Fast food has been an everyday part of modern society for so long, it's hard to imagine where we'd be without it. How could society function without easy, immediate access to delicious treats? Where would we get our daily recommended dose of nuggets?! Like many other conveniences of modern society, fast food chains have also been the target of a wide range of rumors, myths and misinformation, especially about their ingredients. After all, we all want to know what we're eating. And it doesn't help that all fast food outlets are secretive about their recipes, which only encourages us to speculate (and obsess over) what restaurants are actually putting in our food. For example, should we believe the old myth that McDonald's burgers actually made from worm meat? And who knows what disgusting substances might be lurking in the "secret sauce?" Why else would they keep it so secret?
And the problem's only gotten worse since the rise of the internet. While gross food rumors used to be confined to playground gossip, they can now be spread, e-mailed, and infinitely memed directly into your favorite aunt's Facebook account, before eventually getting picked up by even reputable news agencies. That's why we've compiled, researched, and debunked the biggest fast food ingredient myths for you. So you can just sit back and enjoy your McDonald's burger in peace, secure in the knowledge that it's completely worm-meat free.
Read more: American Burger Chains Ranked From Worst To Best
Taco Bell isn't really known for its dessert menu, which largely consists of little balls of Cinnabon dough and Cinnamon Twists, which are sweet crunchy treats that look and taste like churros designed for an American Girl doll. But these Cinnamon Twists are also the source of one the chain's longest running myths. Specifically, that they're just rotini pasta that have been deep fried and rolled in cinnamon and sugar. It's a rumor that's been around so long that we've written about the Cinnamon Twist pasta myth before, and you can even find videos online of people claiming you can recreate the dish by frying up some store-bought pasta in your own kitchen.
But before you try to save a whole buck-fifty by frying up some homemade twists, you should know that it's not true. Sure, the uncooked twists look like spiral pasta, but they're actually a type of wheat puff based on a Mexican dish called "Duros de harina," which literally translates to "hard flour." Also called "Mexican wheel chips," "chicharrones de harina" or "duritos," these little wheat pellets puff up when they fry, creating a light, golden treat. And while they do share many of the same ingredients as rotini, pasta is made to be boiled for a long time, so they won't puff up in the same way. You're better off paying that $1.50, or just buying some actual duros de harina to fry up properly.
If there's one thing Arby's wants its customers to think about, it's meat. It's why the menu is mostly meat and Arby's motto is "we have the meats." And it doesn't hurt that its name even sounds like R.B., the initials for "roast beef," although it turns out that's just a coincidence. (You can read about the real story behind Arby's name here.) But with all this meat-focused marketing, Arby's must hate that a lot of people believe that it doesn't use real meat, and that the stuff it uses is delivered to stores in gel form. And that workers have to then mold and shaped the gel into its final meaty form before serving, which actually sounds kind of fun. It must be like sculpting some delicious, savory Play-Doh.
No one knows how this rumor exactly started, but Snopes speculates that it might have come from the fact that Arby's meat is delivered to the stores in sealed bags filled with a thick basting broth. And looking at one of those sealed bags, it would be easy to think that the broth is the meat itself in a gelatinous form. But Arby's has kept pushing back at the rumor, even giving tours of the kitchens to press outlets to prove that its meats are all real and not poured out of a bag, although that does sound lazily delicious.
One of the most well-known fast food rumors of all time is that Kentucky Fried Chicken had to change its name to KFC because they started using genetically modified birds that couldn't legally be called "chicken." Of course, the company completely denies it, with KFC spokesman Ric Maynard telling Business Insider in 2016, "There is absolutely no truth to this ridiculous urban legend, which has been debunked many times. KFC uses only top quality poultry from trusted companies like Tyson and Pilgrim's Pride -- the same brands customers know from their local supermarkets."
But you don't have to take the brand's word for it, as KFC won a 2016 lawsuit against three Chinese tech firms for spreading the rumor with doctored photos of eight-winged chickens. And if it was true, why does KFC still use the name "Kentucky Fried Chicken" on its website and menus? But if that's not the reason, why did KFC change its name?
