Secret beef or cutlets for McDonald's. Pink slime burgers

Probably, as long as there is fast food, so many passions boil about its harmfulness to health. “Revealing” programs have already been shown on TV more than once, more than a dozen books and thousands of articles have been written on this topic.

In turn, representatives of fast food chains are trying in every possible way to rehabilitate themselves by introducing salads, yogurts and fruits into the menu. They print calorie data and convince them of the innocence of their wonderful burgers. And lately, journalists and bloggers have been increasingly invited to production facilities, so that they can see for themselves that their buns are the best in the world, and there is nothing but 100% meat in cutlets.

This time we were invited to the Italian company MARR RUSSIA (popularly called Marusya), which produces 100% of all beef cutlets for McDonald’s restaurants in Russia.

MARR RUSSIA is an independent Italian company that supplies a huge variety of products to fast food chains, hotels and restaurants in Russia.

For McDonald's, they make absolutely all beef cutlets for Russian restaurants. And today there are about 251 of them and almost 25,000 people work in them. The farthest one is in Tyumen and all the cities to the east are not yet “Omakdacheni”.

Until recently, the largest McDonald's in the world was a restaurant on Pushkinskaya in Moscow. It now remains the largest in Europe and the most visited in the world out of 118 countries where the fast food giant has a presence. In Russia, about 900,000 people visit McDucks per day.

One of the main features of the Russian market is the absence of a franchise for opening a restaurant. All eateries are directly owned by the company. In most other countries, you can open a McDonald's franchise. In our company, the management of the company is afraid that the level of service may fall, and the quality will be difficult to control.

The central office where recipes are made is located in Munich. In Russia, McDonald’s has a huge number of suppliers who make cutlets, rolls, sauces for them at different factories, grow vegetables, etc. Sea products come from Norway, potatoes of Santana and Innovator varieties come from Poland (they supply 50,000 tons per year). All this goes to the restaurant, the ingredients are combined and ... "Free cash desk!".

Our excursion to the meat production began with the fact that the representative of the Marusya company said that taking pictures of anything is strictly prohibited. After negotiations with the director of the company, we managed to get permission to shoot, subject to their approval of all the pictures.

Security measures here are like at a nuclear facility. Everywhere people in spacesuits, the meat itself can only be viewed through bulletproof glass, under the gun of laser beams.

Before entering the production, employees remove all jewelry and put it in special mini-safes.

When you think about it, now you see a place where they produce makdachnye cutlets for the whole country, you imagine gigantic halls with dozens of running belts with thousands of semi-finished products.

In fact, everything turned out to be much more modest than imagined. Everything takes place in two main halls. There are two main installations in the first hall. One is for the production of minced meat. Meat is served on two belts: on the first - fresh, Russian-made, on the second - frozen, foreign.

The meat of our lean cows has a very low fat content (about 8%). Therefore, to the 20% fat required by the recipe for cutlets, it is brought with foreign, fatter meat. 70% is bull meat and 30% is cow meat. By the way, it is precisely because of lean meat that South Americans consider our hamburgers to be tasteless. And ours consider their hamburgers too smelly for the opposite reason :)

Frozen.

Acting along these two belts, the meat is ground and combined into a homogeneous mass in a 50/50 ratio. Here he is already waiting for the receiver of the finished minced meat.

Minced meat lines up and waits to be taken to the next machine, which will make cutlets out of it.

The main words in production are safety and quality. The temperature of the "standby" minced meat must not rise above a certain temperature. This is followed by a special person with a no less special device.

After waiting for their turn, the minced meat is loaded into a molding machine, which makes two cutlets of different thicknesses.

And… drumroll! Here they are, cutlets for all Rus'.

Despite the seeming miniaturization of production, about 1,000,000 cutlets (about 70 tons) come out of this line every day! Which fully covers the demand of all Russian fast food lovers from McDonald's. Nothing works at night, all equipment is washed and checked.

There are two metal detectors on the production line, which make sure that nothing gets into the meat.

All cutlets go through freezing and appear in the next room, where they are packed in special boxes.

Thick and thin.

Specially trained people in space suits monitor the process.

There is a lot of noise here and that's why everyone is wearing headphones with antennas. Iron machines, people in white space suits, bright red meat, antennas on the head - in general, it’s still a sight :)

Boxes for cutlets are served from a separate room.

Other machines are finally packed and sent for shipment.

And of course we looked into the laboratory, where the quality of meat is constantly checked.

In general, the process is of course incredibly simple. The meat is salted and peppered already "on the ground". According to McDonald's employees, nothing else is added to it.

