The Surprisingly Bitter and Occasionally Deadly Fight Over McDonalds' Fries 

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I wonder how hard it was for Simon to say fries as opposed to "chips"

Tert-butyl hydroquinone is the only ingredient that really raised my eyebrow. The group of chemicals called quinones are widely used in organic chemistry because of their uncanny ability to oxidize and "deoxidize" (the proper term is to "reduce") themselves repeatedly back and forth, and in the process oxidizing or reducing something else in turn. This is how hydrogen peroxide is industrially made, for example -- a quinone is oxidized and then reduces itself by oxidizing plain water into peroxide (which is appropriately called "oxygenated water" in several languages). So, no doubt a reduced quinone would be very useful as an antioxidant, but the problem is, quinones vary a lot in their degree of toxicity and I don't know how toxic or not this particular quinone is. "Dimethylpolysiloxane" sounds scary, but it's one of the most chemically inert (and hence most harmless) substances known. It reacts with virtually nothing at usual temperatures. It's also known as "dimethicone" or "simethicone" for short, and it's a small-molecule type of silicone that's widely used in many things in modern life and is also widely taken by mouth as a medication for flatulence (remember, it's chemically inert, so it will go intact through your digestive tube without being absorbed, but on the way it will encourage gas bubbles to coalesce and be more easily eliminated, relieving flatulence). It's also widely used for its antifoaming properties in cosmetics, shampoo, toothpaste, medicinal syrups, you name it, with no ill effects. Nothing to fear from it. Citric acid is a natural constituent of all cells and it's being constantly produced and processed in all of them during cellular respiration --- you'd die without it, actually. All citrus juices contain a lot of it (hence the name) and you don't panic when you drink orange juice. In the stomach, sodium acid pyrophosphate turns into harmless phosphate and sodium that are natural parts of all foods (and the amount is too small to interfere with calcium absorption, which is a theoretical concern with ingested phosphates, never confirmed in practice, though). I'd be more worried about the nasty carcinogens that are formed in polyunsaturated frying oils at high temperatures (obviously not an exclusively McDonald's or fries problem), and with the fact that real ordinary fries (made from potatoes, oil, and nothing more) are gluten-free, yet McDonald's fries contain wheat and are therefore unsafe for celiacs, who may be unaware of that.

Hearing/watching Simon say "Oh, I see" made me laugh so hard, it brought tears to my eyes. Thank you, Simon. Thank you.

Just a quote. : "McDonald's can't force" Is completely true. They are not forcing anyone to eat at their food, whoever they are.

Fun fact.... on the matter of the use of tallow and lard in ammunition having played a role in the Indian Rebellion back in 1857, the British really learned their lesson come the First World War where British commanders took great pains to ensure that the Indian troops received fresh sheep and goat meat (instead of the standard issue bully beef that regular British troops received); with separate slaughtering areas to abide by jhatka and halal requirements for Hindu and Muslim soldiers respectively.

"Eventually you will replace everything you have in your underwear." Sounds ominous.

As Dennis Leary said “sure it takes years off your life. But those are the crappy ones.”

As a former chemistry student I actually clapped when you said "tert-butylhydroquinone" correctly

I love how Simon reading a script and Simon not reading a script are 2 completely different and equally entertaining people

The best McDonald's fries I ever had was in Nagoya Japan. The burgers were good, too. I mean *REALLY GOOD*. I kept thinking "this tastes just like they did when i was a kid". Back then, a trip to McDonald's was an infrequent treat.

I have a strict diet which requires me to not eat certain things, and must also be prepared in specific ways because of religious and/or moral reasons! Decides to eat in a fast food restaurant where the suppliers and ingredients are mostly unidentified.🤔

personally i really miss the beef lard flavoured fries........beef molecule flavoured fried just aint the same......

