This certainly is a pickle.
A TikToker who claims to know McDonald’s juiciest “secrets” has delivered a shocking allegation online: McDonald’s “world-famous fries” are far from vegetarian-friendly.
Pointing to the “natural beef flavor” listed as an ingredient on the company’s online US menu, TikToker Jordan Howlett, 26, said he knows “why McDonald’s fries taste different from everybody else’s fries.”
“It’s because McDonald’s cooks their fries with beef flavoring mixed within their vegetable oil,” the San Diego-based content creator explains in a TikTok posted last week that’s served up 9.6 million views.
It’s “why the fries taste so good,” he added, but it’s “probably bad news for vegetarians.”
He told The Post that when he found out about the beef flavoring, he “thought it was incredibly interesting.”
“I figured it’s information that people with dietary issues might want to know,” he continued. “Whether it contains meat or not doesn’t really change my view on the McDonald’s fries. I still enjoy them.”
The Post has reached out to McDonald’s for comment.
On its website, McDonald’s explains that when its “suppliers partially fry our cut potatoes, they use an oil blend that contains beef flavoring.”
“Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients,” the company notes on its site. In hydrolysis, water breaks chemical bonds.
But Eater reported in 2015 that “natural beef flavoring” isn’t necessarily from beef at all.
“A long time ago the food industry looked at the price of beef and said, ‘If we want to put that in ramen noodles or gravy, we can’t be extracting flavor and throwing away the beef — it’s too expensive,’” food chemist Gary Reineccius told the outlet. “So they needed to find a way to make the flavors that didn’t start with meat products.”
Reineccius explained that “natural beef flavoring” is made with amino acids, some common sugars, citric acid and some additives for moisture.
When heated, “we have meat flavor” that may actually be vegetarian.
The beef flavoring has not always been a staple of the golden brown fries in the US.
Before the 1990s, the crispy side dish was cooked in a vat of cottonseed oil and beef tallow, or fat, which gave the potatoes their decadent flavor and loaded them with saturated fat.
In 1990, after controversy, the fast food chain made the switch to pure vegetable oil, but patrons longed for the same meaty taste.
To appease both camps, the “natural flavoring” was born.
It wasn’t until 2001 that vegetarian and Hindu plaintiffs, who don’t eat beef for religious reasons, sued the fast food giant for failing to name the meat additive.
“They say billions and billions served. I say billions and billions deceived,” attorney Harish Bharti told ABC News at the time.
Following the legal drama — which McDonald’s settled, to the tune of $10 million — the restaurant added the beef qualifier to the ingredients list.
The UK version of McDonald’s fries are listed as vegetarian on the company’s site, which makes no mention of beef.
Meanwhile, Howlett’s TikTok series, dubbed “fast food secrets,” stems from a college club he joined of the same name.
He told The Post that he “thought it would be a fun topic of discussion to bring to viewers” online.
With over 9 million followers on the app, his insight isn’t just reserved for the golden arches — he also dishes the skinny on Chick-fil-A, Wendy’s and Five Guys.
But it’s his latest intel that isn’t sitting well with viewers.
In the comments, baffled viewers lamented the beef flavoring, while others poked fun at the plant-based people who have been indulging in the chain’s fries for years.
“*Cries in vegetarian,*” wrote one upset user.
“Wait … whaaaaaaaat!? I’m vegan and all I can eat from McDonald’s are fries,” groaned another.
Not everyone has been left with a sour taste in their mouth, however.
“My Hindu vegetarian parents found this out and continued — life is short, enjoy the fries,” advised one TikToker.