Does McDonald's Use Real Eggs?

Breakfast is big business for McDonald's, and much of their menu is dominated by items that contain eggs. The only problem is that not all of those items are actually made with real, fresh eggs. In fact, only a single item on the McDonald's breakfast menu is made with fresh, additive-free, right-outta-the-shell, cracked eggs. That honorable distinction, according to Business Insider, goes to the one and only Egg McMuffin. 

Naturally, this begs the question of what exactly are the rest of those so-called eggs that are in all of their other breakfast items made of? 

The eggs on every other breakfast sandwich, breakfast burrito, or breakfast platter are made of a cooked liquid egg mixture. McDonald's knows that this is a hot button topic for its customers and addresses the issue on their website saying, "Across all five styles of eggs we make, you can feel confident knowing they all start with a real egg." Of course, the keyword there is "start," because there's more to the formula. 

The folded eggs that you might find on a McGriddle or biscuit sandwich are made with liquid eggs that are cooked before being flash frozen and sent off to stores where they're reheated on the grill with some butter. The process is the same for the scrambled eggs that go on the Big Breakfast platter, although the eggs for the breakfast burrito are warmed up in the microwave, according to CNBC.

As for what's in those liquid eggs that are scrambled or folded and then flash frozen? It's mostly a lot of preservatives with less than appetizing names like sodium acid pyrophosophate, monosodium phosphate, and everyone's favorite – soy lecithin. 

These preservatives are added to retain the egg taste, color, and texture, but if you want a fresh egg on any your breakfast sandwiches, don't hesitate to hack your order and tell them you want the "round egg" instead.