McDonald’s Will Use Fresh Beef In Burgers

McDonald’s announced the expansion of a major upgrade to its food quality.

McDonald’s has tested fresh beef quarter-pounders in 3,500 restaurants, and plans to bring the meat quality upgrade to most of its U.S. restaurants by May, Reuters reported.

The addition of fresh beef was an expensive upgrade for McDonald’s, and also required the company to develop a way of cooking fresh beef that would not slow down lines, according to McDonald’s U.S. President Chris Kempczinski, via Reuters.

A major burger chain competitor, Wendy’s, has long criticized McDonald’s for using frozen beef in its burgers, with recent ad campaigns seemingly unaware that McDonald’s had already been testing fresh beef. The Twitter account for McD Truth sent a tweet suggesting McDonald’s pivot into fresh beef would alter the burger paradigm.

“All I can say, if Wendy’s knew how well the fresh quarter pounder beef was doing at $MCD (and taking business away from competitors) they would steer clear of any reference of it. It’s more publicity for us. Thank you.

“No seriously, thank you.”

The fresh beef expansion comes as McDonald’s is improving food quality and increasing menu variety to counter competition from older rivals such as Wendy’s Co, as well as more premium chains like Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out, and Shake Shack Inc.

Reuters contributed to this report

Credit: Wochit Business