In this issue
On PotatoPro:
Subscribe and we will inform you of the latest news, Products
and Events for the Potato Processing Industry. Subscription
is Free of Charge.
Subscribe by email.
Subscribe to our RSS feed
|
A few weeks ago I read
McDonald’s press release on the visit of Moms to a
Lamb Weston facility to see how MacFries are produced. I
figured a PotatoPro Newsletter on this iconic potato
product, the MacFries, was long overdue.
 So
here it is, a PotatoPro Newsletter on "McDonald's World
Famous Fries" or MacFries as I will keep calling them
in short. Yes, as far as I could figure out they were called MacFries, not McFries,
even though Google gives more than twice as much hits on McFries than MacFries.
So I got to work to collect some bits and pieces that are
out there in cyberspace on MacFries, with focus on what
McDonald’s tells us about their French fries. Thought that
wouldn’t be so hard.
I guess I was wrong…
First of all, MacFries differ from country to country.
You can see that for example if you are looking at the nutritional information that
McDonald’s publishes for each country. So here is our first tip: If you are
looking for nutritional information, make sure you are
looking at the information for your specific country. There
are differences in portion size, oil type, salt content and
even in protein and fiber content (?!). I checked the
Nutritional information for the Netherlands, Ireland, United
Kingdom, Canada and USA, see the table
below. Some noticeable differences between those 5
countries: Canada has the largest LARGE portion, The
Netherlands has the highest salt content, Ireland has
the healthiest oil composition and the lowest salt content.
Another reason it was hard to create this overview: the
nutritional information is being updated...
Nutritional information McDonald's MacFries in select
countries (S=small; M= Medium, L= Large)
|
|
Netherlands |
Ireland |
United
Kingdom |
Canada |
United
States |
| |
S |
M |
L |
S |
M |
L |
S |
M |
L |
S |
M |
L |
S |
M |
L |
| g |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
71 |
113 |
177 |
71 |
117 |
154 |
| kcal |
235 |
340 |
470 |
225 |
325 |
455 |
230 |
330 |
460 |
220 |
360 |
560 |
230 |
380 |
500 |
| Carbohydrates (g) |
29 |
42 |
59 |
28 |
40 |
56 |
30 |
42 |
60 |
30 |
47 |
74 |
29 |
48 |
63 |
| Sugars (g) |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Protein (g) |
3 |
5 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
3 |
4 |
6 |
| Fibre (g) |
2 |
4 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
7 |
3 |
4 |
6 |
3 |
4 |
6 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
| Fat (g) |
12 |
17 |
23 |
11 |
16 |
23 |
11 |
16 |
23 |
11 |
17 |
27 |
11 |
19 |
25 |
| Saturated fats (g) |
2 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1.5 |
2 |
3.5 |
1.5 |
2.5 |
3.5 |
| Trans fats (g) |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
0 |
0.2 |
0.3 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Salt (mg Sodium) |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
na |
170 |
270 |
430 |
160 |
270 |
350 |
| Salt (g) |
0.9 |
1.3 |
1.8 |
0.4 |
0.5 |
0.7 |
0.4 |
0.6 |
0.9 |
0.425 |
0.675 |
1.075 |
0.4 |
0.675 |
0.875 |
Nutritional information for other European countries:
www.mcdonaldsmenu.info. Note that the Canadian nutrition declaration
lists an amount for trans fats, but the listed amounts are well within the
limits of what in most countries would qualify as trans fat free (<2% of fat).
We found two different sets of nutritional information for Ireland.
History of
the McDonald's French Fries(source McDonald's)
1955 – Mid 1960s:
The first McDonald’s
French Fries were made from fresh potatoes in
restaurants, with employees peeling, cutting,
washing, blanching in oil, and conditioning the
potatoes before finishing frying them. The first
cooking oil was an animal-based shortening and the
blend specific to McDonald’s.
Early – Mid 1960s:
McDonald’s Food
Scientist Ken Strong and Food Researcher Edwin
Traisman patented the McDonald’s frozen French Fry
process which enabled McDonald’s potato suppliers to
obtain the same great taste, color and texture
characteristics that came from in-store preparation
with more consistency.
