Spurlock's Right!

Spurlock writes:

In the late 1980s, McDonald's took tremendous flak from vegetarians in the United States when it revealed taht the company was cooking its fries in beef tallow (lard). In 1990, it switched to vegetable oil. But the fries didn't taste as good as before, so the company quietly put a tiny amount of beef flavoring back into them. After reading about this in Eric Schlosser's book Fast Food Nation, Indians in the United States, who were of the Hindu and Jainist faiths, freaked out. Hindus revere cows as sacred and would never let beef touch their lips. Jains do not eat or wear in animal products. Here they'd been eating McDonalds fries all these years, thinking it was all right, and now they were pissed!

A Hindu in Seattle brought a class-action lawsuit against the company for having lied to its customers. McDonalds evetually settled for $12.5 million, most of which went to charities, and posted an apology on its website. (p. 72)

This website is about holding Morgan Spurlock accountable for the factual distortions in his book, TV show, and public appearances. It isn't meant to be a defense of McDonalds, or any other food corporation. Like any corporation, McDonalds makes decisions based upon what it perceives to be in its interests. And like any corporation (or individual, for that matter), there will always be the temptation to cheat.

Frankly, I don't think McDonalds ever should have stopped adding beef tallow to its fries. They don't taste nearly as good without it. The company should have made it known that there was a trace of beef in the fries, but continued to cook them the manner that made them so popular. Vegetarians could eat elsewhere, or choose something else off them menu.

Nevertheless, the company capitulated. When it then willfully lied to the public, McDonalds committed a form of fraud. I think the settlement figure was actually a little low.

Here, Spurlock's right. McDonalds misled the public, and the company was rightly held accountable.

Comments

[LAN3]

I can correct him on one thing. Properly speaking, beef tallow is also called suet, while the noun lard is usually reserved for rendered pig fat.

[JSinger]

Coming to this with a Jewish sensibility -- there's a clear difference between ritual status and FDA-level nutritional information, which is why Jews have kashrut stamps, instead of relying on ingredient lists. From that perspective, given that McDonalds publicized their ingredient switch in terms of nutrition and that they were in compliance with the law, people who relied on it for religious or ideological purposes took their chances and lost.

And even a Jewish sensibility knows that lard is pig fat...

[JS]

This website is about holding Morgan Spurlock accountable for the factual distortions in his book, TV show, and public appearances.

Really? The site reads more like a defensive McDonald's addict's diary.

[MDM]

Yes, JS - obviously with your emotional response you have totally blown away all of the research on this site - often with references to the exact studies Spurlock has been citing but drawing 'creative' conclusions from.

[latoya]

Yes, such great factual information because McDonald's has *never* taken out the "beef flavoring" from fries in America. They removed the flavoring from fries in India because there's a large proportion of the population that is vegetarian. I'm amazed at Spurlock watch's fact-finding. ha.

[lynch]

The funniest part about this is that beef tallow is actually healthier since it doesn't break down into trans fats under high temperatures.

[JS]

Yes, MDM, I am quite "emotional" right now...

[Amy Phillips]

Actually, Latoya is right, it appears that McDonalds in the US does still use some amount of beef flavoring in its fries (http://www.mcdonalds.com/app_controller.nutrition.categories.ingredients.index.html#1 ). However, the reason they taste crappy is that about 3 years ago, they changed to a different oil to reduce trans fats and saturated fats in the fries (http://money.cnn.com/2002/09/03/news/companies/mcdonalds/ ). The fries still have the same amount of fat, just different kinds.

[Dimple Bhorwal]

Hi,

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Usage: Inside children's book

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Dimple Bhorwal
Art Editor
Q2A Media - The Media Services Company
dimple.bhorwal@q2amedia.com,
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[turbo]

beef tallow is a much healthier fat than refined veggie oils. tallow is stable under high temperatures as seen during frying. vegetable oils like canola or corn oil break down and are absorbed s free radicals in the body. tallow and lard will not clog your arteries but rancid veggie oil may.