McDonalds burger app gives it to you straight from the horse's mouth As Britain spits out its dinner in disgust after admissions that “beef” burgers sold in some UK supermarkets contain horse DNA, down under in Australia punters can relax because there's now an app for that. Or rather for proving that there's no horse cantering about beneath the golden arches. Stung by criticism it is a …
It may not be the waitrose braised beef that you lot are used to, but an occasional Maccy Ds is like listening to cheesy pop.
You know you shouldn't, and that no good can come of it, but it feels right for a short while :)
(Of course in itself should be an occasional treat, and should not lead to, as I observed one parent, a McFlurry being offered as a reward for eating a happy meal!)
"You know you shouldn't, and that no good can come of it, but it feels right for a short while :)"
You reminded me of an old joke I remember from my high school days:
Q: Why is jerking off like going to McDonalds?
A: Because it's always the same and afterwards you always say you'll never do it again.
Ok, ok, I'm going...
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"It's not McDonalds that microwave their burgers. Burger King do however."
I don't know why you got downvoted for that. I have been to a service station Burger King, and the staff literally did microwave my already-cooked burger. They then proceeded to charge me the best part of £8 for it (along with some cold chips and watered down Fanta). Soggy isn't an adequate word for the mush I got in that box. Needless to say, sandwiches have been packed on every long journey since then.
I used to work for a company that supplied the meat to McDonalds. It's composed of two grades; 75VL & 85VL (VL = "Visually Lean")
This meat was all from the forequarter of the beef animal; flank, clod, shin. These are the cheaper cuts of meat as people prefer the hindquarters, but it is still very good meat (I really like a nice piece of brisket). All of the farms where the animals were raised had to reach really high standards; and they keep an astonishing amount of data on them. They are able to track each of the animals back through their ancestry for many generations; they know what they have been fed and what medical treatment they have received and this information is kept for years.
They take the two grades of meat and then mix them together in what is effectively a giant mincer to produce an homogenised product; so each burger should taste the same. BTW, the flavour comes from the fat, not from the flesh. Personally, I would rather eat the meat before they mash it all up; along with some vegetables and gravy. But that's just my personal preference.
(BTW, I'm not the one that downnvoted you; I do have a sense of humour; warped perhaps, but I don't see why you should be downvoted for making a joke)
The Irish live beef market is very well regulated. A farmer I know had one of his cattle crushed by another in the shed whilst they are in during the winter. They kept the animal separate for a little while but he deteriorated and was dead after a few days. I figured he'd be able to sell him for beef. Nope. He had to pay the vet to produce a cert and pay a fee for a registered disposal of the carcass. So a fairly large investment lost. Technically there was nothing wrong with the animal but they have to be able to walk into the abattoir to their own death......
Back in the 80`s, I recall seeing a cow stumbling and falling about in the yard of a local farm. The farmer just killed it and sent it into the food chain. I remember him saying that a few of his cows behaved like this and he had no idea why and presumed it had got brain or nerve damage from falling or fighting. It was only later that we found out about bse, I bet the farmer shat himself knowing how many infected cattle he put on peoples plates. Hindsight eh.
As for Mickey d`s, Apart from the creepy paedoclown mascot and dodgy business practices, i always asumed their food was just average quality with loads of salt added to fuel the demand for shakes and cola`s.
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Really? They ship them live you know.... They don't drop them dead in the farm yard and then decide to drag 600+ kgs of dead animal up the ramp of the truck....
PS - A cow has been a mother so she makes milk. You wouldn't want to eat cow as it's as tough as old boots.
I think you might mean bullock (boy with it's ball pipes crushed) or heifer (girl that hasn't had a calf)....
Rem that Boddington's advert from years back? It was a cow (girl) with udders, drinking pints talking like a bloke. Someone didn't do their homework as how many blokes have mammary glands......?
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"Really? They ship them live you know.... They don't drop them dead in the farm yard and then decide to drag 600+ kgs of dead animal up the ramp of the truck...."
