Until 1990, McDonald's fried its fries in a blend that was 93% what fat?

Until 1990, McDonald’s fried its fries in a blend that was 93% beef tallow.

The remaining 7% was cottonseed oil. Beef tallow is rendered beef fat, and it was valued for deep-frying because it produced a distinctive savory flavor and crisp texture. The blend helped create the taste many customers associated with McDonald’s original fries.

In 1990, McDonald’s switched to vegetable oil, largely in response to concerns about saturated fat and cholesterol. The change altered the flavor, so the company added beef flavoring to its new frying oil. That means the familiar claim that McDonald’s fries simply changed from beef fat to plain vegetable oil is incomplete.

This historical formula applied to the U.S. fries of that period; frying practices and ingredients can differ by country and over time. Tallow is also not the same as lard: tallow comes from beef or mutton fat, while lard comes from pork fat.