McDonald's french fries - USA

[candyguru]

We give our daughters McDonald's french fries here in Canada as they do not contain peanuts, wheat, eggs, milk, etc and are made in a dedicated fryer.

We plan to cross the border this summer to the USA again and in case we decide to stop at a McDonald's in the USA, I checked the McDonald's USA web site.  And guess what.. McDonald's french fries in the USA contain both wheat and milk!  So we will have to avoid them.

A bit surprised there is such a difference between McDonald's USA and McDonald's Canada as I thought the recipes would be the same, as never expected they would use wheat and milk as french fry ingredients.

A reminder of the importance of always checking ingredients even if it may appear the product should be safe.

[YouKnowWho]

Yes, they have wheat and milk.  Plus shared fryer with egg if I remember correctly.

Burger King fries are in a dedicated fryer.  However they are dumped into the warmer that is separated but semi-shared with onion rings.  I admit we do give them to DS1 but I do so only after making sure there are no errant onion rings in the bag.  IMMV

[twinturbo]

While I don't recommend them to anyone avoiding wheat and cow's milk (as we do as well for one child), I believe they are flavorings from hydrolyzed wheat and casein hydrolysate which, at least for the casein hydrolysate is a broken down form of the milk protein fractions. On top of that it's cooked at a high temperature. The only reason I'm writing this is to share what I understand of those flavorings agents related to wheat and milk, and that if there's a kid out there already eating it without issue that's most likely the reason why. It wouldn't translate to eating the whole unbroken protein.

That's also good to know about Canadian McD's fries if we head to Canada.

[candyguru]

Thanks YouKnowWho and TwinTurbo.  My daughters react to trace amounts of wheat (DD1) and milk (DD2) so we'll have to skip the fries.

TwinTurbo:  yes, if you visit north of the border, the fries are safe no milk, no wheat).  However, be sure to check the McDonald's Canada website in case things do change one day.  Here is the link for ingredient/allergy info:

http://www1.mcdonalds.ca/NutritionCalculator/IngredientFactsEN.pdf

[twinturbo]

Be careful about sesame at USA McD. Not only is there no legal disclosure for sesame but I find sesame seeds all over the non-sesame buns and burgers. There is one McD spinoff called Chipotle it is a tex-mex style chain that could possibly work for all the kids' allergens. Some here with milk allergy have had success but personally I find stray cheese in my food often. But I don't ask for them to avoid cheese I just don't ask for it as an added item. They do have wheat tortillas on site but seem very allergy aware. There are also pinto and black beans so legumes that I know of though no pea or lentil or garbanzo protein that I know of.

[maeve]

Having worked at McD's in high school, the fries were made in separate fryers from the nuggets and filet o' fish.

[candyguru]

Be careful about sesame at USA McD.

Thanks for the info.  We would likely bring food from home (as usual) as too risky to feed the kids in a restaurant away from home.  When we stay overnight, we will pick a Marriott Residence Inn or something like that with a full kitchen suite so we can prepare foods that are safe.