This is why we bigfoots never go to McDonalds and just eat out here in the woods where it's more peaceful

I mean, to a certain extent Hindu's should probably create their own kosher equivalent label like the Jewish commuity did if they want to be sure they are not consuming beef. I do think Mc Donalds should be clearer that their product contains beef, but it is ultimately up to the religious community to ensure their followers are informed about what is ok to eat and what is not. It is very simply a relgious groups job to police food items not a company that probably is not fully informed on your beliefs.

Simon- "It's just better." Me- "He said it's just better. I need them."

Who are those people who won't kill bacteria but will kill and eat plants? Do they think plants aren't alive?

only time i like their fries is the first few minutes after they're made, when they're nice and soft and fresh. once they cool down even slightly they're no good at all

'Where's the beef' of the 2000's just made a whole lot of sense,

Explains why I remember the fries tasting better than they do now. I thought it was a childhood nostalgia thing.

Guess what, it wasn't the beef tallow that caused the heart attack.

Silly question from someone who knows nothing about Jainism, but are they forbidden from successfully fighting off an illness because that requires killing off the pathogens?

Being upset that beef flavor is used takes away from the fact an employee uses the same gloves for a beef patty and veggie burger assembly. I'm not upset just pointing out potential hypocrisy..

Chips were the best when they were chip shop deep fried in beef dripping. I'm old enough to remember. When chip shops switched to vegetable oil chips were never the same again.

Gotta love respecting one person's rights so much that you shit all over everyone else's rights in the process.

This just makes me want fries more

It's amazing how different US and UK McDonald's are. This is the UK fries full ingredients: Potatoes, Blend of Non-Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Sunflower, Rapeseed), Dextrose (predominantly added at beginning of the potato season). Prepared in the restaurants using a non-hydrogenated vegetable oil. Salt is added after cooking.

My high ass thought you were gonna ACTUALLY talk about meat fries lmfao

The addition of the wheat means that people like me with Celiac disease can't eat them. No big loss for me as I hadn't had them for quite a while anyways, but I sure hope Celiacs check the ingredients before eating them.

Ok just started and the sponsor is so wild I now want to try this.

Another Bonus Fact im surprised he didn't include as it was in a previous video of his: The term "Bite the Bullet" came from the method at which the British paper cartridge rounds were loaded into the rifle.

For vegetarians motivated by ethical or religious beliefs, the issue isn't whether or not something is called "beef" but whether or not it came from a dead cow. If the beefy amino acids were synthesized artificially without any cows involved, I suspect even the Jains might be ok with it. But dead cow = not vegetarian.

"if you're still buying your underwear from the same brand that makes your socks, undershirts, and sister's bra... maybe it's time to try something a bit more personalized" damn... i have no retort... that's a really good argument... you got me. i'm going to try a new sheath for my sword..

Are we sure the guy suing McDonald's in the 90's didn't have a stake in vegetable oil sales?

Isn’t there a secret New Jersey-based outfit that does almost all of the natural flavoring for the big companies ? I think they are also the one responsible for the McDonald’s fries taste - maybe a video on this would be cool…

The fries would probably be more healthy if they just ditched the additives and went back to using their beef tallow.

"Bitter" is right... I have a rare allergy to beef protein. Enough of it, and I can go into anaphylaxis. As a young child, I used to have the worst stomach cramps, diarrhea, rash, and fevers, as well as two hospitalizations, because of McDonald's French fries...something we didn't know for a decade.