Early – Mid 1970s:
McDonald’s potato
supplier partners perfected French Fry production
with new technologies like the steam peeler, cutting
systems, and Automatic Defect Removal equipment,
enhancing quality and efficiency.
2008:
McDonald’s System completed
transition to the new 0-gram TFA canola blend
cooking oil.
More on
McDonald's French Fries (pdf-file)
Reviewing all information, it is clear that McDonald’s wants us
to know a lot about how their products are made.
Especially they want us to know how much effort they put
into making sure their products are of high quality. And
that sure includes the French fries.
The first McDonald's restaurants prepared their french
fries in their restaurants from potatoes, but that is
history (see "History of the McDonald's French Fries") and
now of course good business for the potato processing
companies that supply the MacFries. Several McDonald's
websites mention the local MacFries suppliers. In North
America, McDonald's French Fry suppliers are
Lamb Weston,
McCain Foods and
J.R. Simplot.
Potato varieties that are used for Macfries include Russet Burbank, Shepody,
Pentland Dell. McDonald's expresses its commitment to
sustainable farming practices and the environment and has a
special working group (MAAP, McDonald's Agricultural
Assurance Programme) for this purpose in Europe.
In summary and in McDonald's own words: "McDonald's works
closely with all of its potato suppliers to ensure stringent
food quality and safety standards are followed delivering
high-quality potato products in our restaurants, everyday"
More on McDonald's
Enjoy reading,
Paul van Eijck
The auction of the Kiremko potato processing line for
pasteurized potato products that we prominently advertised
on PotatoPro and was also
featured in a special PotatoPro Newsletter has
been successfully sold in bulk! Hence the auction is
cancelled.
More Events...
SunChips case study: re-branding a product with greener
credentials
 This report
on SunChips forms part of Datamonitor's case studies series,
which explores business practices across a variety of
disciplines and business sectors. It focuses on how
Frito-Lay intends to target mainstream and green consumers
with the brand's new environmentally focused proposition.
Read more...
More Market
Research Reports
 Income
stabilisation in European agriculture
International trade agreements and reforms of the European Common
Agricultural Policy increase the importance of agricultural
risk management as a means to stabilise farm incomes. 'Income
stabilisation in European agriculture' addresses farm income
and risk management issues from various perspectives.
Read more...
More
Books
USDA french fry color card
 The standard colour card
that is used world wide for the evaluation of french fries is
the USDA french fry colour card
Read
more...
More
products
French Fries and Potato Specialties
More News on French Fries and Potato Specialties
Chips and Snacks
More
News on Chips and Snacks
Potato Starch
More news
on Potato Starch
Other Potato Products
More Other News
Ingredients for Potato Processing
More News on Ingredients for Potato Processing
Processing Equipment
More
News on Processing Equipment
Potato Supply Chain
More News on Potato Supply Chain
QSR Restaurants
More News
on QSR Restaurants
Health and Nutrition
More
News on Health and Nutrition
Energy and Environment
More News on Energy and Environment
Food Trends
More News on
Food Trends
|
Tri-Sum Potato chips |
United States |
| Tri-Sum
Potato chips claims to be the oldest potato chip
manufacturer in the United States. |
|
|
|
Mahnomen Baked Chips LLC |
United States |
| Mahnomen
Baked Chips LLC is currenly building a factory in
Mahnomen for the production of baked stackable
potato chips. |
|
|
|
Hoff Norske PotetIndustrier |
Norway |
HOFF
Norske Potetindustrier is a Norwegian agricultural
cooperative processing and distributing potatoes and
potato products. The company is owned by 4,000
farmers and has plants in Inderøy (Sundnes Brenneri),
Gjøvik, Brummundal, Skjetten, Stange (Atlungstad
Brenneri) and Klepp. The company processes one third
of the potato produce in the country.
The main producs are frozen, fresh and canned
potatoes, including french fries, potato flour and
potato chips. |
|
|
|
