Tuesday, January 15, 2013

McDonald's in the news again (food)

So McDonald's was in the news last week as they will begin a test of Mighty Wings in Chicago. The Mighty Wings fried chicken wings concept began at McDonald's in the 90's, but disappeared around 2003 until a recent promotion in Atlanta last year proved to be a success.

While I will sometimes eat my share of McDonald's, I do acknowledge the possible harm that they as a corporation tend to do. I wrote almost three years ago about the sustainability of fish used in McDonald's filet-o-fish. Since then, I've only read worse and worse things about fish factory farming, although not directly related to McDonald's.

Could we be heading that way with chicken wings? Chicken wing prices have already almost doubled in a year, and with already-high demand, I can't see McDonald's venture into this space helping prices any.

While on the subject of McDonald's, their most recent 2 for $3 breakfast promotion is the steak and egg burrito. This leads me to ask a question that seems simple and yet I can't find a definitive answer to it on the internet. What constitutes "steak" and how does it differentiate from "beef" in terms of naming and advertising? Is it specific parts of the cattle? Is it the way it's cut? We have slices of roast beef, and yet cheesesteak is also thinly sliced. Ground meat is hamburger, except when it's salisbury "steak". I wrote about USDA labeling back when the whole Taco Bell seasoned "beef" lawsuit came out a couple of years ago, but the difference between beef and steak just feels like it should have a simple solution, not another case of seeing what you can get away with.

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