It's a fact that beef fat (1st) and lard (second) make a superior french fry. I'm going to Montreal next week and I look forward to patronizing Frites Alores and enjoying fries and remoulade (fred in tallow of course)

goddamnit, now I gotta go get McDonald’s fries

I don't see this as a matter of semantics. If the beef/bovine proteins come directly from a slaughtered animal, then its beef and should be declared as such (further clarification is fine, and should be incentivised). If they're synthesized or lab cultivated, IMO they're not, but they still needs declaration for allergen, dietary etc. Don't think it's just (an irrelevant) matter of semantics when it comes to lab-grown meat either. One requires the death of a sentient being, the other does not. As someone who loves meat and _definitely_ has an unhealthy amount of it in my diet - if (hopefully rather, _when)_ we get to the point where we can make lab-grown meat at scale, it's good quality and taste, and reasonably affordable - I'll definitely prefer that and make that switch for the meat products I buy. Heck it might also be distinctly less of a health risk, as the cultivation and growth conditions would most likely almost or completely eliminate the use of antibiotics and hormones/steroids. I feel that would be far more ethical, and be more sustainable / have far less of an environmental impact than our current scales of (industrial) animal farming. In terms of ethics, I think of it a bit like an organ. If I was in such a need, I would of course be incredibly thankful accepting of another, deceased person's or compatible animal's organ. But if I could have the choice of a cultivated and lab grown (or "3d printed", they can do that with certain organ tissues) organ - maybe even cultivated from my own adult stem cells - then I'd feel a lot more comfortable with that. Especially if the alternative was a kidney or partial liver transplant from another living person or being. This too wouldn't be strictly ethics either, and would likely would add benefits in similar nature of the antibiotics and steroid "perk" with lab meat. Because there would likely be *far* less risk of organ rejection. Especially if the organ was cultivated and grown from my own organ (stem) cells.

My favourite part is "natural flavour." I caught that right away (and I know the story). Seems unnecessary doesn't it? Unless that natural flavour isn't potato. In this case, it's not potato. lol

It's amazing how many people don't know about this. I'm always being laughed at or given condescending responses when I ask if a restaurant's fries are vegan, but knowing that Mcdonald's fries exist, I have to ask every time if I don't want my week to be spent in the bathroom. Ingredients in general just need to be listed more clearly and thoroughly so people don't keep getting sick, or at worst, dying, because something was hidden.

I'm dying "willy" havnt heard that for manier of years 😂

I brought my lunch to work and now I’m in the McDonald’s drive through.

When an establishment states "It's Vegan!", we shouldn't have to worry if it's a true statement. Keep talking Blaze Boy ❣

"You serve their meat but not ours? Unforgivable. Shut it down." ...This a whole new level of petty 😐

Oh dear the myth of the beef fat on ammunition has once more been brought out. The sepoys were highly professional (though at times badly mistreated) soldiers and they would have known what the lubrication oil (not fat) was. It's long been shown that while agitators did try spreading the beef fat rumours to try and stir up support from the sepoy regiments, it would not have worked, however the general mistreatment of the men and the build up of resentment over their officers, meant that when the uprising/mutiny did start many units did join in, however not all.

Whereas in the EU McDonald's Fries ingredients are: Oil (sunflower, rapeseed), Salt and Potatoes. you can thank EU law :)

Seeing that ingredients list made me happy that I recently found out making fries from scratch isn't that hard.

A friends family always used beef tallow in their deep frier and it tasted so much better than vegetable oil in my opinion. It smelled much worse though.

Damn. Why can’t I ever be ever so slightly wronged in such an undetectable way that can bet me millions of dollars?

It totally makes sense that the apparent most logical response to McDonalds serving food a group of people can't eat is rioting and destruction of property, rather than, say, *just not eating there*. Humans are so awesome.

Switching from beef tallow to vegetable/seed oil is way more unhealthy.

If you don’t eat beef, what the hell are you doing going to McDonald’s? Is their lettuce made from beef too? Probably, but the burgers and fries taste so good.

McDonald’s fries in the UK have the “Vegetarian Society Approved” stamp on them, which also includes “Vegan” in the centre. The ingredients list doesn’t include “natural flavour” or milk, and they’re fried in separate oil to the oil that meat products are cooked in. So, I’m not sure why you’re making a sweeping statement that they’re not suitable for vegetarians and/or vegans when they appear to be in the UK, at least?