If your refering to my stumbling cow , the farmer sometimes supplied meat to the local community directly, he slaughtered onsite (not in the farmyard mind, he had a nice shed for the purpose) and offloaded it to locals by word of mouth in the pub or the farmers market etc.
hmm, 3 thoughts spring to mind, 1) is it even legal to do that? 2) Did he sell to the locals because he knew the slaughterhouse wouldnt take an obviously sick animal? and 3) I probably ate some of his produce back in the day, bugger.
Agree with Magister. Many years ago our local food standards bod revealed the quality of MacD and said it was the only big chain burgers he'd allow his kids to eat as it was quality stuff. I'd rather not eat any fast food but when hungry and in a hurry I head for MacD, not the others.
re "..I'd rather eat a kilogram of horsemeat than anything from Macdonalds.."
I totally agree so long as it as an identifiable cut of meat that hasn't been mechanically recovered and then gone through umpteen stages of processing where lots of non-meat shit like bulking agents , sugar (as a flavour enhancer) , extra salt and christ knows what else could be added.
Since ANY burgers can't meat [sic] the above criteria , I just think I'll avoid 'em.
Now where can I get a horse-steak ?
"Now where can I get a horse-steak ?"
My local supermarket has 'em. Never tried horse, but it *looks* like an okay piece of meat, once you get over the fact that the French seem to colour it a shocking red, and then proceed to show it what fire is and then tell you it is cooked...
"I want to buy horsemeat as it is tasty but I've never seen it for sale in the UK. I always bring some back with me when I go on holiday in France."
I'd like to try it, I had a zebra burger at a local agricultural show last year and that was really nice. I really don't understand why it's near impossible to get anything even slightly out of the ordinary in the uk. I have a local restaurant that has all sorts in its buffet, ostrich, crocodile, kangaroo, and everyone always enjoys them, but you can't really get it yourself.
One of my friends went to Thailand and managed to "lose" masses of his Facebook "friends" by posting that he'd tried dog and enjoyed it.
Just too few elephants in England, no problem with dogs, however. But what you eat is really much about religion not about taste. Had some dog, very upset, not by the taste but by the knowledge afterwards. "Nice" way to spoil ones dinner. Surprise your neighbors.
Trying to return to sanity, the real problem is to know how many El Reg units of antibiotics and other stuff those poor souls have had before being dumped into your stomach.
One of the things, within the EU, that worries me, is that we have some 500 additional stuff accepted to be added to even kangaroo meat, while those who are supposed to, by the EU, check if it is a good idea or not, are allowed to deal with only some 10 percent of that. And I am not joking at all. Superb lobbying by those who produce all that stuff.
And Sooty, tell your friend he did not lose masses of friend on FB as friends on FB is just an illusion.
I would be very happy if my wife finally lost all her "friends" on FB as I am totally fed up with all the birthdays.
Please Chokenberg, consider the fact that there is only some 365 days for birthdays during the whole damned year, year after year.
It depends on where you are. When we lived in NW London there was an Aussie butchers in Finchley Central that did roo and croc and stuff. Up here in Scotland there are local places that stock will ducks, pheasant, partridge, quail, rabbit etc. I got a partridge on short date from the local Sainsbury's last week, seasoned it, browned it lightly in butter, the stuck it and the butter in the oven for 15min before pouring the butter and juices over the top as a sauce. It was delicious.
In the UK at least, McDonalds burgers are one of the best quality you'll get from a standard fast food joint. All the beef is British or Irish with no fillers. Contrary to what people believe, they aren't sourcing cheap meat from Brazil either.
They also don't use Halal slaughter. Not that I'm saying they shouldn't offer a Halal option for those that want it, but I don't want it as a default for everyone.
I don't want to start sounding like a Ronald McDonald shrill, but they don't use any fillers or additives in their burgers (other than seasoning). Not even a binding agent. They bind the burgers by holding them at near freezing point before deep freezing them. Quite clever really (speaking as someone who makes homemade burgers that always fall apart).
