McDonald's wants customers to know that it uses real eggs.
The fast-food chain has made a video showing the inside of a Michigan poultry factory where eggs are cleaned, cracked, and packaged for Egg McMuffins, McGriddles, biscuit sandwiches, and other McDonald's breakfast items.
The video is the latest installment in a series that McDonald's has made to shed light on its cooking practices.
According to the video, eggs arrive at the factory from nearby hen houses within 24 hours of being laid.
They are cleaned in warm soapy water, rinsed, and then examined under light to find imperfections:
Then they are weighed to determine whether they are large enough to be used for an Egg McMuffin, according to Harry Herbruck, the executive vice president of Herbruck Poultry Ranch, where the video was filmed.
Smaller eggs are sent to the "break room," where they are cracked to make liquid eggs, which are used in McGriddles and biscuit sandwiches. Preservatives and other additives are used in the liquid egg mixture, including sodium acid pyrophosophate, citric acid, monosodium phosphate and nisin.
Egg McMuffins are the only breakfast menu item containing eggs that are freshly cracked in McDonald's restaurants.
The rest of the chain's egg items, such as the scrambled eggs and egg whites, are made from liquid eggs, like the ones shown below.
The folded eggs and the egg that comes in McDonald's sausage burrito are premade from liquid eggs, then flash-frozen and sent to restaurants, where the dishes are warmed before being served.
Here's a graphic from the company that explains McDonald's egg cooking practices:
