Chicago-based McDonald’s USA announced in a release today that because of recent changes made to ingredients, its classic burgers now have no artificial preservatives, no artificial flavors and no added colors from artificial sources. (The pickle on top does contain an artificial preservative, however, but customers can skip it if they prefer.) The changes affect all 14,000 U.S. restaurants, and mark “the next major milestone in McDonald’s food journey and another way the company is helping customers feel good about the food they're enjoying,” McDonald’s officials said in the release.
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The classic burgers include the McDonald’s hamburger, cheeseburger, double cheeseburger, McDouble, Quarter Pounder with Cheese, double Quarter Pounder with Cheese and Big Mac.
Klosterman Baking Co., based in Cincinnati with large-scale bakeries in both Springboro and Springfield, is a major supplier of McDonald's sandwich bread, producing about 336 million buns annually for McDonald's restaurants in five states, a McDonald's spokesman said.
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Klosterman's Springboro bakery at 350 S. Pioneer Blvd. employs 114, and the company’s Springfield bakery at 508 W. Main St. has 196 employees. Klosterman's also has a Dayton depot on Wright Way that employs 12 and a depot and Thrift Store in Mason that employs 22,
Chad Gorrell, plant manager for Klosterman Baking Company, told this news outlet today.
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McDonald’s affiliation with Klosterman dates to 1973. The company is celebrating its 125th year in business this year.
“The Klosterman name has stood for quality since we started baking for local restaurateurs in southwest Ohio in the 1890’s,” Chip Klosterman, president of Klosterman Baking Company, said in a release. “We are so proud of our partnership with McDonald’s and the role that we can play in building a great burger for customers across our area.”
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“We’ve grown with McDonald’s over the decades, and we can’t wait to see what our future together has in store,”the fourth-generation bakery owner said.
Chris Kempczinski, McDonald’s USA president, said in a release, “From switching to 100 percent fresh beef in our quarter-pound burgers, cooked right when ordered, to removing artificial preservatives in our Chicken McNuggets, and committing to cage-free eggs by 2025, we have made significant strides in evolving the quality of our food.”
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“We know quality choices are important to our customers, and this latest positive change to our classic burgers demonstrates our committed journey to leading with the customer and building a better McDonald’s.”
As of today, nearly two-thirds of McDonald’s national burgers and sandwiches contain no artificial preservatives, artificial flavors and no added colors from artificial sources, chain officials said. To achieve this change, artificial preservatives were removed from McDonald’s real American Cheese, Big Mac Special Sauce, the regular bun, the Quarter Pounder bun (also known as the sesame seed bun), and the Big Mac Bun, McDonald’s officials said.
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