All this information is out there. Next we'll have people posting urban legends about a friend of a friend who found a whole eyeball in their burger!
The places you do want to worry about are the cafes, restaurants and stalls who just buy the catering equivalent of the Tesco Value burger. Beef content in these can be very low and they are bulked out with crap. Next time you smell the burger van outside the DIY store, go and ask them if they can tell you the beef content of their burgers. Let alone where the beef has come from!
I've eaten horse sashimi in Japan. It was delicious. Of course, I had no idea it was horse (although I had a good idea). I took a photo of the sign sticking out of it and looked up the Kanji later on.
Japan's great for that. Half of the time you have no idea what you're eating and you end up eating stuff you'd normally avoid. And it's usually tasty.
Japanese burgers are revolting though.
...is never gonna work.
For one - Never in a million years does the meal before look you anything like the one on the posters.
Two - just because the database says "supplier of branch x beef is manufacture y" doesn't make the contents accurate. Something Tesco is only now discovering.
I'm impressed as to how close the photo burger is to the sold burger.
After seeing a photo shoot for a food spread that was going to a magazine, sure, the photo food is actually food, but it's usually not edible. Or if they are, they might not taste right.
Meats are undercooked to get the right texture on the outside, and if the shoot mandates a carved section, then that section is blow-torched to match what meat colouration you would expect on the inside.
Jelly has so much gelatin in it that it's entirely inedible - it has to be - otherwise it would never hold up with the shapes they give it.
Other foods have drastically changed recepies, because the shoot might take some time, any oils in the sauces might start showing on the surface before they're done photographing it.
That's why what you "get" isn't what you "see" in the ads.
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Calling the brand "Macca", a "Meh" button... hard to believe this is a real app. I thought McDo were rather more particular about their "brand image" (down the specifying fonts, sizes, placements, and pantone colours) than to put out something quite that informal.
Certainly, the French app doesn't refer to the brand as "McDo" despite that being what everybody seems to call it.
"But this is aimed at Australians. I my experience they tend to demand less formal wording of things, at least for text presented on software that I've worked on."
I once used an application written in Python, which was developed for the Australian market by the University of Woolamaloo. It was *incredibly* informal, though it got very confused if anyone entered their name as anything other than "Bruce".
Also, the licensing prohibited its use by non-heterosexuals, for some reason.
Here in Oz we jump in the ute, chuck a lefty down the highway, get the munchies, hang a Uie and visit Maccas for some tucker.
Geeze, ever McDonalds here uses "Maccas" in their adverts.
Horrible food though, not at all like a true Aussie burger with beetroot, egg and bacon.
Had a large 1/4 pounder-with-cheese meal + Coke Wednesday night. Was excellent, as I was in my once-a-month McDonald's mood.
Eating it every day or two is stupid. Eating it every few weeks is fine.
And I'm partial to dine at the OXO or occasional 'poncy' restaurant too. Enjoy all parts of the spectrum I say.
It used to be the case that when a restaurant first opened the quality, portions etc. where great for at least a month until they had obtained a good customer base.
When McD first came to the UK there was a lot of publicity about it and so I went for a meal there.
It was crap, even a Wimpy bar was better.
In the last 30 odd years I have eaten maybe ten times in a McD, but only when stranded in some god forsaken town where everything else was closed.
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Pipped to the post with that joke!
I went to the cafe, told the waitress I was so hungry I could eat a horse. They rustled up a cheeseburger.
I asked them why they were still serving them, they said they'd bought a batch and were now saddled with them.
They gave me a lot of detail on the bap it was served in - the grain used, when it was baked, the temperature of the oven. Very thoroughbred.
Dropped the burger by accident, waitress said not to worry, they'd hoove'r it up later.
When I left Tesco cafe, the waitress said it was snowing out, so best dressage up warm.
Later had a dose of the trots.
Tescos profits were hit by the horsemeat scandal, but are now stable.
The problem with shopping at Tesco - I only went in for a box of burgers, and ended up spending a pony!
Enough horseplay! Looking a bit of a foal now.
