Oh, Canada, why are you getting all the interesting interaction from McDonald’s and we’re not? McDonald’s in Canada is making waves with their new “Our Food. Your Questions” campaign. Real customers are getting their tough questions answered about the restaurant’s food. Even the tough questions are being answered in very in depth ways.
I came across this campaign after hearing that a McDonald’s executive chef revealed the recipe of the Big Mac’s secret sauce through a YouTube video. The video exists on the Canadian McDonald’s YouTube channel along with some other very revealing videos. Most are simply extended responses to questions asked at the “Your Questions. Our Food.” website, only hosted in Canada.
At the site customers asked questions like, “when you say 100% beef, do you mean the whole cow: the organs, snout, brain, kidneys, etc. etc., or just the plain beef we buy at the grocer?” Or, “Does your Egg McMuffin use real eggs? They look too perfect.”
The answers, provided via video are:
“We wouldn’t call it plain beef, but it sure is beef. We only use meat cut from the shoulder, chuck, brisket, rib eye, loin and round. In fact, our beef supplier is Cargill, a name you might recognize. They’re the biggest supplier of beef in Canada,” and “The short answer is yes! Every Egg McMuffin sandwich is made with a freshly-cracked, Canada Grade A Large egg,” respectively.
Some of these hard hitting questions get more than just a response, they get a live answer. For example, the special sauce video was a response to a question asked on the site. But the campaign is going much further than that. Customer Sheri N. asked, “Is the thing about the Chicken McNuggets true? They are made from a processed pink sludge of meat and bones ground up with chemicals?”
As a response, Nicole Zeni, Senior Manager of New Foods and Packaging Solutions of McDonald’s Canada, picked up Sheri N. and answered her question in person. Together the two women ordered several cooked and frozen Chicken McNuggets from multiple restaurants and took them to a lab. Sheri was taken through the testing process and told how the nuggets would be checked for bone particles and even dyes among other indicators that would imply mechanically separated sludge. This is all included in another YouTube video from the Canadian channel. The last few minutes of the video takes place weeks later as the lab tech explains to Sheri the test results. In a nutshell, all tests stated that the nuggets contained chicken breast meat and nothing that implied the rumored sludge or slime mentioned in the news. I think my jaw dropped open at that point. Really?
The channel contains several more videos and the site is full of great questions with some pretty good answers. The site says they’re doing this because they are proud of their food and they want Canadians to know more about it. Not that this info will change my overall opinion of McDonald’s, but what a bold move by the Canadian company, the type of move I can get behind. If they’ve got nothing to hide, why not let us see? Granted, I know the info may be swayed, but the concept is genius. If fast-food haters and skeptics like me can start to question our firm-held beliefs that McDonald’s is enemy number one, well, I suppose anything is possible. Well, in Canada, that is.
Also Read:
McDonald’s Chief Chef Sees “Nothing Unhealthy” with Their Menu
What do a McRib and Your Yoga Mat Have in Common?
Recipe: Healthy Homemade Big Mac