Cargill’s high oleic canola blend meets the food chain’s needs for healthy, flavourful frying
One of the world’s biggest users of high oleic canola oil says it will not shift to high oleic soybean oil once it is ready for commercialization.
McDonald’s made the switch to a high oleic canola oil blend in 2008 and does not intend to abandon the product despite exploring alternatives.
“We’ve looked at a high oleic soy, but we don’t want to talk too much about that (because) you might get nervous,” Mitch Smith, McDonald’s director of U.S. quality systems for agricultural products, told the 2015 International Rapeseed Congress.
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“No. I’m teasing. We actually looked at it and it really didn’t meet our standards.”
McDonald’s is pleased with the fry oil blend that Cargill supplies for its global operations. High oleic canola is the top oil in the blend, which also includes soy and corn oil.
The company decided in 1999 that it would have to move away from the blend of partially hydrogenated soy and corn oils that it had been using since 1990, which in turn replaced a tallow and cottonseed oil blend it had been using since 1955.
“This choice was in anticipation of new (trans fat) labelling laws,” Smith said. “As well, it was just the right thing to do.”
It took seven years of research followed by extensive consumer and expert taste testing to decide which of 18 possible blends would be the best fit for the company.
Lorin DeBonte, technical director of market development in Cargill’s specialty seeds and oils division, said McDonald’s is the company’s biggest customer.
McDonald’s serves more than 69 million customers a day from more than 35,000 restaurants operating in 125 countries.
The challenge was to create an oil blend with a secure supply chain that provided the taste that customers had come to expect in their fries.
Cargill’s Clear Valley 65 oil provided the taste and stability that McDonald’s was looking for in a fry oil along with zero trans fat and low levels of saturated fat. It became the foundation of the blend.
“There’s a lot of different genetics out there, but we’ve bred something specific that works in the McDonald’s system,” said DeBonte.
The original blend that was launched in 2008 didn’t live up to everybody’s expectations. Past McDonald’s chair Fred Turner wasn’t happy with the flavour of the company’s fries, so the formula was tweaked in 2010 by adding more soybean oil.
Gail Crockett, director of U.S. strategic supply chain management with McDonald’s, said that’s an example of why Cargill has exceeded expectations as a supplier.
“It’s great when things are smooth, but when you hit a couple of bumps, that’s really when you find out who you’re in partnership with,” she said.
Cargill also supplies McDonald’s with eggs, beef and liquid products such as sauces and dressings.
“It’s a strong partnership. I expect it will continue to be a strong partnership,” said Crockett.
She said Cargill was able to achieve a 20 percent increase in canola yields between 2007 and 2013, which decreased McDonald’s input costs during a period of rising food costs.
