Where, Exactly, Does McDonald's Source Its Beef?

It's a surprise to no one that McDonald's is one of the largest fast-food chains in the world, popping out just shy of . Besides the ever-greasy, ever-so-salty french fries, hamburgers are the second most popular item on the menu (more specifically, the Big Mac). With dozens of fast food recalls in the last few years alone, customers have become more vigilant about the kind of foods they're consuming, and rightly so.

If you've ever wondered where McDonald's sources its uber-successful burger meat you might be interested to know that the largest suppliers are based right here in the United States. According to McDonald's, the fast-food chain's beef is obtained from a variety of farms across the globe, but the two biggest American suppliers are Oklahoma City-based Lopez Foods and Pennsylvania-based Keystone Foods. The McDonald's website claims that the organization uses "responsibly grown ingredients from the McDonald's community of farmers" in a commitment to build a "better McDonald's" with customer care in mind.

Considering the chain from some classic menu items in 2018, McDonald's seems to understand the demand for simpler ingredients. McDonald's' beef with beef Lopez Foods, a pioneer of the meatpacking industry with decades of experience behind it, has supplied McDonald's with beef patties since the late 1960s. Today, you'll find that Lopez Foods supplies meat not only to McDonald's, but also to Walmart, Starbucks, and Burger King, as well.

Keystone Foods, the family-run b.