By the way, they said that there is as much sugar in a bun as in a piece of cake. This is done so that a crust forms during baking and the necessary splendor appears.

If about my thoughts, then it always seemed to me and still seems to me that McDonald’s products contain flavor and aroma enhancers, as well as other additives. I think they are in sauces. It may be that they are added to the dough for buns. Whether this is true or not is not known for sure. The company claims that there are no flavor enhancers in their products.

We checked the meat, we found nothing but 100% beef :)

Special thanks to

The popularity of McDonald's does not subside, but many experts still argue that such food is detrimental to people's health. Faktrum gives 15 reasons that will convince you to give up the Big Mac and French fries forever.

Meat in fries?

Not so long ago, the corporation assured all adherents of vegetarianism that instead of beef fat, french fries are cooked in 100% olive oil. In part, McDonald's kept its word, but even before it gets into the deep fryer, the potatoes are processed using a small amount of natural beef flavoring!

Buns not made from bread

McDonald's doesn't want to take losses. Therefore, so many preservatives are added to perishable pastries that they can remain “fresh” for several years. One of the magical ingredients is calcium sulfate, which is also known as gypsum. But even worse is ammonium sulfate, which can cause nausea and diarrhea.

More than a healthy diet

Fast food prices are going up and food quality is going down. For the cost of lunch at McDonald's, you can buy a lot of healthy products in the store, which will make a nutritious soup for the whole family. In any case, to eat sparingly, you need to cook yourself.

Inglorious McRib

It looks like a delicious seasonal burger at McDonald's, judging by the name with ribs. As it turned out after checking, there are no ribs in it at all. This is just an imitation, the semi-finished product is shaped so that the cutlet resembles meat on ribs.

Rapid weight gain

In 2004, American documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock conducted an interesting experiment: for 30 days, a man ate exclusively at McDonald's. During this time, he gained 11 kilograms, proving to others that fast food leads to rapid obesity. And extremely high cholesterol levels cause many diseases, including heart attacks.

childhood obesity

In 2005, the English medical publication The New England Journal of Medicine published a report stating that the life expectancy of the current generation of children in America could be reduced due to obesity. The health of minors is directly dependent on nutrition, and fast food often causes childhood obesity and diabetes. But McDonald's does not forget to open more and more new playrooms and release new collections of toys for its little visitors.

Doubtful meat for cutlets

McDonald's claims that the cutlets are made from high-quality boneless meat from the best factories, and the strictest control is observed throughout the entire production chain. In reality, the meat comes from farms where animals are kept in unsanitary conditions, injected with antibiotics and growth hormones. Moreover, the phrase "100% beef" may imply the presence of cow's eyes or giblets in minced meat.

Most McDonald's meals are high in phosphate, which increases the risk of heart disease and kidney problems. Of particular concern are the chicken dishes of this fast food restaurant.

Sugar in french fries

It is clear that no one thought that french fries could be healthy. Only for its preparation, glucose is also used, which quickly turns into fat and greatly affects blood sugar levels. Such fries will fill you up, but only for a short time, and the next feeling of hunger will be stronger than the previous one.

Immortal fries

In 2008, an experimenter decided to find out what McDonald's and KFC french fries would look like in a few years. Now take a look at a photo of potatoes taken already in 2012. Impressive?

High fructose corn syrup in rolls

Many people believe that the most harmful thing in any McDonald's burger is the cutlet. Studies show that the roll is no less dangerous. High fructose corn syrup and sodium cause you to be hungry again 20 minutes after eating a Big Mac.

How nuggets are prepared

Famous chef Jamie Oliver demonstrated how nuggets are prepared at McDonald's: the remains of chicken skin, fat, offal and even bones are taken, then they are ground, and then the machine forms the usual “chicken” pieces from this mess. It is worth noting that children from the UK refused to eat the resulting nuggets, which cannot be said about American children. The corporation claims that it does not use such technologies, which Jamie Oliver spoke about.

unsanitary conditions

Many McDonald's fast food restaurants turn out to be a breeding ground for unsanitary conditions. There are massive complaints from visitors about the dirt and the quality of the products. Employees violate hygiene standards both during the preparation of meals and during the cleaning of the halls.

More than a month to digest trans fats

Trans fats are unnatural isomers of fatty acids, which are formed, in particular, during the production of margarine and vegetable oils. Margarine and other modified vegetable oils increase cholesterol levels and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. In addition, spenders interfere with cell metabolism (replacing unsaturated fatty acids), contributing to the development of certain types of malignant neoplasms. And the Big Mac contains 1.5 grams of trans fats, and it takes 51 days to digest them!

