It’s a McMystery.
A former McDonald’s corporate chef is addressing customer speculation that the fast-food titan — which has come under heavy fire for price raises resulting in $18 Big Mac meals — has also served shrunken-down Quarter Pounders.
“Is the Quarter Pounder still a Quarter Pounder?” Mike Haracz questions in a TikTok clip seen 40,000 times.
“So there’s like four main things that they could do to make it more affordable with the loophole of it needs to be a quarter pound before cooking.”
The first strategy Haracz discussed is one he feels is less than likely — mixing frozen beef into fresh patties.
“But I think McDonald’s markets their Quarter Pounders, at least in the United States, that it is never frozen,” he said.
“I am not sure if there are loopholes where a certain percent of frozen meat can be added. That is something you’re going to have to find out for yourself.”
Another potential way for McShrinkage would be by modifying the burgers’ lean-to-fat ratio, the former chef opined.
“They could adjust the lean to fat ratio. If the fatty beef portions are cheaper than the lean portions, then they can actually make, a fattier beef patty still hitting the appropriate weights,” Haracz said.
“But when you cook it, more of that fat is released and you might have a smaller looking patty.”
Another potential maneuver involves modifying the analytics within manufacturing settings. Using the example of a standard burger’s meat being allotted 4 to 4.25 ounces, Haracz said that can easily be clamped down.
“If you tighten that specification range to 4 to 4.15, ounces of meat or whatever you want to change it to, there will be less burger patties that go out on the heavier end,” he mentioned. “And because of how many of burgers McDonald’s sells, the volume, that can save them a lot of money.”
Lastly, McDonald’s could simply “adjust the shelf life with fresh beef.”
This can be done in many ways, he said, including the process of gas flushing, which is when elements like nitrogen may be added or taken away from packaged meat to increase its preservation.
“If you want it to be cheaper, you figure out how to make that shelf life as long as it could, as long as it can be.”
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