McDonald’s faces a lot of jokes about the quality of its hamburgers.

Some critiques come from celebrity chefs.

“Strip a Big Mac back of everything it’s filled up with, and you’ve got two bland basics: fat and fodder,” Gordon Ramsay told The Takeout. “When you think of how exciting it is to make a hamburger from a chef’s point of view…then why do you have to buy that crap?”

Former McDonald’s Corporate Chef Mike Haracz has a different critique for his former employer.

“McDonald’s is making their regular cheeseburgers bad on purpose. I’m a former McDonald’s corporate chef and in this conspiracy theory, which I have a variety of information to back up, I think I realized why they made a variety of changes to the bun and burger process,” Haracz claims, according to the Daily Dot. “because they want the regular burgers the Big Macs, the double cheeseburgers, the McDoubles, to be bad!”

That’s a bold charge, but it’s not the worst claim made about McDonald’s hamburgers on the Internet. Instagram personality Snackolator addressed an urban legend about the chain in a recent post.

Internet personality takes on McDonald’s legend

It’s important to note that urban legends are just that, and there’s no evidence that McDonald’s uses anything other than beef from cows in its hamburgers.

“Is McDonald’s using human meat in their burgers? I’m getting a lot of comments like this, so let’s talk about it,” Snackolator posted.

That sounds absurd, but it’s a persistent urban legend that’s all over the internet.

“So, the theory goes that because McDonald’s sells about two and a half billion burgers annually, there aren’t enough cows on the planet to make all of those burgers and therefore they’re using human meat,” he added.

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It’s a bizarre theory that Snackolator quickly debunks.

“Clearly, this is wrong for multiple reasons, so let’s go over them real quick,” he shared.

• The most obvious is that people test meat to see what the ingredients are.
• If there were humans in there, we would know, right? If you were the one to discover that McDonald’s was using humans in their burgers, you’d win awards, you’d get cash prizes.

It’s obviously a silly idea that comes somewhere between a conspiracy theory and an obvious joke.

McDonald’s has addressed this rumor

While McDonald’s U.S. has not taken on the “human meat” rumor, the chain did respond to it on the wesbite for its Middle East restaurants.

“Are you using human meat in the food?” one person asked on the chain’s “Your Right to Know” page serving that region.

“Hi, no, we do not have any human meat in our burgers. We would like to assure you that we only use 100% pure, Halal beef and chicken in our food. That’s it! We source our beef from BRF in Abu Dhabi and chicken from McFood in Malaysia, which abide by our strict quality, safety, and Halal standards,” the chain responded.

McDonald’s recently improved its burgers

In 2023, McDonald’s upgraded its burgers.

“Our chefs have been cooking up small but tasty improvements to the Big Mac® sandwich, McDouble burger, and our classic Cheeseburger, Double Cheeseburger, and Hamburger,” the company shared in a press release.

The changes included:

• Softer, pillowy buns that are freshly toasted to a golden brown 
• Perfectly melted cheese that will make you want to savor every last bit off the wrapper  
• Juicier, caramelized flavor from adding white onions to the patties while they’re still on the grill  
• Even more of everyone’s favorite Big Mac sauce, bringing more tangy sweetness in every Big Mac bite 

“The improvements were clear. The new cooking technique has rendered the burgers more flavorful and juicy. The new moist, shiny, puffy, golden, buttery-tasting toasted buns are light-years better than the old ones, which is especially important in a sandwich with three bun sections,” Amy Reiter wrote for the Food Network.

McDonald’s has improved its burgers.

Shutterstock

McDonald’s faces added competition

McDonald’s made the changes at least partially because it has been facing increased competition in the burger space.

“Better-burger concepts have a lot going for them. First, they have the benefit of a basic and beloved menu focus. Raising the quality of the protein, bun, toppings and sides has been a winning formula. And a number of celebrity chefs have opened concepts that focus on burgers made with premium ingredients, helping to raise their profile,” Technomic Executive Vice President Darren Tristano said in a press release.

McDonald’s, the research firm noted, drives the limited-service burger market, accounting for “half of the segment’s business.”

Technomic’s research shared some key reasons why McDonald’s feels pressure in the space.

• Many full-service chains have gotten in on the better-burger action by adding gourmet burgers to their menus and have opened burger-focused spin off concepts offering build-your-own options.
• Quick-service burger chains have raised the quality of their burger offerings as well. Consumers place a premium on the quality of their burger: 74% rank the quality/taste of the meat or protein as the most important part of the burger.

McDonald’s has been pleased with the rollout of its “Best Burger” improved burgers.

“Our delicious burgers were also featured across many markets this quarter as we continued to showcase our strength in beef with a consistent approach to improving our fan favorites,” CFO Ian Borden said during the chain’s first-quarter 2024 earnings call.

Customer response has been strong as well.

“Now deployed in over 80% of our restaurants globally, Best Burger was recently introduced in France this quarter, delivering hotter and juicier burgers. Early results were promising, with lifts across our core burger categories and improved customer satisfaction in both our taste and quality scores,” he added.

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