What Really Goes Into a McDonald’s Burger Patty

With specters of “pink slime” haunting their dreams, McDonald’s has launched a PR campaign to assure customers that their burgers are made of 100 percent beef. The burger empire enlisted Mythbusters’ Grant Imahara—a trustworthy guy if I’ve ever seen one—to tour the Cargill factory in Fresno, California, one of McDonald’s primary U.S. beef suppliers. And he’s ready to ask the hard questions.

“Are there lips and eyeballs in there, Jimmy?” Imahara asks Jimmy Rendon, Cargill Operations Supervisor.

“No, it’s 100 percent beef trimmings from a cow,” Jimmy answers.

And soon we’re treated to visuals of said beef trimmings making their way down a conveyer belt, through a monster meat grinder, and, finally, as they're eked out of an industrial patty former and frozen in a blast chiller. Just the way Grandma made them!

“Beef in, and beef out,” McDonald’s Director of Strategic Supply, Rickette Collins, promises.

But that doesn’t mean McDonald’s always lives up to the mouth-watering promises made in its ads. Cleanse your palate of positive corporate propaganda with this video from comedian Greg Benson in which he asks fast food restaurants to remake his meals to look like the commericals.