Cannibalistic Chicken McBites TV Ad

Did anyone else notice the cannibalistic scene in one of McDonald's TV ads for their new Chicken McBites?

It's suggestive of feeding chicken to a chicken!

Sure it's just a car that looks like a chicken, but couldn't something similar be said of Chicken McBites themselves?

You can watch the whole ad below, but first, a little about the new Chicken McBites...

First, here's the complete nutritional facts:

McDonald's - Chicken McBites
Nutrition Facts Serv. Size 85g Servings 1 Calories 310   Fat Cal. 170 www.foodfacts.info	Amount/serving	%DV*		Amount/serving	%DV*
	Total Fat 19 g	29%		Total Carb. 22 g	7%
	Sat. Fat 3 g	14%		Fiber 1 g	6%
	Trans Fat 0 g			Sugars 0 g
	Cholesterol 35 mg	11%		Protein 14 g
	Sodium 490 mg	20%
	*Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

And second, here are the ingredients: Chicken breast chunks with rib meat, water, maltodextrin, modified rice starch, yeast extract, sodium phosphates, salt, modified tapioca starch, onion powder, garlic powder, sugar, spices, carrageenan, natural (botanical and animal source) and artificial flavors, chicken broth, citric acid, spice extractive, gum arabic, lactic acid, chicken fat. Battered and breaded with: bleached wheat flour, water, wheat flour, food starch-modified, wheat gluten, leavening (baking soda, sodium aluminum phosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, monocalcium phosphate), salt, spices, garlic powder, dried onion, dried garlic, maltodextrin, onion powder, citric acid, natural (plant source) and artificial flavors, lactic acid, yellow corn flower, extractives of paprika and turmeric (color).

Our McRib Photo Featured on Fox News

If you happened to catch Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld on Fox News last night, you'd have seen our photo of a 'naked' McDonald's McRib from our "Deconstructing McRib" feature from a few years back.

The hosts and panelists of the show discuss the varied ingredients of the McRib and whether or not that makes them not want to eat it.  When they flash Fast Food News' photo of the McRib up again, one of the panelists, Bill Schulz asks if anyone notices that it looks like a McDonald's Apple Pie.

The segment of the show on the McRib is below and, once again, here's that great 'naked' McRib photo:

But, really, that's not as gross as what's on the inside when you slice it open:

The rest of the photos from our McRib 'expose' are here.  And here's the video from last night:

Free Smoothie Samples at McDonald's *Cancelled*

McDonald's will be promoting their new Real Fruit Smoothies with free samples today and tomorrow (Friday & Saturday July 23-24).


Free samples of Wild Berry or Strawberry Banana Real Fruit Smoothies will be available at McDonald's 14,000+ locations in the US.


“The addition of McCafe Real Fruit Smoothies to the McCafe beverage line reinforces McDonald’s as a convenient destination for a variety of quality, great-tasting beverages at a value only McDonald’s can offer,” said Ashlee Yingling, supervisor of U.S. media relations for McDonald’s.


Prices for the smoothies vary by market and start at a suggested $2.29 for a 12-ounce serving.

We thought we were giving you a 'cool' heads up about the free smoothies, but it has been brought to our attention that McDonald's felt that sales of their new smoothies were just fine, so the promotion was cancelled:

“The McCafe Real Fruit Smoothies are an absolute hit with our customers, and we’re experiencing unprecedented demand for this delicious new choice on our menu,” said Neil Golden, chief marketing officer for McDonald’s USA. “Due to the overwhelming popularity and to ensure continued supply to meet our customers’ needs, we will not be executing the national in-restaurant sampling event … as previously communicated. However, all other national promotional activities, including coupons, will be accepted at participating restaurants.”

We're sorry about the error. (But we also think McDonald's can afford to honor their promotions once they've been announced!)

Has the King infiltrated McDonald's

A tipster sent this video by some guys who were eating their burgers at a McDonald's in San Francisco when they discovered the BK King on the hamburger bun:

Has Burger King found some ingenious viral marketing toasting technique or is this just a BK miracle.