Pink slime burgers

On his Food Revolution show, chef Jamie Oliver revealed what hamburger patties are actually made of. During the production of future cutlets, unfit for food waste from meat production is used, previously washed in ammonium hydroxide for disinfection and giving a pink color. The prepared mixture looked like pink slime, and with the addition of a thickener and dye, it looked like a real cutlet ...

Hamburger. 100% minced beef on a toasted bun, mustard, ketchup, onion and pickled cucumber.

Calorie content 254 kcal / Price 47 rubles.

Cheeseburger. 100% minced beef on a toasted bun, mustard, ketchup, onion, pickled cucumber and a slice of Cheddar cheese.

Calorie content 304 kcal / Price 57 rubles.

Chickenburger. Deep-fried chicken cutlet, breaded in breadcrumbs, Mac Chicken sauce, iceberg lettuce - all this on a toasted bun.

Calorie content 348 kcal / Price 57 rubles.

Double cheeseburger. The composition is similar to a cheeseburger, the difference is the presence of two pieces of beef, Cheddar cheese and pickles.

Calorie content 448 kcal / Price 115 rubles.

.Sesame seed bun, cut into three parts, special sauce, onion, iceberg lettuce, two pickled cucumbers, Cheddar cheese and two chopped steaks.

Calorie content 509 kcal / Price 130 rubles.

. Bun with sesame seeds, deep fried chicken cutlet breaded in breadcrumbs, McChicken sauce and iceberg lettuce.

Calorie content 413 kcal / Price 123 rubles.

. Sesame seed bun, large chopped 100% beef steak, mustard, ketchup, fresh onion, two pickles and two slices of Cheddar cheese.

Calorie content 527 kcal / Price 137 rubles.

Royal De Luxe. Sesame seed bun, large chopped 100% beef steak, mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, fresh onion, two pickled cucumbers, iceberg lettuce, fresh tomato and Cheddar cheese.

Calorie content 538 kcal / Price 157 rubles.

. Steamed bun, tartar sauce, half Cheddar cheese and deep fried breaded fish fillet.

Calorie content 333 kcal / Price 123 rubles.

. Large sesame seed bun, special Big Tasty sauce, fresh onion, iceberg lettuce, two tomato slices, three Emmental cheeses and a large 100% beef minced steak.

Calorie content 842 kcal / Price 219 rubles.

Chicken Bacon or CBO. Bun topped with sesame seeds and bacon pieces, special sauce, fried onions, iceberg lettuce, two pieces of bacon, cheese and a large deep fried chicken patty.

Calorie content 650 kcal / Price 175 rubles.

(6, 9 or 20 pieces). Breaded chicken pieces deep fried. Served with various sauces: sweet and sour, mustard, curry or barbecue.

Calorie content 268, 402 or 894 kcal depending on the serving / Price 105/150/262 rubles.

Beef Roll. Spicy sauce, fried onions, iceberg lettuce and arugula, Cheddar cheese, chopped steak with spices - all wrapped in a wheat tortilla.

Calorie content 555 kcal / Price 177 rubles.

Caesar Roll. Spicy sauce, iceberg lettuce, a slice of tomato, long-term cheese and a deep-fried sliced ​​chicken cutlet are wrapped in a wheat tortilla.

Calorie content 499 kcal / Price 157 rubles.

Fish Roll. Special sauce, iceberg lettuce, tomato slices, fresh cucumber, Cheddar cheese and deep-fried breaded fish fillet - wrapped in a wheat tortilla.

Calorie content 470 kcal / Price 157 rubles.

The branches of the corporation "McDonald's" are already known even in the hinterlands of our country. Fast food is in great demand, especially among young people. The young population of the country enthusiastically shares their experience of eating burgers of different composition, evaluates which coffee is better or which ice cream is tastier. Young people and children especially like french fries, which have a golden and crispy crust. Children go to McDonald's branches for the only dish - Happy Meal, as there is a surprise waiting for them ...

How was Happy Meal formed?

Initially, Happy Meal ("McDonald's") was conceived as a designer dish. The idea is that the child himself chooses ("folds") his dish. He can make it from potatoes, a hamburger, juice or milk. This approach has made this dish popular in many cities of our country.

Happy Meal ("McDonald's") began its existence in 1995. Until today, the range of products included in the dish has expanded significantly. This is dictated by the care of the child, because every little man needs food rich in trace elements and vitamins.