Why, oh why, oh why, do they have such a problem making chocolate milkshakes? A good 90% of the time you get something that is not chocolate tasting at all and a very distinct creamy white colour. If you are lucky you can argue it with the person at the counter and they 'might' either put extra syrup in for you to mix in yourself or add more into the mix and pour a fresh one. However many a time I have just been told 'we don't do that'. I sat down with one manager once to discuss the issue and he told me it's difficult getting the mix right as if they add to much syrup it makes it bitter tasting so they err on the side of caution and make it weaker.
Strawberry, Banana and vanilla experience no such issues.
I love the occasional McD's choccy milkshake but now I hardly bother unless I can get them to add more syrup.
"Why, oh why, oh why, do they have such a problem making chocolate milkshakes? A good 90% of the time you get something that is not chocolate tasting at all and a very distinct creamy white colour"
Years ago a rumour went around locally that you should avoid the milkshakes at the local branch of a fast food restaurant due to "unwanted additives" added by disgruntled employees.
All complete rubbish of course, but your description of "a very distinct creamy white colour" suddenly reminded me!
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I was hoping this app could at least give you a picture of the cow the meat is from.
[Ford] sat down.
The waiter approached.
"Would you like to see the menu?" he said, "or would you like meet the Dish of the Day?"
"That's cool," said Zaphod, "we'll meet the meat."
A large dairy animal approached Zaphod Beeblebrox's table, a large fat meaty quadruped of the bovine type with large watery eyes, small horns and what might almost have been an ingratiating smile on its lips.
"Good evening," it lowed and sat back heavily on its haunches, "I am the main Dish of the Day. May I interest you in the parts of my body?"
McDonalds uses 100% ground beef. It's not like these Tesco burgers which are made from 60-70% + sawdust, cigarette filters and anything else used to bulk them out. (yes I gest but the point is they're not 100% beef)
That's not to say McDs are perfect by any stretch. Some of their foods contain ridiculous amounts of additives, especially their chicken patties / nuggets, shakes and burger buns.
Also, their food labeling which appears on packaging is so oblique and confusing that I cannot accept it's done by accident. Nobody arrives at the system they use which uses wavy arrows, dotted lines and hieroglyphics without knowing that it's confusing as hell and therefore obfuscates the information in plain sight.
That said I love the odd burger in McDonalds though if Burger King were cheaper and brought back the mushroom double swiss my allegiance would instantly switch. McDs would have to stick the McRib (the really sloppy original one basted in sauce) back on their menu if they expected any chance of winning me back.
In fact we tried some from the freezer the other night. Lettuce, tomato, onion, relish... all the usual dressage, slapped between two pieces of thorough bread. The other half said it was a bit chewy and hard going, but I found the going good to firm. The taste was champion. Mind you, later on I felt it coming up on the inside, but I wasn't going to take offence. It's not like it's the first time I've had a black beauty in my mouth or anything.
"As Britain spits out its dinner in disgust after admissions that “beef” burgers sold in some UK supermarkets contain horse DNA"
According to an interview this morning on R4, the Food Standards Agency came up with a novel solution, they've decided *not* to test for foreign DNA in beef. Totally unrelated, Tesco's technical director used to head the Food Standards Agency.
"diners are offered basic information about the provenance of the meat, fish, bread, pickle and lettuce before them. Reassuring biographies of providers are also on offer".
Again according to the same prog, the problem isn't the beef but the 'filler' added to give structure to the product, the provenance of which the Food Standards Agency weren't able to source.
"a beefburger rarely contains 100% beef .. An economy beefburger must contain 47% meat .. Under European law, the term "meat" is defined as "skeletal muscle with naturally included or adherent fat and connective tissue" which has not been mechanically stripped from the carcass. Any meat that has been pressure-blasted from the carcass must be listed separately as MRM (mechanically removed) or MSM (mechanically stripped) meat. MRM meat or paste can in theory be used in economy burgers but has to be listed as a separate ingredient'.
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bon appetit ...
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