Over the weekend I went back home to Philadelphia to watch the first game of the Phillies playoffs in the City of Brotherly Love. While munching out while watching the game, somehow the topic of the love for french fries was brought up. My one friend mentioned that McDonald's french fries are so good because they include a meat extract in the ingredients. I didn't believe her but after some research, unfortunately,With some research, I discovered that this isn't old news, unfortunately, to me it was!Even though this fast food franchise claims since 1990 that its fries are cooked in pure vegetable oil, company spokesman Walt Riker said that McDonald's never said its fries were appropriate for vegetarians and always told customers that their flavor comes partly from beef.Harish Bharti, a Seattle lawyer who filed a suit against McDonald's says the confirmation that the company uses beef extract to flavor its fries validates his case. Riker adds that usingas a synonym for beef extract is within federal food and drug administration guidelines.The reason for this meat extract McDonald's claims is that in 1990, instead of frying their potato products in beef tallow, they started to cook it in pure vegetable oil but because of the lack of beef tallow, they included a meat extract in the actual potatoes. While the fries are not cooked in beef fat anymore, they do contain a small amount of beef flavoring. It is during the par-frying process that the beef flavor is added.The main question consumers have is WHY?! Why would McDonald's add beef flavoring to french fries potatoes and hash browns? The taste of any fried food is largely determined by cooking oil and for years McDonald's had cooked its fries in 93% beef tallow and 7% cottonseed oil. This mixture gave fries a distinct flavor that the world craved. When McDonald's changed to 100% vegetable oil the taste of their fries was altered and in order to maintain the original flavor, a small amount of beef flavoring was added.So for me this rises a question of clearness and integrity in the general restaurant and fast food business. It's obvious that including an odd ingredient such as meat flavoring is something that a lot of people with strict diets would like to be aware of but it's not common enough for us to be worried about. What other ingredients are included in everyday foods that we don't know about? Why isn't McDonalds' finding an alternative ingredient to bring the flavor back? Does including a meat extract in the french fries alter the nutritional value of protein and fat dramatically?