There are several theories, including the fact that "KFC" was just shorter and more convenient, while another is that it wanted to drop the word "fried" for sounding unhealthy. Another possible reason is that in 1990, the state of Kentucky trademarked its own name, demanding money from businesses that used it in their title. However, KFC reached an agreement with the state in 2006 over the name, which is likely why the website went back to using Kentucky Fried Chicken.
We've previously reported on some signs that Wendy's may not be around for long, and one thing that probably isn't helping is the rumor that the FDA found horse meat in Wendy's chili. Unlike most of the other myths here, we know at least one of the main sources of this rumor, specifically a 2022 Facebook post that showed a Photoshopped illustration of a horse being fed into a meat-grinder above a quote from "Wendy's Chief Executive Director Boris." The quote reads, "We only use about 60% beef, the rest is made of meat fillers mostly equine(Horse) meat. Using this type of meat is a cheaper expense for us, allowing us to competitively price our food while been profitable at the same time. What we are doing is not illegal or unhealthy. The FDA has approved the contents of the meat."
As you might have guessed, this awkwardly phrased statement combined with a faked image of animal torture wasn't an official Wendy's statement, the FDA didn't approve anything and there wasn't even a Boris on the Wendy's management team. In fact, the FDA isn't even responsible for testing meat quality, which is the job of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And of course, Wendy has repeatedly denied these charges, saying on Twitter, "We don't use horse meat, and we never have. It's all beef, and only beef."
Mexican fast food chain Taco Bell has had customers questioning the quality of its meat since the 1980s, with one popular rumor stating that its beef has been graded by the government as "Grade D but edible." However, that specific rumor is easily debunked, as the USDA doesn't grade beef with letters, but with terms like "prime," "choice," or "select." (The confusion might come from the fact that poultry meat is graded with the letters A, B, or C.)
As for what's actually in Taco Bell meat, that became public record when the brand was hit with a class action lawsuit in 2011 that alleged that its meat was only 35% with the rest being items like oats and other filler. The court case was eventually dropped after Taco Bell released more information about its ingredients, with Taco Bell maintaining that the meat was made from "100 percent premium beef." Although it turned out that 100% beef only made up 88% of the meat's total weight, with the other 12% taken up by seasonings and binders like maltrodextrin, torula yeast and modified corn starch, which may sound suspicious, but are commonly found in a wide range of prepared foods.
In 2011, photos of "boneless lean beef trimmings" started spreading all over the internet, showing a meat by-product made from leftover meat scraps, mixed together, and combined with ammonia to make a smooth-textured and very unappetizing paste. Dubbed "pink slime" by celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, the photos were commonly attributed to McDonald's, however the fast food giant denied that the pictures were from any McDonald's location, although it did use beef trimmings in its burgers. And while McDonald's stopped using those trimmings in 2012, the rumors continued to spread, eventually growing to say that not only were McDonald's burgers still made with the slime, but that McNuggets were also formed from the stuff.
It's a rumor that continues to this day, and McDonald's still has a section on its website about it, where it denies that it ever used pink slime in the McNuggets, saying that "Each and every one of our Chicken McNuggets® is made with USDA-inspected boneless white-meat chicken -- cut from the chicken breast, tenderloins and rib meat." And the listed McNugget ingredients don't include beef; only "white boneless chicken." As for the burgers, the website confirms that its beef patties are only made with "100% pure beef" and that "Some consumers may be familiar with the practice of using lean, finely textured beef sometimes treated with ammonia, which is referred to by some as 'pink slime.' We do not use this."
In 2020, Subway was hit with a class-action lawsuit that claimed that the sandwich-chain's tuna sandwiches didn't contain any tuna, with the plaintiffs saying that "In truth, the products do not contain tuna as an ingredient. On the contrary, the filling in the products has no scintilla of tuna at all. In fact, the products entirely lack any trace of tuna as a component, let alone the main or predominant ingredient." The story gained more traction after The New York Times subsequently ran an article claiming that it had had samples from three different LA subway shops tested and the lab couldn't identify tuna DNA in them, although the publication did report that a similar test by the TV show "Inside Edition" did identify the fish in the sandwiches as tuna.
