Lee Ann

Our latest adventure took us to North Baltimore, Ohio, where we got an inside look at a Keystone Foods beef facility.   Our visit coincided with the recent launch of the new Angus Third Pounder, so it was interesting to learn not only about what goes into the other McDonald’s® hamburger patties, but how the Angus burgers are different.    Perhaps the biggest question some people may have is, “are the burgers really all beef?”  Yes, they are.

This facility basically purchases raw meat and grinds it into a ground beef mixture that meets McDonald’s specifications, including fat content.  While these specifications are proprietary, Keystone assured us that the resulting fat content is WELL below the USDA definition of 30% fat content for ground beef.  The mix of beef contains fresh domestic grain-fed and grass-fed beef and frozen domestic and imported beef. 

We saw the operation from the beef backing up to the docks for secure unloading to sealed boxes of patties ready to be sent to distribution centers.   Just as we’ve seen at the other suppliers, processes designed for safety and quality are very tightly controlled.  Each delivery truck is bolted shut when it leaves the supplier and ONLY a Keystone employee may cut that bolt off.  If a truck driver, for example, cuts it, the whole load is rejected.   There are two metal detection points.    Meat is lab-certified e.coli free when it arrives, but is also checked again….and again.  Temperatures throughout the process are monitored.  There are also methods to remove any small amounts of cartilage or bone remaining in the raw meat.  The patties are quick-frozen (even the largest Angus patties can be frozen through in a little over 2 minutes).  The plant is completely cleaned and sanitized every single day.   Further, the USDA inspectors have their offices on-site at Keystone. 

I came away with great confidence about the safety of the hamburger meat I eat at McDonald’s.

Before this trip, I had not had the opportunity to try a new Angus burger.  We were able to try an Angus Deluxe and it was really good.  It’s not only a larger patty than the other McDonald’s hamburgers, it’s also constructed differently.  The best way I can describe it is that instead of the meat being “smooshed” together into a patty, inside the Angus patty you will see “columns” of meat.  After apparently four years of research and testing, this construction gives the right combination of taste and feel – crumbles in your mouth and yet gives a little chew, similar to a steak.  And those columns?  Juices can and do accumulate between them to help ensure a very juicy burger.

I can’t leave my reporting without commenting on two more aspects that I continue to be impressed by.  As with everyone I have met so far on this journey, the Keystone personnel seem to love what they do and are passionate about their work, which I believe is a key driver to ensure quality in both a company and its products.  Several of the people we met have been with Keystone for almost their whole careers, and others have spent their whole career in some aspect of the beef industry, which gives them great knowledge and expertise.  In addition, Keystone sends representatives to individual McDonald’s restaurants to make sure the hamburgers they provide end up being consistently cooked and served the way they are meant to.  Further, they send representatives backward in the supply chain to meat packers, as well as farmers and ranchers, to keep ensuring quality – of both the animals and the meat – all the way through.

Lee Ann Crochunis
McDonald’s Moms Quality Correspondent