Former McDonald’s corporate Chef Mike Haracz (@chefmikeharacz) is making quite the TikTok career sharing details of what it was like working for the Golden Arches. He’s talked about purported pesticides on potatoes used on the brand’s french fries, the best ways to get fresh fries, and how to order burgers with steamed buns.
Haracz recently addressed a question about what McDonald’s burger patties contain, and while he has voiced his displeasure with McDonald’s not making its “McBrunch” burger official, he vehemently defended the franchise’s patties.
@chefmikeharacz Replying to @whoopty28 Former #McDonalds corporate chef talks about whats in their burger patties. #mcdonaldssecrets #mcdonaldssecret #mcdonaldsmeat #mcdonaldsmeats #mcdonaldsburger #mcdonaldsburgers #McDonaldsmenu #mcdonaldslife #FastFood #FastFoodSecrets #fastfoodlife #BigMac #QuarterPounder #McDouble #DoubleCheeseburger #Hamburger #Cheeseburger #mcdonaldscheeseburger ♬ original sound – Chef Mike Haracz
“I’m a former McDonald’s corporate chef and I’m about to tell everyone what is in the McDonald’s beef that they use at the restaurants all right?” he says. “It’s a big old secret, but I’ve been in the facilities where they make the meat patties, OK, so I do know all of the things that go into the burger patties. So here’s the secret: it’s just beef.”
Haracz says McDonald’s only uses beef without any filler and that the meat is purchased from local markets before it is sent to a processing plant. The chef says he’s personally seen the chain’s meat operation and remarks that it doesn’t contain any fillers or additives whatsoever.
“It is 100% beef,” he reiterates. “They buy beef on the open market so you can buy big old totes of either lean 10s, 20s, 30s, 40s, whatever it is which is a lean to fat ratio, the manufacturing partners and suppliers of McDonald’s process the meat, they grind it in a certain way, they patty it in a certain way, you know it’s a certain grind size, a certain amount of pressure to form the patties.”
He also says that the processing of its “10 to one” patties, the ones used for hamburgers, cheeseburgers, McDoubles, and Big Macs, are frozen and shipped out to restaurants, but that the patties used for Quarter pounders are refrigerated.
“They’re packed in a certain manner,” he says. “I believe they are gas flushed as well, to give them a little extra refrigerated shelf life, and then those are sent to the restaurants so it is just beef there is nothing else.”
Haracz also speaks to customers’ claims that McDonald’s patties are laden with strange seasoning, saying, “It’s just salt and pepper. There are no other seasonings added afterward. So if you think it tastes weird you taste filler, you think the seasoning is weird, you’re wrong, it’s just beef, and it’s just salt and pepper.”
Some commenters were shocked to learn that quarter-pounder patties have never been frozen, and Haracz added in the comments section that he knows for certain in the United States that they never are. This appears to be supported by McDonald’s website’s “fresh beef” page where it discusses the merits of its Quarter Pounder patty sandwich offerings.
“The quarter pound of 100% fresh beef that’s cooked when you order….We serve our 100% fresh beef patties on a variety of burgers,” it states. “Enjoy the mouthwatering fresh flavor on our classic Quarter Pounder® with Cheese.”
Another user remarked that the “strange” taste people say they experience eating Mickey D’s burgers isn’t from the patties themselves, but the buns folks are chomping down on.
“It’s not the beef guys. It’s the bread,” they wrote. “The buns are sweetened.”
The restaurant addresses its bun sweetness online, where it admits that there is sugar in its bread and shares the approximate amount in each bun.
The Daily Dot has reached out to McDonald’s and Chef Mike Haracz via email for further comment.