Either way, McDonald's needs to be checking their buns!

The guys who found it have saved the bun and are selling it on ebay (just as they predict in the video below).

Here's the full video:

Thanks to Jen for the tip!

Anatomy of McDonald's Mac Snack Wrap

Why didn't I think of that?!?! Take a Big Mac, lose the bun and wrap it all up in a tortilla. Of course... makes perfect sense!

Honestly, if someone had suggested that 10 years ago, they'd have been laughed out of the room. But that was before the wrap craze. The question now is: With the Mac Snack Wrap, has the 'wrap craze' officially jumped the shark?

Well, I had to taste this for myself... And it is exactly what you'd expect a Big Mac components wrapped up in a tortilla would taste like! If you're a Big Mac fan, but you've always dreamed of losing all those buns, you're dream has come true. If you didn't love the Big Mac, you probably won't like the Mac Snack Wrap. Actually, the one I got had way too much 'Big Mac Sauce' for my taste, but otherwise, no complaints.

The Mac Snack Wrap is 1/2 of a 1/4 pound beef patty, American cheese, lettuce, pickle, onion and Big Mac sauce (aka 1,000 Island Dressing, aka mayonnaise & ketchup) all wrapped up in a tortilla.

See, I took a picture, The Anatomy of a Mac Snack Wrap:

Another important distinction that McDonald's is attempting to make between the Big Mac and the Mac Snack Wrap (besides the bun vs. tortilla) is that the latter is a "snack," and the Big Mac is a meal. And clearly the wrap has less meat, specifically half a Quarter Pounder patty. It should be noted, though, that a full Quarter Pounder patty is bigger than a Big Mac beef patty, 220 calories vs. 180 calories.

Here's the nutritional data for the Mac Snack Wrap:

And here's the nutritional data for the Big Mac:

As you can see the Mac Snack Wrap has 330 calories to the Big Mac's 540. That's 60% of the Big Mac's calories. 70 calories are lost by replacing the buns with a tortilla (140 vs. 210) and another 70 calories are lost by using less meat (110 vs. 180). But the Mac Snack Wrap has more calories than a McDonald's Cheeseburger (300 calories), so is it really just a snack.

Find out for yourself!!! The first 10 people to e-mail me at tips@foodfacts.info with their snail mail address will receive a certificate for a free Mac Snack Wrap!!

You're address will be used strictly for this promotion, not shared with anyone and deleted after your certificate is mailed. It will be noted here when all 10 certificates have been given away.

Congratulations to Doug, Jessica, Briana, Ted, Robert, Sarah, Michael, Heather, Montgomery, and Jorge... they'll all be getting a certificate for a free Mac Snack Wrap from McDonalds!

[Disclosure: 10 certificates for a free Mac Snack Wrap were supplied to me and Fast Food News by McDonald's for use in this promotion. I paid for the Mac Snack Wrap that I ate. :)]

McDonald's Leaving Iceland

McDonald's is closing all 3 of their restaurants in Iceland, following the island nation's economic collapse.

Subway To Pass McDonald's Restaurant Number

Sometime in the next few months Subway will surpass McDonald's number of world-wide restaurant locations.

Subway is expected to pass 31,800 restaurants this week bringing it within 400 of McDonald's 32,158 restaurant locations.

Subway remains way behind McDonald's in revenue, though. The average US McDonald's had about $2.3 million in sales last year; the average Subway, about $445,000.

Advertising Age

McDonald's Using Foreign Beef in US Angus Burgers

You would think that McDonald's would turn exclusively to US farmers for the Angus beef in their new Angus Third Pounder Burgers sold in US stores.

Instead they have upped their deal with New Zealand farmers to export over 22,000 tons of beef (that's enough for over 132 million Angus Third Pounders). They'll be mixing that NZ Angus with US Angus for the new burgers.

