McDonald's Picks A Trans-Fat-Free Oil

After 7 Years Of Testing, Company Chooses Canola-Based Oil For French Fries

(AP)  McDonald's Corp. has finally selected a new trans-fat-free oil for cooking its famous french fries after years of testing, the fast-food chain said Monday.

While it has developed a healthier new oil, the company is still not saying when it will be used in all 13,700 U.S. restaurants. It already trails competitors in committing to a zero-trans fat oil.

Spokesman Walt Riker said the oil is currently in more than 1,200 U.S. restaurants after extensive testing, but declined to provide details on timing or locations.

"We can confirm that we've got the right oil," he said. "We're phasing it in."

The choice of a new oil comes as McDonald's and others face a July 1 deadline to begin complying with an ordinance passed by New York City last month making it the first U.S. city to ban all restaurants from using artificial trans fats.

Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald's has said for months it would comply with such a ban, and said it would introduce any new oil nationwide rather than have a separate oil for its New York restaurants. But it had not confirmed that testing was complete.

Riker said the new oil is canola-based and includes corn and soy oils.

Addressing long-held concerns that changing the oil could jeopardize the popular taste of its fries, he said: "We're very confident in our test and taste results. ... We're very confident in what we're hearing back from our customers."

The Chicago Tribune, which first reported McDonald's decision on a new oil Sunday, said the company has tested 18 varieties of oil in more than 50 blends during the last seven years.

McDonald's had been under pressure for moving more slowly than smaller rivals Wendy's International Inc. and Yum Brands Inc.'s KFC and Taco Bell to rid its oil of the artery-clogging trans fats.

A public health advocate who has criticized McDonald's fries as nutritionally "disastrous" applauded its move toward a new oil.

"So many people eat there that making this change can really provide a significant benefit to the public's health," said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. "It also reconfirms with the restaurant industry that trans fat is a real problem and now even the biggest chain is beginning to deal with it. Hopefully now the smaller chains and mom-and-pops will also get rid of it."

The $22 billion company was especially cautious after reneging within months on a September 2002 pledge to introduce a new oil, citing concerns about changing the taste of its fries.

"It's just taking a little bit of time because as we move forward we don't want to jeopardize the iconic nature of the french fry, which as you know is so very important to our brand," Chief Executive Jim Skinner told an investor conference in New York two months ago.

The company uses a healthier oil blend in some countries overseas but says regional differences in agricultural production require development of different blends.

McDonald's has not identified the test markets the latest oil was used in. Riker denied that Phoenix was among them, as the Tribune report said.

Shares in the company rose 30 cents to close at $43.23 on the New York Stock Exchange.

[olebd]

ngd1979 - I like Arby's but if it makes me irritable like you, I may have to stop eating there.

I think most of the industry has realized the fast food is not healthy....thus we now at least have more choices in the way of salads or sandwiches.

I don't use salt that much at home....too much takes away from what you're supposed to be tasting. If people want salt, they can get it as a condiment.

[legendary240]

remember when you had to get up and twist a k-n-o-b? I didn't know that was an objectionable word? Gee w-h-i-z!

[legendary240]

Not quite true. Actually, the things that make us fatties are #1 Remote Controls - remember when you had to get up and twist a ***? #2 Recliners - you ain't gettin' me out of it if I get in it before you. #3 Internet - here we all are sitting here growing fresh flab from our breakfast that we aren't burning. Feel your skin stretching as you read this? The closed curtains are essential so no one can look in and see our rotund gut and quaking butts when we walk across the living room in our XXXXL underwear!

[ndg1979]

So your convinced that fast food is making you fat, huh? Uh, here is a revelation for you degenerate in-breds. Would you believe the 3 biggest causes of obesity are actually in your home? They are your TV, your coffee table and get this, your curtains!!

How you may ask? If you are watching TV and eating, you are not using energy (or EXERCISING for the dumber people). If you have a coffee table and keep snacks like pretzels on it, you will be more inclined to eat them while watching TV. And finally, if it is dark because the curtains are drawn, open them. Studies show that sunlight makes you more active, thereby reducing your hunger pains and helping you to lose weight.

So stop blaming fast food *ssh*les!!!! Get up off your fat behinds and get on the treadmill, walk around the mall, better your community, do something, anything - JUST DO ANYTHING BESIDES SIT IN FRONT OF THE TV AND GET FAT!!!!!

By the way, the above info came from a University of Arizona study and is also available at tesh.com.

[ndg1979]

It has been amazing over the last several years to listen and read people's comments to the fast food industry and their use of oil. Sure, trans-fat isn't healthy, but something IS being done about it. Now that the oil problem has been dealt with, you have to find something else to complain about - SALT! How lame!!

I manage an Arby's restaurant and little known to the public, since the in-bred media fails to do its homework, Arby's will have trans-fat oil in use in every one of its stores before summer. By the way, Arby's, unlike McDonald's, does not use salt on its fries, though salt is present in other foods.

Everyone keeps saying fast-food has to offer more nutritional value. Guess What? I'M NOT EATING FAST-FOOD FOR NUTRITIONAL VALUE!! I'm eating it because it tastes good. I can assure you that should any one of you Atkin's loving slobs ever show up in my store and ask for a sandwich (then say - "Can you Atkins that for me?), I'm going to hold up two fries in the shape of a cross in front of your face!!!!

Now it is time to complain about something that can really affect your life - like human stupidity!!!! Here is my advice - don't be stupid - eat fast-food but not for 3 meals every day!! AND EXERCISE FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!!!

[legendary240]

They could have a commercial where Ronald, the Grimace and the Hamburglar are all fighting over the bathroom. Ronald wins and the the other guys have to hit the woods - "robble, robble"

[legendary240]

Why don't they just use mineral oil so their lame-O food will just blow through you like a hurricane and spare you all the gas, belching and fat around the hips?

[olebd]

Not 1950 but 1955 was when Ray Kroc started the first one in IL.

The way it started had somthing to do with the mixer they used to make their milkshakes.

Google McDonalds history, I'm sure it's there.

[oleander8]

They weren't around in 1950.

[olebd]

I'd like to taste a 1950's McDonalds hamburger next to a modern day one. I bet the 1950's burger would win the taste test.