Very religious, won’t kill bacteria. But also performs violent riots 😂

What's funny is how many people complained about the change to cooking in vegetable oil..... BEFORE the change had happened! The news had reported McDonald's was GOING to make the change, but people thought they had already changed. So by power of suggestion, people thought the fries tasted different. Even though, the fries at that time were still fried in beef tallow.

wait until simon learns about what Ronald did to Tim Hortons Coffee

I had an ad for McDonald's fries during this video. Too good!

They were soooooo good. And i'm not one of those people that thinks EVERYTHING was better back in the day. Those people are annoying and honestly incorrect on alot of things that they think were better years ago. But these French Fries were on another level. I can still remember the flavour. At least in Canada and the U.S. i've never been to one elsewhere. If i ever go to England or Italy or France or say Spain no way i'm going to a mcPuke's. Not when i can eat at great restaurants.

This video should note that the information contained within only pertains to McDonalds fried in the US, outside of the US, vegetable oil is used and the ingredients list is about 4 items instead of 17, meaning that only in the US are McDonalds fries a product that are not vegan friendly

Tnere's a simple answer for all this insanity if the food ingredients are a problem for your region believe DON'T EAT THERE. Businesses can't win there's always someone who is offened by whatever. If I were in McD shoes I'd closed the franchises and move somewhere else.

Current U.K. ingredients: Fries Potatoes, Blend of Non-Hydrogenated Vegetable Oils (Sunflower, Rapeseed), Dextrose (predominantly added at beginning of the potato season). Prepared in the restaurants using a non-hydrogenated vegetable oil. Salt is added after cooking. Please note our Fries can be cooked in the same oil as the Red Pepper and Pesto Goujon. (From MaccyDs website).

Imagine getting paid millions of dollars because they had the audacity to serve you beef at a MacDonald's... It's not like their entire business is founded on decades of serving beef patties. It's like if I go into a dairy Queen and start complaining about them serving ice cream because I'm lactose intolerant. It's literally a place devoted to things I can't eat, why would I even risk it? Especially if hell is on the line. But this dude is perfectly comfortable giving money to a company that defiles his religion a million times over every year across the world.

"Pressurizing them into cooked potatoes!" 🤣 🤣 Because, 'pressurizing them into'... Oh, how I love me sum Saimahn!

I remember then being cooked in beef fat, they were sooooooooooooooo damn good.

9:32 "Nonetheless, in June of 2002, McDonald's agreed to pay out a $10 million settlement to the 11 named *_defendants"_* ...? I think you mean *_plaintiffs._* In a civil case, the defendant is the company or individual being sued, not the one filing the suit.

Have a great week y'all. What a great video to start it off with.

I tried McDonalds fries once as a kid and determined they were trash compared to the fries I was used to from local (Canadian) chains available in my city like Harveys, Lick's Homeburgers (the location is now a Wimpy's Diner franchise), and New York Fries or the fries offered by various non-chain restaurants... or, for that matter, the fries at Costco. I think I also tried Burger King fries once and came to the same conclusion. ...which *is* consistent with studies I've heard about that showed Americans cared more about the appearance of fruit than its taste.

"your socks, your undershirt, and your sister's * *BRA!!!* * " That part of the Sheeat ad at the beginning made me laugh harder than I probably should have 😂 🤣

Instead of suing they should just go somewhere else instead of trying to force their views on everybody else.

"crispy golden brown on the outside" not a great opener right after talking about underwear lmao

W-why did Simon just yell "bra" at me? ....Thats what I get for actually sitting through an ad. I'm sorry, I won't do it again. 😥

My mother worked in a watties new zealand chip (french fries) factory and they had to sort the chips as so there were no chips (french fries) with black / dark spots in the order that went out to mc donalds, kfc, etc and the black/dark spotted chips (french fries) were packed up sent to saudi arabia ,also on the subject of fast food the georgie pie story would make a good video, new zealands first and only new zealand made fast food outlet

All of this explains why Mickey D's fries used to taste so good, but now don't even make my top ten.

