McDonald’s USA To Fresh Beef in Quarter Pounders

By mid-2018, McDonald’s USA will serve fresh beef, prepared when ordered, in all Quarter Pounder burgers in most of its restaurants. The fresh beef burgers, cooked when ordered, are the latest step the company has made to meet customers’ changing expectations. All McDonald’s burgers use 100% pure beef with no fillers, additives or preservatives, the company said.

The initiative builds on other recent McDonald’s milestones, including its 2015 All-Day Breakfast commitment to only sourcing cage-free eggs by 2025, and its 2016 commitment to only serving chicken not treated with antibiotics important to human medicine; removing artificial preservatives from several menu items, including Chicken McNuggets; and eliminating high fructose corn syrup from buns.

“Today’s announcement is part of a continuing food journey for McDonald’s,” said McDonald’s USA President Chris Kempczinski. “Over the last two years, we have accelerated the pace of change around how we source and serve our food. Delivering fresh beef that’s prepared when our customers order their food is just another example of how we are raising the bar.”

“This represents a strong partnership between McDonald’s, Lopez Foods, and their other beef suppliers to support this initiative and deliver McDonald’s quality standards,” said Ed Sanchez, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lopez Foods.
Quarter Pounder burgers using fresh beef, cooked when ordered, were initially tested in 325 restaurants across the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area and 77 restaurants in Tulsa, Okla.