McDonald's must be getting a great deal, because they literally couldn't find someplace farther away from the US to get additional Angus beef.

McDonald's Japan: The Mega-Egg

Check out this McDonald's sandwich, available for a limited time in Japan:

It's called the "Mega Tamago" and has (as you can see) 3 beef patties, 2 strips of bacon, an egg, cheddar cheese, lettuce, a 'special' sauce and 3 buns.  It is described on McD's Japan website as:  "The Mega-Egg.  Quivering with mega deliciousness."

Free Mocha Mondays at McDonald's McCafe

As McDonald's continues to try and take away customers from Starbucks with their McCafe concept, they've now introduced Free Mocha Mondays.

On Mondays from July 13 through August 3, 2009 (that's 7/13, 7/20, 7/27, and 8/3) between 7am and 7pm you can get a free sample (7 oz. cold or 8 oz hot) Mocha.

The McCafe Mocha is "the sweetheart of the coffe drinks:  freshly ground espresso beans coupled with steamed milk (whole or nonfat), indulgent chocolate syrup, and capped with whipped cream and a chocolate drizzle."

Since we're on the topic and haven't done so yet, here's a look at the complete nutritional data for a few McCafe drinks:

As you can see the Medium Caramel Latte packs 280 calories and 8 grams of fat:

The Medium Iced Mocha has 310 calories and 13 grams of fat:

And the McCafe calorie champ (and granted, it is a large) is the large Mocha, coming in at 400 calories, 14 grams of fat (and even a half gram of Trans Fat) and 49 grams of sugar:

By way of comparison, here are some of Starbuck's highest calorie drinks.

McD's Angus Third Pounder Taste Tested

Act Fast! The first 8 people to follow and send a private message (with your snail mail address) to FastFoodNews via Twitter will get a pair of McDonald's "Be Our Guest Cards." Each card can be redeemed for a free Angus Third Pounder. (These cards were supplied to Fast Food News by McDonald's Inc.) We've given away the free Angus Third Pounder cards, but you can still follow FastFoodNews on Twitter.

Yesterday was the first day for McDonald's first nationwide roll-out of a new burger in 8 years, the Angus Third Pounder.

We tried 2 of the 3 new versions of the Third Pounder, the Deluxe and the Bacon & Cheese. (We'll save the Mushroom Swiss for another day.)

Here's what we came home with... the Bacon & Cheese is on the left, the Deluxe is on the right:

I'm not much of a photographer, but let's go ahead and compare that to McDonald's official, professional press release photo of these 2 new burgers:

These burgers are more substantial than the Quarter Pounder. The beef patty is clearly bigger, although it still has that iconic, pre-formed appearance of all McDonald's meat patties.

The real rings of purple onion and the thick slice of a large diameter tomato are nice touches. It helps to push this burgers taste in the direction of a home made hamburger... not that it actually makes it to that realm, but it helps. The lettuce was abundant, fresh and of good quality, too.

We both noticed, though, that the purple onions were virtually tasteless. We assume that McDonald's went to great lengths to find onions that would never be considered to strong or offensive. We had fun imagining the process of McDonald's execs insisting on a genetically-modified scentless, tasteless onion that could be grown in huge quantities. Just a fantasy; couldn't be true.

We got our Angus Third Pounders at McDonald's #6753 in Benbrook, TX where the manager on duty said that they had been selling the Third Pounders for about a week (even though yesterday was their official release date). He said they'd had a good response to them and they were growing in popularity. He said they were selling about 50 a day. (Note: We used "Be Our Guest Cards" for 2 free Third Pounders and purchased the rest of our meal. We didn't speak to the manager until after our burgers where prepared and handed to us.)

In the press materials for the Third Pounders, the descriptions of all 3 burgers ends with, "served on a toasted bakery-style sesame seed roll." This description left me expecting the burger to be on a warm, slightly crunchy, toasted bun. This was not the case. The bun was cold and soft and had not been toasted in any way noticeable from the outside. When I took the burger apart for the photos below, I could see the the inside of the buns had been toasted slightly. No big deal really, but after reading the description I suppose I became hopeful that the entire sandwich would be run through a warmer/toaster just before being served.

