Minsk McDonald’s… does not cook hamburgers

Famous chef Jamie Oliver has won his action against McDonalds. Mr. Oliver proved that ammonium hydroxide was used in their hamburgers. The company has promised to change the recipe.

The recipe is the same all over the world, Belarusian McDonald’s told Euroradio:

“Hamburgers taste the same in the USA, Ukraine or Russia,” they told me during an excursion to McDonalds.

I was embarrassed because Mr. Oliver said that McDonald’s used ammonium hydroxide for hamburger meat and the substance is bad for your stomach. It becomes unapt for food because of it, the famous British chef thinks.  

The Belarusian restaurant claimed that McDonald’s had never used ammonium hydroxide in its hamburgers and never would.

Minsk restaurants only get prepared food and finish cooking it, Euroradio learnt.

A lot of attention is paid to the quality of food and clients’ safety, employees said.

The manager often visits farms in Russia and Brest Province to control the quality of products. She showed us photographs made at a dairy farm.

All employees wash their hands before entering the kitchen, there is even a list of all the people who wash their hands and the number of times is indicted there. They wear gloves while working with products.

I found accounts of McDonald’s employees in social networks – I wanted to hear the unofficial version too.  

A junior manager eats McDonald’s food.

“I eat it at work but I don’t even want to look at it when I’m not at work,” the manager described her professional problem.

They wash hands every hour and cook in gloves, the girl said:

“Even the cash desks are disinfected regularly.”

However, I found a picture of her holding hamburger meat close to her mouth on VKontakte. Even the people who commented on it said that the girl “neglected the standards”.

Euroradio asked Minskers whether they ate fast food. Half of them said that they had been to McDonald’s and other fast food restaurants before.

“I know that this food in unhealthy but I sometimes want to eat something like that.”

 “We used to go to McDonald’s rather often when the children were small but we don’t do it anymore.”

“I know that this food is unhealthy but I eat it rather often. I like pizza.”

“I frequently go to McDonald’s but I usually order a salad and tea. I eat hamburgers from time to time.”

"I have been going to this restaurant for two days and I am feeling heaviness in my stomach.”

Only 2 out of 10 people confessed that they did not go to fast food restaurants.

I went to another McDonald’s after the excursion and bought a hamburger. But I did not buy it for myself; I wanted to give it to a stray cat or dog. I found a cat. He was afraid to approach me at first: he did not trust me. However, he approached the food after a while. He ate the bun at first and then, after a bit of searching, he ate the meat too.