McDonald’s Insider: What Goes Into Your Favourite McDonald’s Meal From Farm-To-Fork?

As you tuck into your favourite meal at McDonald’s, has it ever crossed your mind just what exactly goes into making that absolutely delish burger and fries?

While we usually lap up our Filet-O-Fish or McSpicy burger in no time, we do have our moments of curiosity. What makes the food at McDonald’s taste so good it’s practically our go-to comfort food at all time?

You can imagine how exuberant we were when we received the invitation to an exclusive #McDonaldsInsider trip. It’s not everyday that one gets to go behind the scenes and witness how the sapid patties and succulent McNuggets are made.

So off we went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on a #McdonaldsInsider trip to see for ourselves what goes inside our favourite McDonald’s meal from the farm to the fork.

Before that, here is a sneak peek into the #McdonaldsInsider trip where we made our own (miniature) fries – it looks as good as the real deal – and savoured the one-and-only McDonald’s Ayam Goreng in Malaysia. It’s hard not to salivate just at the thought of it.

The full video is right down below!

Buns Are Baked For McDonald’s Singapore At ARYZTA 

The first stop was Aryzta, a Swiss-based bakery production facility in both Singapore and Malaysia but we visited the one in Malaysia.

Aryzta bakes regular buns used for menu items including Filet-O-Fish and Cheeseburger, sesame seed buns for burgers such as the McSpicy, Big Mac buns, and glazed buns for burgers in the Signature Collection. It also bakes wholegrain muffins for breakfast items.

McDonald’s restaurants in Singapore receive approximately 180, 000 buns from ARYZTA daily. Each year, the amount of buns baked can come up to a staggering figure of 61 million. That’s how much we love munchin’ on our buns from McDonald’s.

Food safety and quality are also paramount for McDonalds and their partners, as they conduct regular checks to ensure that quality isn’t compromised at all time.

Manual and machine checks are conducted before the buns are delivered to McDonald’s restaurants, while ensuring that the buns meet presentation standards. Rejected buns are donated and used as animal feed. All buns also go through a metal detector to scan for foreign objects.

 

 

MacFood Delivers Only The Freshest Ingredients To McDonald’s Singapore

As for poultry, fish and beef as well as vegetables, MacFood takes pride in ensuring that these ingredients are properly handed in tightly controlled environment. But before that, we had to suit up and here’s a sneak peek into the necessary yet interesting process:

At the advanced production facility, every step of the cold chain is carefully monitored in a bid to ensure all safety and hygiene protocols are met. There is also a stringent segregation between the low-risk and high-risk environment (especially between the low temperature and high heat areas) to prevent any cross-contamination.

Aside from the food safety issues, a great deal of effort also goes in ensuring that the livestock is not subjected to abuse or ill treatment. The slaughterhouses from which MacFood receives their supply are also carefully audited to ensure that they abide by the strict rules and regulations imposed by the relevant authorities.

As one of the world leaders in food manufacturing, cold storage and distribution, MacFood has also received numerous accreditations from the relevant authorities.

The facility in Malaysia has obtained HACCP Certification (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) Program for its food safety management system as well as ISO 9001:2000 certification by SIRIM QAS. Apart from that, it has received HALAL certification by HDC/JAKIM in compliance to the Malaysian Halal Certification procedures.

Adding on, the facility is also regularly audited by Keystone Foods Group, which is an international leader in food safety. Indeed, both McDonald’s and MacFood are conscientious at every step of the way – from the food leaving the farm to entering the manufacturing facility at MacFood – so as to retain the freshness of the ingredients. The sheer amount of assiduous efforts is simply palpable once we had a taste of how Filet-O-Fish patties tasted, sans the mayonnaise sauce.

It’s so good on its own that we wish McDonald’s sells them separately but hey we aren’t complaining as we still love the fluffy buns in our Filet-O-Fish burger! In fact, MacFood does such a fantastic job that some of their patties are used as a yardstick for other production facilities across the world to adhere to. It’s literally the best here at MacFood.

From time to time, MacFood would also send over food samples to the McDonald’s laboratory in Hong Kong for checking. Fans of McDonald’s can be rest assured of the premium quality one’s getting even with mass production.

So how does the end product look?

While we may associate fast food with convenience, it’s nothing like that when it comes to food production for McDonald’s Singapore. If anything, the iconic Golden Arches go the extra mile to ensure nothing but the best goes into her ingredients throughout the supply chain.

Given the onslaught of gourmet food these days, it’s understandable that customers are becoming more discerning. That being said, McDonald’s Singapore has an answer to that – which is none other than the Signature collection for more particular tastebuds.

The Classic Angus Cheese with 100% Angus beef in the collection is hands-down our favourite and McDonald’s continues to be a staple in our lives as we still relish a classic Filet-O-Fish meal whenever the craving for McDonald’s kicks in.

 

Now you see why all of us are lovin’ it and this should also give you more reason to keep lovin’ it too!