Otherwise, besides being a little bigger, the buns do not differ in consitency or flavor from standard McDonald's buns.

Here's a look at the insides (again, Bacon & Cheese on the left, Deluxe on the right. Click for larger image.)

Nutritional Information:

The Angus Third Pounders have a calorie range of 750 to 770 calories. They have 39-40 grams of fat and 16-17 grams of saturated fat.

Interestingly, they also have 2 grams of Trans Fat. This is interesting because most fast food chains have eliminated or are attempting to eliminate all trans fats from their menus. A reader asked if this would prevent the sandwiches from being sold in New York City where Trans Fats are banned. I, in turn, asked a McDonald's rep and was informed that, "NYC Department of Health regulation pertains only to artificial trans fat. The 2 grams of trans fat in the Angus Burger is attributed to the beef patty that contains naturally-occurring trans fat,a type of trans fat that would not be subject to the artificial trans fat regulation."

Here's the calorie, fat, cholesterol, sodium, carbs, fiber, sugar & protein stats for the Angus Third Pounders:

Here's a look at a cross section of the Bacon & Cheese Angus Third Pounder (click for larger):

And a close-up of the burger patty (on the Deluxe):

Had one yourself? Let us know what you think.

McDonald's Angus Third Pounders Nationwide

McDonald's first new burgers since 2001 will be available at McDonald's restaurants starting tomorrow.

The new burgers are 3 "Angus Third Pounder" burgers.

Available nationwide, starting tomorrow July 2, 2009, their will be 3 versions of the Angus Third Pounder burgers: the Deluxe, Bacon & Cheese, and Mushroom & Swiss. Each Angus Third Pounder is made with 1/3 pound of Angus beef and served on a toasted sesame seed roll.

McDonald's has been testing these Angus burgers for 2 years in various markets.

As with the Quarter Pounder, the Third Pound description is the burger patty's weight before cooking.

McDonald's will be featuring items on these burgers that have never before been seen on a McDonald's burger: Rings of red onions, full slices of bacon, sauteed mushrooms, natural swiss cheese and 'bakery-style' sesame seed rolls.

As I mentioned, this is McDonald's first new burger launch since 2001. The Big ‘N Tasty debuted in 2001.

Although we referenced some early reviews of McDonald's Angus Burger, we'll be trying them tomorrow and have an update for you. McDonald's is also sending us some "Be Our Guest" cards so that you can try the new Angus Third Pounds, too. Check back and we'll let you know how you can get yours. Follow Fast Food News on Twitter to win, that's where we'll give them away.

Here's the Angus Third Pounders' official logo:

New Salads From McDonald's Canada

McDonald's has announced 4 new salads for their restaurants in Canada.

They are:

The Mediterranean Salad: red peppers, grape tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, crumbled feta cheese, black olives and leafy greens.

The Mighty Caesar Salad: parmesan cheese, bacon, croutons and leafy greens with a garlic and parmesan glaze.

Spicy Thai Salad: spring mix and leafy greens with red peppers, cucumbers, carrots, and whole wheat crisps with sweet and spicy Thai glaze.

Garden Fresh Salad: red onion, cucumber, grape tomatoes, carrots, red peppers, shredded cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses on leafy greens.

The four new entree salads will be well-dressed with Renee's Gourmet salad dressings. Customers can choose from seven dressings, including Asian Sesame Vinaigrette, Mighty Caesar Dressing, Caesar Light Dressing, Mediterranean Greek Vinaigrette, Balsamic Vinaigrette, Ravin' Raspberry Vinaigrette and Buttermilk Ranch Dressing.

Here's what they look like:

They will cost $6.79.

