Updated at 1:12 p.m. Sept. 26, 2018, after a phone interview with McDonald's senior director for nutrition.
McDonald's just announced that its 14,000 restaurants in the United States will begin serving burgers and sandwiches that have no artificial flavors and no artificial preservatives.
To do that, the fast-food chain removed artificial preservatives from its cheese, buns and Big Mac Special Sauce, according to a news release.
But, note: "The pickle contains an artificial preservative," the statement says, "and customers are able to skip it if they prefer."
The change goes into effect now and includes all 300 or so McDonald's in Dallas-Fort Worth, says a spokesman. Cindy Goody, McDonald's senior director for nutrition, calls it a "major milestone for McDonald's on its food journey."
The shift is part of many fast-food companies' ongoing efforts to provide cleaner food to customers, who are more educated about where their food is sourced and what it's made of. McDonald's has already removed artificial preservatives from Chicken McNuggets and wants to move to cage-free eggs by 2025, Chris Kempczinski, McDonald's USA president, says in a statement. By 2020, the company also endeavors to source "a portion of its beef" from suppliers who support sustainability programs in line with Global Roundtable for Sustainable Beef guidelines.
Earlier this year, McDonald's announced it would remove cheese from its Happy Meal burgers — a move we opined was decidedly unhappy. It recently launched a fresh beef initiative, saying quarter-pounders would be "prepared when ordered."
Goody explains how artificial preservatives were removed from the buns, cheese and sauce: For the buns, the artificial preservatives were replaced with "a bit of vinegar." For the cheese and Big Mac Special Sauce, the company removed the artificial preservatives and did not put anything back in its place. The cheese now has naturally occurring beta carotine in it instead of artificial.
And how will these changes affect the taste of a burger?
"Customers have told us that they have not experienced any difference in either the taste or the quality," Goody says by phone.
