McDonald’s Fries Contain The Same Ingredient As Silly Putty

McDonald’s fries contain a petroleum-based chemical and a form of silicone found in Silly Putty, according to an experiment by a former Mythbusters host. During show host Grant Imahara’s investigation into the McDonald’s chain’s potato processing plant in Idaho, dimethylpolysiloxane is found in the tasty American fast food favorite.

Dimethylpolysiloxane is reportedly one of the prime ingredients not just McDonald’s French fries, but in Silly Putt as well. The petroleum-based chemical known as TBHQ is also part of the McDonald’s fries recipe, according to the former Mythbusters host. Grant Imahara also discovered that the fries are fried twice, once at the chain’s potato processing plant and again at restaurants.

“Potatoes, thank goodness! That’s a good start,” Imahara said before he went on to cite the other 14 ingredients in McDonald’s French fries.

The former Mythbusters host goes on to tell viewers that the TBHQ, dimethylpolysiloxane, and other ingredients used in the popular French fry recipe are safe for human consumption and used for good reason.

Imahara said that TBHQ is added to the McDonald’s fries as a food preservative. Cutting potatoes into fry shapes is apparently not all that goes into the numerous steps it takes to made the McDonald’s menu favorite. The Idaho potatoes are ushered through a cutter at 70 miles-per-hour in order to create the thin sticks which are ultimately scooped into a fry box.

The McDonald’s fries are then “sauced” with a blend of ingredients which include soybean oil, canola oil, natural beef flavor, hydrolyzed wheat, hydrongenated soybean oil, hydrolyzed milk, dimethylpolysiloxane, and citric acid. Dextrose, a sugar, is then reportedly sprayed onto the fry shapes to create the golden color. Sodium acid dimethylpolysiloxane is then added to prevent the McDonald’s fries from turning gray.

Last, but most assuredly not least, salt is sprinkled onto the fries to officially make them McDonald’s French Fries. The tasty little sticks are then flash frozen at the Idaho potato processing plant and shipped to McDonald’s restaurants across the country.

Once the French fries arrive at restaurants, they are fried for the second time in a blend which is reportedly similar to the mix used at the processing plant. The fry mix reportedly includes tertiary butylhydroquinone and hydrogenated soybean oil, a manufactured form of trans fat.

Does knowing how McDonald’s fries are made make you any less likely to order them the next time you ride through the drive-thru?

[Image via: Good Morning Center]