"Seaweed?" Michael Jones squinted at the hamburger in his hand, held it out curiously.
"Seaweed? Really? Yeah, it tastes fishy, now that you mention it."
He laughed, took another bite of the 91 percent fat-free burger (with a little seaweed added for binder.) "No, not really, it's not fishy. But maybe that's why it's a little bland. It doesn't have quite as much flavor as the regular burger stuffed with fat."
It was lunchtime yesterday at the Cranbrook McDonald's, debut day for McDonald's "McLean Deluxe" that the giant chain is promoting as a "revolutionary" new way to eat your beef, and diet, too.
The McLean burger, now available in half the Baltimore metropolitan area's 90 McDonald's, will be in all stores by April 19, the national roll-out date. But nowhere in the glittery signs advertising the new product is mention of the hidden ingredient -- carrageenan, a seaweed extract that helps bind water to lean beef to keep the patty moist.
Actually, dryness was a criticism voiced by a number of samplers at McDonald's in Cockeysville, Timonium and Towson who tried the McLean burger for lunch yesterday. Not enough taste was also cited.
"It does lack a little flavor," said Lynette Jones (no relation to Michael), a clerk at the Timonium McDonald's on her lunch break.
"I don't like the taste, I'll stick with the Big Mac," complained
Robert McKinney, lunching at an adjoining table.
However, another common reaction was that of John Stabile, who tried the McLean Deluxe at the Towson McDonald's. "It's OK," he said. "It tastes about the same as any other McDonald's burger. I would get it again."
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Don't let the carrageenan scare you off, said Jayne Hurley, nutritionist for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based consumer interest group that has been critical of high-fat menus in the fast-food industry.
"We're pleased that McDonald's has introduced the first lowfat hamburger ever," Ms. Hurley said. "This new burger has half the fat of the lean ground beef in the supermarket. McDonald's did it by replacing the fat with water and using a perfectly safe vegetable gum, carrageenan, to bind it together.
"People shouldn't be scared into thinking they're eating something unsafe or unusual. Carrageenan has been used in the food industry for years, in cakes, cookies, candies, ice cream."
