McDonald’s ups dairy use in new menu items through DMI partnership
DMI dairy scientists, Divya Reddy and Porter Myrick, collaborated with McDonald’s culinary team to create three new items using dairy products. DMI also provided McDonald’s with insights on dairy and consumers trends and taste preferences.
“DMI shares relevant dairy consumer trends and this is very critical when thinking about what ideas are going to go into recipe development,” Myrick said.
“They [McDonald’s] understand, as we do, that creating offerings such as these gives consumers what they want, and it’s also good for dairy farmers.”
The first item is white cheddar cheese slices to be used on McDonald’s ‘Signature Crafted Recipes’ sandwiches and the ‘Egg White Delight McMuffin’ that are more than 30% larger than the pasteurized process version previously used. The cheese will be available in 14,000 restaurants and a new sandwich using a garlic white cheddar will be added to the menu.
“Making a change in the new cheese is complex in that we’ve had to onboard dairy suppliers to assure supply in all 14,000 restaurants. We’ve had to address food safety and product quality consistency. Not to mention we’ve had to go out to all the restaurants and train everyone how to handle the new cheese… it’s no easy task,” Myrick said.
Second on the list of new dairy items is McCafé Turtle Coffee Beverages in three milk-containing varieties that will feature the “real dairy” logo and will be offered on the McCafé menu, which offers dairy in 90% of its items, according to DMI.
McDonald’s, through a partnership with Coca-Cola,q is also bringing dairy items to retail with a line of RTD McCafé Frappes in caramel, vanilla, and mocha. The new beverage line will expand in offerings later this year, according to McDonald’s.
“Projects such as these require the right strategy, consumer insights and testing, as well as marketing know-how,” Marilyn Hershey, chairman of DMI and a Pennsylvania dairy farmer, said.