McDonalds Canada has made their salad release part of their spring fashion promotion with "Canadian fashion designers ready to offer valuable tips and simple tricks for easy summer dressing at www.fashionflavour.ca

In the US, McDonald's offers 3 different salads: Southwest Salad, Bacon Ranch Salad, and Caesar Salad. Each are available with or without grilled or crispy chicken.

But in the US, we only get the McDonald's slogan in one language. So if you get nothing else from this post, at least learn how to say "I'm lovin' it" in French (see logo above).

It's "C'est ça que j'm."

I'll even share the pronunciation with you (my wife happens to be a French teacher): Say Sah Kuh Jhem (the "J'm" is hard, it's like "gem" with a 'j').

There, now you can go to the French speaking countries of the world and be a spokesperson for McDonald's.

Anatomy of the McNugget [Humor]

Matty Boy Anderson created the humorous and disgusting illustration: "Anatomy of a Chicken McNugget." It is posted on his Mike the Pod website, which he describes as "The Most Awesome Site Your Human Eyes May Ever Behold: 10 Years of Ill Humor."

Anderson says, "People tell me that this is hands-down the sickest thing I've ever done.  So take that as a warning if you need to.  The ironic secret:  I still occasionally eat them.  Haw!"

Anderson's illustrations and descriptions of what a McNugget really is, appear on the Mike the Pod website, here.  There are 3 'varieties' in his illustration, I've included one of them below with his introduction.  Enjoy!

Anatomy of a Chicken McNugget

For many years, it was believed that the "McNugget" served at McDonalds restaurants was a batter-fried piece of formal chicken.  Now, Mike the Pod has learned the ugly truth.  In its search for a less-expensive more plentiful food source, McDonalds has employed genetic engineers to create the macnugeta repulsiva, a diminutive creature that lives in tanks of protein-enriched slime lit only by black light, until its brood grows large enough for it to be thrown live into frying batter (usually when their offspring reaches the healthy number of six, nine or twenty).  Herewith, our disturbing findings.

Adult Female:  The female has a thicker coating of secreted mucous and is therefore more difficult to catch.  She uses her flourescent tongue to make chirping noises, much like a dolphin, to attrack the male.

Dr. Pepper Coming to All McDonald's

In a big victory for Dr. Pepper (and Dr. Pepper drinkers like myself), McDonald's has reached an agreement with the Dallas-based Dr. Pepper Snapple Group to make Dr. Pepper available at all of McDonald's 14,000 US locations. DP is currently available at about 8,500 McDonald's.

In a slight blow to #1 soft drink company Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper will replace Coke's Pibb Xtra.

McDonald's is expanding its fountain and bottled drinks to complement McCafe espresso-based drinks available in about 70 percent of its U.S. stores.

McDonald's operators will have a choice to add Diet Dr Pepper, now featured at 3,500 stores, as Dr Pepper Snapple tries to increase its third-place share of the Coke-dominated U.S. fountain drink market.

Dr. Pepper now has 100 percent availability at 25 of the top 20 30 fast food chains.

Dr. Pepper has even set up a website to help McDonald's franchise operators market their new beverage offering.

Happy Meal Promo a F***ing Mess

McDonald's latest Happy Meal promotion is turning into a real mess, you might even say that it is a f***ing mess.

McDonald's currently giving away some Kidz Bop CDs in Happy Meals and some parents have discovered that they don't want their kids listening to the lyrics on CD Number 6. The fast food giant has pulled that CD.

It has a Kidz Bop remake of Gavin DeGraw's song "I Don't Want To Be." But where DeGraw's lyrics go "I'm tired of lookin' round," the Kidz Bop version seems to be "I'm tired of f***ing round."

But don't take my word for it, listen for yourself. (First you'll hear DeGraw's version, then the Kidz Bop version that McDonald's was handing out with Happy Meals.)

UPDATE: I just received the following e-mail from a McDonald's representative:

"I'm a spokesperson for McDonald's and wanted to make sure that you have the facts surrounding the claims on the Kidz Bop CD in McDonald’s Happy Meal.

