The QUALITY Scouts

LYNCHPIX

It’s been a very busy month here at LynchPix towers with lots of interesting projects undertaken. One of the most enjoyable (and the most challenging) was the McDonald’s “Quality Scouts” initiative. To give you a bit of background on the project, McDonald’s is very proud of it’s British & Irish supply chain which wasn’t impacted by the horsemeat scandal, so they invited selected members of the general public to see for themselves & tour the various facilities & organisations that help create some of their most iconic products.

We opened with the Big Mac tour breaking down each individual ingredient that makes up this flagship item. The tour began in Chichester at Nature’s Way Foods, the producers of Big Mac lettuce with scout leader & “Quality Scouts Ambassador” Phil Vickery.

We cracked on with the tour starting out in one of their enormous lettuce fields where the product is picked.

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Before moving into the production plant where the lettuce is washed, trimmed & bagged.

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Next stop was the sweltering hot Guenther Bakeries facility in Newbury, Berkshire where the unmistakable triple-decker bun is created.

It’s a truly enormous operation turning out thousands of buns per day. The volume is so great that the dough has to be moved in giant metal baths!

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Before it’s filtered into the massive machinery & dropped out on giant baking trays.

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One thing that I picked up more than anything else on this project is the amount of quality control that takes place. At every single stage for all the items shot throughout this two month project, there was some form of check.

Once the product is OK’d, it’s bagged, racked & distributed across the country.

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Our final stop of this very busy opening day was one of the many independent UK cattle farms McDonald’s source from.

After such a hectic day, it was the perfect end standing in a lush field in the peaceful Berkshire countryside- and big Phil found himself an admirer!

We started day two at a nearby abattoir where the cattle are slaughtered & butchered before heading north to OSI Food Solutions- the patty plant where those prime cuts of beef are formed into burgers.

Oh did I forget to mention the outfits?

Entering these enormous facilities did have one drawback- the get up we had to wear!

Big thanks to Quality Scout Alan Macdonald (no relation!) for this flattering shot of yours truly…

Back to OSI where the meat is checked over again before being minced, pressed & formed into perfect patties with nothing added whatsoever. At the final stage of production, they are simply frozen to retain the shape & integrity of the product for transportation to the restaurants.

The final stop of day two was a nearby restaurant where the scouts had a chance to cook their own Big Macs.

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The second Quality Scouts tour saw us breaking down their breakfast favourite; the Sausage & Egg McMuffin.

After a mammoth drive north, we kicked off in Penrith up near the Scottish border.

As it’s a morning product unavailable at the back end of the day, we did things in reverse & our scouts began with orientation at a nearby restaurant where they had a go at cooking their own.

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We then took a short drive to The Lakes, a free-range farm where McDonald’s source their eggs.

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The chickens’ surroundings were absolutely luxurious!

After touring the fields, we headed into the barn where the eggs are collected & graded.

Each of the unique numbers on the eggs above can be traced back to the farm where it was laid- now that’s traceability.

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We then headed into the plant where the eggs are checked again before being boxed & packed.

Our final stop of the day was Guenther bakeries’ Lancashire facility to see how the muffins are made.

We kitted up in more gorgeous balaclavas & headed into the factory.

As with the Newbury plant, the scale of production was just staggering.

We started with dough & followed it down the line.

It’s formed into doughballs which filter down to trays before passing along a conveyor belt into the towering ovens.

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After one last quality control stop,the buns are packed & shipped out.

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We kicked off day two on a pig farm in Nottinghamshire.

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We slipped into some very swanky(!) boiler suits before having a wander around the facilities.

We started out in the open-air fields before moving inside where we had a ball with the piglets. Pigs are by far my favourite of farm animals- they’re so intelligent & inquisitive (and they taste good too).

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Then it was a short trip to the nearby abattoir before heading back up to OSI to see the sausage patty production.

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We wrapped the day with the all-important taste test- my favourite bit!

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My third & final Quality Scouts tour broke down the production of McDonald’s’ famous French fries.

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We began on the Elvenden Estate in Suffolk where the potatoes are grown.

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It was straight out into the field where the scouts had a go at harvesting the spuds.

Before moving through to sorting.

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Then we headed across to Peterborough & the McCain factory.

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The potatoes are once again checked before being fed into production.

The skins are steamed off.

Before they are prepared for chipping.

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The final factory stop was Quality Control where random batches of fries are removed from the conveyors, scrutinised, cooked & tasted.

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From the McCain factory, it was a short drive to the last stop of the day & indeed the entire project- a nearby restaurant so the scouts could cook their own batches of fries.

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Even the used cooking oil is accounted for! It’s pumped away with the delivery vehicles, refined & turned into biodiesel that powers those very trucks!

ENJOY!