I know! When will we finally ban dihydrogen monoxide?
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Not using blog view is unscientific.
I think the point being made by several posters is that if the ingredient list is accurate, it would be available on a more scientifically-rigorous site as well, for linking purposes.
Why give the kind of traffic BB pulls to a charlatan?
Edited to add: didnât realize how long this thread got in in such a short time. Kudos to Mark for updating the piece to include info on the unreliability of the source, and for cutting the linkage to avoid giving more traffic than necessary.
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This must be why I prefer the fries when over in the US! Now, if only we could get the UK chicken nugget salt content back up to US levels!!!
Perhaps they should use some industrial clarifying chemicals instead.
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Interestingly, the UK doesnât add iodine to most of their salt.
Well, I found it interesting at least.
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This is so old. The proper IUPAC name is oxygen dihydride. (by analogy with boron trihydride).
On a slightly different note, I have seen suggestions that, on energetic grounds, polydimethylsiloxane should start to decompose at above 150C. So long as your fat is guaranteed not to reach that temperature it should be perfectly safe, but in real world cookery nothing is totally reliable.
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I canât speak to whether or not it works as a replacement for isinglass, but there are alternative gelatins readily available and used all over the world.
âKosherâ gelatin (used in a lot of yogurts, for example) is made from fish, which can be combined with dairy products whereas pork gelatin cannot. This is acceptable for Jews, Muslims, and Hindus. I donât know if what theyâre using is isinglass or a different gelatinous process.
All over Asia, seaweed is used to make agar agar, which is a vegan gelatin. This is also used in U.S. vegetarian foods such as vegan marshmallows.
When you see the term âcarrageenanâ in an ingredient list, it is a form of seaweed-based gelatin.
In candies, there seems to be a divide between corn starch and gelatin: if the ingredient list includes one, it never seems to include the other. So thatâs another source for making a food gelatinous without using actual animal gelatin.
These are all very common.
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Perhaps things have changed significantly at McDâs since I was a kid desperate for income. Back then, they had separate fryers for fries, nuggets, fish and pies. Have they consolidated these stations?
Ahh, but the ânatural beef flavorâ listed in the US ingredient list isnât what Mark and the Food Babe were complaining about.
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As an aside - the McDonaldâs Canada Nutrition Centre website is pretty impressive - on the ingredient lists for each food item, thereâs a little âiâ that you can click to find out exactly what each ingredient is and why itâs in there. An example explanation for why sodium acid pyrophosphate is included:
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I am loving it = ailing vomit.
That explains why they contracted the âI amâ to âIâmâ then. 
@Silvergamma Why do you say they donât line up? The only difference I see is the layout of the words.
Looking over the ingredients list I find three basic differences:
The US version has beef flavoring (I strongly suspect this was done to keep as close to the original taste as possible when they switched away from using animal fat) and a preservative and something to maintain color. I wouldnât be surprised if these are all relatedâperhaps itâs the beef flavoring that necessitates the others.
The fourth difference is an anti-foaming agent but note that itâs in the oil, not the fries themselves. The UK version doesnât seem to give any details about the oilâit very well might be there but not mentioned.
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While Iâve never worked at one, and Iâm only speaking from experience in the US, they typically have one big fryer with compartments, but all share the same oil.
CSB: a very delicious taco joint here had been attracting quite a few vegetarians, since their veg tacos were outstanding. Apparently one of their chefs was fired recently.
The reason? Duck fat was used to fry the vegetables. (They were really, really good)
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Neither agar agar nor carrageenan are gelatin. They are gelling agents yes (as well as thickeners and stabilizers) but that doesnât make them gelatin. Gelatin is a very specific substance made from cooking down animal proteins. When I talk about rumors of vegan gelatin Iâm talking about rumors about real gelatin not derived from animals (often specifically made using bacteria as Shaddack mentioned).
Agar agar and carrageenan can (and are) used as gelatin substitutes, but only for certain applications and often with additional ingredients as well. The sort of gelling and thickening they provide doesnât quite match up with what gelatin can provide. Try tossing some carrageenan in some liquid and some gelatin in the same liquid. The results are going to look more like pudding, or more firm/rubbery/grainy/slice-able (depending on how much you use), than jello like. Same with agar agar. (We did this with milk in a high school science class). For candy this doesnât matter as much. Candies are mostly sugar, and their textures mostly come from manipulating sugarâs temperature and concentration. Marshmallows are mostly puffed aerated sugar, but they need to be stabilized (rather than gelled). It used to be done with mucilage, but gelatin is cheaper and easier to get and provides a bouncier/dryer texture. In terms of corn starch in candy. You donât see it used where gelatin is because it fulfills a different purpose. Its a starchy thickener and provides a different texture. The sorts of candies where you use corn starch are not (generally) the sorts of candies where you would want to use gelatin. And where one is subbed for the other youâll end up with a noticeably different texture.
But the fact that all of these things exist give proof to my point that there is a market for a real gelatin (or suitably identical substitute) that isnât derived from animals. None of this stuff is used (directly) as fining agents in beer, because there are already large numbers of products that can be used for fining your beer ( some of which do contain carrageenan or other gelling agents). In fact Isinglass isnât all that common outside of home brew and certain traditional styles.
That one was for fries, and was typically visible to customers at McDâs. It had many compartments to accommodate higher volumes for lunch and dinner rush, but was only used for fries. There were several other fryers in the parts of the kitchen customers canât typically see. Back in the day, anyway.
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