Subway denied the charges, saying it only uses 100% wild-caught tuna in the sandwiches. And it also presented evidence from another DNA testing firm, who said that the tests the Times asked for wouldn't work, as it couldn't detect a specific protein of tuna DNA. To counter the rumors, it even created a website called SubwayTunaFacts.com, which still provides info on the ingredients and lawsuit. Eventually, Subway won the legal battle, as the lawsuit was finally dismissed with prejudice in 2023. However, this wouldn't be the last time Subway was sued over its ingredients, as in October 2024, it was hit with a class action lawsuit for allegedly skimping on meat.
What do you get when you order a McDonald's shake? Well, apart from one of the lowest quality milkshakes on the market, a lot of people on the internet are convinced you aren't getting any milk. As for what's actually filling your cup, there are some crazy-sounding guesses out there, including plastic, Styrofoam and even "eyeball fluid." This rumor seems to be based on the fact that McDonald's stopped calling its ice-cold treats "milkshakes," for the more generic name of "shakes." And without the milk in the name, who knows what's in them? You can see how someone might make the immediate leap to thinking their full of eye juice.
The only flaw in that theory is that McDonald's publishes an ingredient list on its website, which shows that the shakes are made of three main ingredients: reduced fat ice cream, shake syrup, and whipped light cream. And while the ingredients list for those ingredients do include milk, they don't include any of the disgusting other options the internet has suggested.
So, why did the Golden Arches stop calling them milkshakes? Well, a McDonald's spokesman told Business Insider: "Dairy regulations actually vary from state to state on what can officially be called a 'milkshake.' We like to keep it simple and refer to them strictly as 'shakes.'" And it certainly sounds easier to just use one word that would apply everywhere, instead of changing the name from state to state.
With their tiny size and square shape, White Castle sliders are already kind of weird. So it only makes sense that they also have one of the weirdest fast food myths, as some customers claim that the chain doesn't actually use onions in its sliders, but strips of cabbage. And if you're wondering why the cabbage doesn't taste like cabbage, according to this theory, the restaurant also dips the cabbage in onion juice to give them some onion flavor. Which definitely seems only slightly more complicated than the simple move of just cutting up some actual onions. And if White Castle can't get onions, where is it getting the onion juice from? (Also, why does my head hurt all of a sudden?)
Surprisingly, the rumor was widespread enough that White Castle used to have a whole section on its FAQ about it, which emphatically stated that "There is no cabbage (or turnips) used in a White Castle hamburger sandwich." And we don't want to know about the turnips. As to why the rumor started, the FAQ mentions that White Castle does use dehydrated onions on the sliders, similar to the ones sold as dried onions in supermarkets, which it had to start using in the '40s due to wartime rationing. So, perhaps people saw the weird, dehydrated onions and thought they were cabbages? It's possible. But whatever the reason, it's definitely weird.
As if coffee wasn't already addictive enough, some patrons have speculated that the Tim Hortons coffee chain laces its popular coffee with nicotine or MSG to further hook in drinkers. In fact, the coffee chain has a section about it in the FAQ on its website, which reads, "This urban myth is just that...a myth! Tim Hortons guests expect and deserve high quality coffee that is always fresh and consistent, along with fast, efficient service and all at a good value. Tim Hortons would like to clearly state that there is absolutely NO nicotine or MSG in our coffee. Tim Hortons coffee has NO ADDITIVES whatsoever. It is made only from a blend of the highest quality premium Arabica beans from several different coffee growing countries."
And if that statement isn't enough for you, we should mention that Nicotine is not allowed as a food additive by either the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, so that kind of tampering would be illegal. And the FDA also requires that any food with MSG be clearly labeled, so they wouldn't be able to slip that in, either. So if you're worried about something being extremely addictive at Tim Horton's, all you have to worry about is regular old caffeine. Oh, and the Timbits. Those things are extremely habit forming.
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