I just watched a "Watch Mojo" video and they used two brief clips (less than a few seconds) of this video on their video. Simon is even taking over other channels!

When I was young in the late 50s, our local McDonald's used to get fresh potatoes and customers could watch through a large window as the potatoes were peeled, washed, and sliced. Yup, absolutely fresh french-fried shoestring potatoes.

Side-note: I looked up if Japanese McD’s fries used beef fat, and yes, they use a mix of tallow and palm oil, both of which are _concerning_ in different ways.

There’s nothing in that ingredient list that alarms me; and yes I do know what all the difficult-to-pronounce ones are. The issue with them is that they are very dense with carbs and oil. Therefore, consume in moderation, and keep up your exercise.

Once again, great video Simon. I remember watching a video about this subject in the past. Uk fries ingredients are totally different. I won’t list the difference. See google.

That was interesting. I don't think the fries are as good as they used to be. KFC fries used to be the best, then they changed. Now Burger King have got rid of that awful coating the fries used to have, they are the best out of the 3 chains IMO. Could you do a video and how the regional accents of the country (UK) came about please? It's amazing how distinctly different they are in not just the cities but counties too.

I finally understand the recurring Simpsons joke: “Where’s the beef?”

I have a brilliant idea… don’t eat at McDonalds or for that matter any fast food if you are so worried about the foods you eat.

I wonder how many people point out that the guy was apparently fine with killing the yeast for his bread... or the plants for the wheat, sugar, etc etc.

Even though most religious groups aren't that hard to piss-off, listing the ingredients of your fried-potatoes so mysteriously that some "peaceful-" and "loving-" groups of people start threatening your establishment, is an achievement.

Humans sure do love complicating their lives over meaningless trivialities, don't they.

I heard somewhere that at one point, a helping of McDonalds fries had more beef fat in it than a single cheeseburger. No idea if it’s true, but I wouldn’t be surprised considering the double frying method and larger surface area of a serving of fries.

Had a little laugh at the bonus fact section. “Beef fat on my human killing device??? Let’s kill them (humans)!”

Damn. I want some fries now... I cackle whenever I hear an Englishman say, "willie."

I usually skip past the ad, but I didn't skip far enough and landed right on "A hole for your willy." Teaches me to be impatient, I guess.

Huh, I'm actually siding with McDonald's suddenly

Do the underwear still work if my package looks like a strawberry sitting on a bean-bag

A person has to wonder if their ice cream machines are down too

I'm always stunned that people actually believe that God cares about what was in their McDonald's fries. We have to stop placating this silliness in 2021.

When they took the beef tallow out of the cooking process the fries were never the same. They used to be so good but now they are ok at best.

They fry them in the same oil they fry their chicken in. Even if they removed any beef "flavorings," it will never truly be vegan so long as they share the fryer with their chicken. Only the fish filet has its own designated fry station when I worked for them.🤣

Loved the part about Indian troops being forced to ingest bits of Tallow/lard soaked paper in order to muzzle-load rifles. 😂

The fries I get at my local greasy spoon have these ingredients: potatoes and peanut oil. Cut fresh in house and deep fried while you wait. Of course you may add salt to taste. And the burgers are 80/20 lean bison meat. Puts Micky Dees to shame.

its important to note that mcdonalds fries and well everytthing at mcdonalds ingrediants varies a heck of a lot from county to country. i mean in the uk their fries have 3/4 ingrediants potato, salt, vegetable oil, and depending on time of year dextrose. They had a whole advertising campaign in the uk to advertise that their ingrediants are different to those in the u.s.

Damn, somehow this just made me crave McDonald’s fries 😂 it’s messed up they deceived people, but damn those fries are good. Haven’t had McDonald’s in months but thanks to this video I’m pretty sure I’m gna have some for lunch today