An inaccurate claim has been made regarding lyrics in the song, "I Don't Want To Be," included on Kidz Bop CD number six from the current McDonald's Happy Meal promotion.

This song contains the original lyric, "I'm tired of looking 'round rooms," and does not contain profanity, as some have suggested. The CDs will continue to be available at McDonald’s restaurants as part of this Happy Meal promotion, while supplies last."

So, kudo's to McDonald's for sticking to their guns. They don't hear the f-word in the song, so they're going to keep distributing it. I'll admit, the power of suggestion is strong, and when you are expecting to hear it, it really sounds like it is there. But... it really sounds like somebody slipped an f-bomb into that song.

McDonald's Meat Factory Tour

I guess McDonald's finds this video reassuring.  It might be to some... especially those with a taste for mechanically processed meat 'product'.  To some the video might show a little more than people want to know.  There is certainly nothing unusual here... most of our food today comes from processing factories like these, but it is interesting that McDonald's wants to show it off.

I first saw the video after reading about it at Gizmodo.  They were horrified and disgusted.  They were shocked that McDonald's needs to put their meat patties through a metal detector for safety.  I guess they'd be surprised to learn that that happens at most food processing facilities and it is just simply a good idea to ensure safety.

McDonald's has titled the video, on their web site, "At Lopez Foods, only 100% beef makes the grade."

I guess the title bothered me a little before I even watched the video:  I was hoping that "100% beef" was the expected standard, not something that has to be promoted.  They mention that the beef is "100% beef" in the video, too.  But most of the folks interviewed in the video refer to the meat as "product."  So, they're processing the "product" they receive into hamburger patties.  Okay.  Maybe you should call it meat in the video.

All in all, it is standard McDonald's health and safety propaganda, I'm just a little surprised that they would chose to make some of these video images public.  Some people certainly will find it gross.

A shot from the video:

Fast Food at Guantanamo Bay

From Wikipedia:

In 1986, Guantanamo became host to Cuba's first and only McDonald's restaurant, as well as a Subway. These fast food restaurants are on base, and not accessible to Cubans. It has been reported that prisoners cooperating with interrogations have been rewarded with Happy Meals from the McDonald's located on the mainside of the base.

In 2004, Guantanamo opened a combined KFC & A&W restaurants at the bowling alley and a Pizza Hut Express at the Windjammer Restaurant. There is also a Taco Bell, and an ice cream shop that sells Starbucks coffee. All the restaurants on the installation are franchises owned and operated by the Department of the Navy. All proceeds from these restaurants are used to support morale, welfare and recreation (MWR) activities for service personnel and their families.

The McRib Locator

Okay, fast food fans, it has arrived, The McRib Locator.

As we all know, it isn't available at all McDonald's, all the time, just some of the McDonald's, some of the time.

Created by a meterologist in Burnsville, MN, The McRib Locator allows you to enter the location of a McDonald's you've spotted that is selling McRibs. The sighting will be represented on a Google Map that everyone can check.

If you find someplace near you on the map that's serving McRibs, but you're on the fence about whether or not you want one... let Fast Food News help you with your decision... we've Deconstructed the McRib for your viewing pleasure. Check it out, then make your decision.

McCurry beats McDonald's in court

Fast food chain McDonald's lost a lawsuit in Malaysia on Wednesday after an appeals court overruled a decision that its trademark had been infringed by a local restaurant called McCurry.

"Where the learned judge, with respect, erred is to assume that McDonald's had a monopoly in the use of the prefix 'Mc' on a signage or in the conduct of business," Judge Gopal Sri Ram said, overturning a 2006 ruling in favour of McDonald's.

The McDonald's operation in this Southeast Asian country of 27 million people is run as franchise by prominent businessman Vincent Tan and has 185 outlets, according to the company website.

McCurry, by contrast, serves Indian fast food from one restaurant in Kuala Lumpur as well Malaysian dishes such as fish head curry and is short for "Malaysian Chicken Curry", according to the company website.