Our Moms' third trip in 2009 took them to beautiful New Brunswick to visit both the McCain French fry facility and a local potato grower. This trip allowed the MQCs to see first-hand the quality and high standards they’ve come to expect from McDonald's and dispel some myths the Moms had about McDonald's World Famous Fries™.

This was the first time the Moms had the opportunity to meet with a grower and when asked about the experience on the farm Corinne said, "We [had] the privilege to visit Mr. Coté (aka Red) on his 300 acre farm. Mr. Coté has worked on this farm for over 50 years, first with his father and now with his son. In about 25 minutes we harvested 30,000 pounds of potatoes; I cannot put into words the excitement of being on the harvester but the photos and footage should capture it."

This experience coupled with the tour of the McCain French fry facility gave the Moms a well-rounded look at how a potato goes from farm to French fry. Some interesting things Naomi learned while visiting the McCain French fry facility include:

• "One Medium Potato makes 81 McDonald’s French Fries
• McCain blows the peels off the potatoes with high pressure steam; It works great but doesn’t smell so great
• McCain uses the peels and other potato waste for Biogas; there really is minimal waste and that waste is recycled and used to help run the machinery and other things in the facility."

"All French fries are the same. I mean, a French fry is just a French fry, right?

WRONG.

While, yes, the French Fries made for McDonald’s Canada are simple in their ingredients - potatoes and oil - there is nothing simple about the process that goes into making the deliciousness that you get every time you order them in restaurants across Canada. As McDonald’s Moms, we were lucky enough to visit the McCain plant in Grand Falls, NB to learn the ins and outs of the entire potato-to-fry process, and actually get out into the potato fields and ride an actual harvester - the machine that collects all the potatoes from the field. We even got to visit the Potato World Museum!"

The thoughts and opinions of the Moms' Quality Correspondents are their own and not those of McDonald's Corporation, McDonald’s Restaurants of Canada Limited or their affiliates.

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