things a step further: the beef patties on our quarter-pound burgers are made from 100 percent fresh beef and cooked when ordered in a majority of our US restaurants, every time.

Evidently, the pickle still has an artificial preservative. Not sure out of all the ingredients that a pickle should need the artificial stuff still, but there you have it.

Next thing you know, they’ll be introducing gluten-gree buns and you can have a respectable paleo meal . . . at McDonald’s! Just don’t eat the fries. Ever.