Its composition

Many parents are interested in the question of the composition of Happy Meal. The menu developers have taken into account all the nuances of preparing a dish for children. They understand that not only the appearance is important, but also the quality of the product. Therefore, Happy Meal ("McDonald's") consists of various products that you can choose for yourself. It includes:

• hamburger;
• nuggets;
• cheeseburger;
• sauce (child's choice);
• carrot sticks;
• French fries;
• "Coca Cola";
• "Fanta";
• "Sprite";
• various juices;
• chocolate drink;
• just mineral water;
• another interesting ingredient is a chocolate toy.

Another project was launched - the creation of an adult Happy Meal. When ordering this dish, you need to specify which Happy Meal at McDonald's you want to purchase. The adult version includes mineral water, salad, some other ingredients to choose from and a useful little thing - a pedometer. Also in the box you can find a booklet with recommendations on how to eat right and lead a healthy lifestyle.

Product quality

The branches of this fast food restaurant pay maximum attention to the quality of the products used for cooking, especially for children. For the preparation of sandwiches at Happy Meal McDonald's, they take natural beef, and chickenburg includes a breaded chicken fillet cutlet. Choice pieces of chicken meat are used in the preparation of nuggets. All meat components are checked several times before they reach the cooking table. Therefore, the question : "How much does a Happy Meal cost at McDonald's?" you can answer: "Not that much, compared to the quality of each ingredient and numerous checks before use."

It is known that the McDonald's chain of stores makes very strict requirements for the selection of products. The vegetables that make up the Happy Meal must be grown in ecologically safe areas. In Russia, they are supplied from Belaya Dacha, a quality-tested agricultural company. Of the many types of potatoes for the preparation of such a children's dish, only 2 varieties are selected.

The oil is not a selection product, but 100% natural, from sunflowers grown in the fields of the country. It also undergoes many quality checks and comes from a special frying oil factory in the city of Efremov (Tula region).

Milk and cocktail mixes are also quality products. They are supplied from farms in the Vladimir and Moscow regions. Whole milk is processed and we get great smoothies, ice cream, McFlurries.

What is special about Happy Meal?

This dish brings joy to kids and their parents because of the presence of various surprises in it. Designed to please their little visitors "McDonald's". Happy Meal toys in it are constantly changing, depending on how the interests of children change. If any new cartoon came out, the child is happy to meet the little hero of the popular cartoon in the purchased dish.

Are these dishes different in different cities?

The restaurant chain has approximately the same menu. It can only change depending on ongoing promotions within the network. For example, when there was a campaign for a healthy lifestyle for teenagers, the menu of Happy Meal ("McDonald's") included not only the usual ingredients, but also a bottle of mineral water.

In different cities of the country there is a standard set of ingredients: a cheese burger, salad, apple slices. And also a wide range of additional ingredients is presented to the visitor's choice: milk, lemonade, sandwiches with toys and so on.

McDonald's, what toys are in the Happy Meal?

For many, a trip to a fast food restaurant is remembered for a long time. The conditions for serving food, the pleasant atmosphere, the speed of service and just good communication leave a mark in the memory for a long time. Someone comes there almost every day and already becomes a collector of toys and various branded trifles. The most popular questions from restaurant visitors are: "How much does a Happy Meal cost at McDonald's" and "What toys can you see in it?"

The choice of toys for so many years of the existence of this dish is in the billions. The founders of the McDonald's network always follow popular heroes, producing their small copies and selling them to visitors. Any toy in the Happy Mile can be anything, the intrigue remains until the opening of the dish, since no one knows what he will get next time. There are transformers, Hello Kitty, Teletubbies, Lego, Soldier Joe, Beanie Baby, Tin Tin, the Du Pont twins, Snow the dog, Captain Haddock, Unicorn Manuscripts, Red Rakham, various animals and other cartoon characters and children's films.

In the new single series of 10 original toys-gadgets, according to the plot of the film, they belong to its most diverse heroes: both good (Tin Tin, his faithful dog Snow, Captain Haddock, Dupont twin detectives), and villains (Red Rackham). Also included in the series is a real "artifact", around which the main action of the tape unfolds - the secret manuscript of the Unicorn.

Conditions for making Happy Meal at McDonald's

It should be noted that the main rule of the corporation is the purity and speed of cooking. This is achieved through some ready-made ingredients. Cash desk workers just need to take the order and prepare the necessary dish.

The cost of Happy Meal ("McDonald's") depends on the name and quantity of ingredients included in its composition. The price ranges from 150 to 210 rubles. The cost is also affected by breakfast or lunch. The latter cost a little more.