McDonald's burgers minus pickles = confectionery

[Little Galaxy]

I was casually chatting with two co-workers today and the subject turned to pickles - and eventually to McDonald's pickles and whether anyone actually eats the things.

One co-worker said she'd heard a claim that McDonald's are legally obligated to include the pickles in their burgers - because if they didn't, the burgers would have to be classified as confectionery due to their sugar content.

I've never heard this UL before - I've heard claims that McDonalds' buns have a high sugar content compared to regular white bread, but for the entire burger to be considered confectionery?

[Auntie Witch]

If they were legally obligated to include the pickles, then you wouldn't be able to order a burger without them.

[Jay Tea]

Here's a discussion on the subject from snopes 2004.

[mags]

It never ceases to amaze me when otherwise reasonably intelligent people will repeat as fact something that falls apart under even the smallest scrutiny.

The buns used in McDonalds' hamburgers and cheeseburgers have 4 grams of sugars. The small squirt of ketchup, on the other hand, has 2g. Which means that 4 grams across a bun that size is probably not much. Likewise, a single Lifesavers candy is over 2g sugar.

I think there would be much more complaints if the burgers were sold as confectionary than vice-versa to tell the truth.

The pickles, btw, offer almost nothing nutritionally other than a shot of Sodium and trace amounts of Calcium.

(oh, and as for me, I eat the pickles, but I have to peel them off and eat them first. I don't like them mixed in with the rest of the flavors)

[Eddylizard]

I eat the pickles, and if you are in McDonald's with me and you don't care for them I'll have yours too.

Yes the bread has a comparitively high sugar content so that it catamelises on a grill plate, giving the appearance of being toasted, but faster. Or so I was told when I was flipping burgers there.

But there are plenty of things in McDonalds one would not consider to be confectionary that don't have pickles, for example IIRC the basic hamburger.

Is there some sort of legal or tax thing involved which makes it desirable for a business to not call a thing "a confectionary" anyway?

[Jay Tea]

I had a bag of honey mustard pretzel pieces the other day. They were quote agreeable with a few cold beers, but something bugged me. The taste reminded me of something i'd eaten but it was so long ago all that remained of the memory was like a niggling thread I couldn't quite gather.

I passed the bag of pretzels to a mate and he took one bite and said "McDonalds. These taste exactly like McDonalds hamburgers"

I was, like, "THANK you!"

[snopes]

Comment: I've heard a rumour that McDonald's Big Macs have to have pickles
on them (despite nobody liking them) because otherwise they would be
classed as a dessert due to the high sugar content.....
Is this true?

[snopes]

This claim presumes:

a) The existence of some official standard about what constitutes a "confectionary."

b) The existence of some regulation that would have a deleterious effect on McDonald's if their hamburgers were to be classified as "confectionary."

c) The inclusion of pickles is the tipping point that determines whether or not a McDonald's hamburger qualifies under a).

I don't think either a) or b) exists, at least in the U.S.

[GenYus234]

Originally Posted by Eddylizard

But there are plenty of things in McDonalds one would not consider to be confectionary that don't have pickles, for example IIRC the basic hamburger.

In the US, the basic McDonald's hamburger has a pickle slice.

[chillas]

That depends on whether you get the traditional Big Mac or the new chocolate dipped, sugar glazed Big Mac, dusted with 10x.

[A Cat Named Easter]

My two pieces of McDonald's Pickle related trivial information come from the brief period (3 months) I worked there after High School.

1) If you place a fresh (ha!) pickle in the pool of grease that collects in that warped spot on the grill caused by using ice to clean it (thermal shock), then apply pressure with the spatula/scraper, it will emit a noise that sounds remarkably like a human scream.

2) If you use your spatula/scraper to flip a fresh (ha!), moist pickle towards the ceiling, and it stays up there long enough to dry out, it will remain there for a remarkably long time (at least three months).

I learned that last one after I noticed, during my first week working there, 9 or 10 dried bits of crud on the ceiling. I asked the guy training me what the story was and he flipped another 2 up there.

Sidenote: I didn't learn the reason why there was a dip in the grill until years later when I took another part-time job as a short order cook. The first time I tried to dump ice on the hot grill to clean it at the end of the night, I got hollered at "Don't do that! You'll warp the grill!"