Steak n Shake said that they will only use all-natural beef tallow in their restaurants, a move which comes as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other political figures raise concerns about seed oils.
The casual restaurant chain, which is based in Indiana, announced last week that they would cook their shoestring fries “in the best way possible” by means of the all-natural beef tallow, noting that fries were made with tallow when they were initially invented in centuries past.
Chris Ward, the chief supply chain officer for Steak n Shake, said in the statement that the fries “will now be cooked in an authentic way” in order to achieve “the highest quality and best taste.”
All locations for Steak n Shake are expected to use beef tallow, which comes from the suet found on the kidneys and loins of a cow, by the end of February. Kristen Briede, the chief global development officer for Steak n Shake, added that “the consumer wants and deserves the best.”
The move to adopt beef tallow occurred after Kennedy, who was nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, raised concerns about the prevalence of industrial seed oils, which produce chronic inflammation and obesity.
Kennedy noted in a post last year that “fast food is a part of American culture,” as demonstrated by a picture he shared of Kennedy family members eating fast food together several decades ago, and even observed that McDonald’s and other iconic brands once used beef tallow.
“This switch was made because saturated animal fats were thought to be unhealthy, but we have since discovered that seed oils are one of the driving causes of the obesity epidemic,” Kenndedy wrote in his post. “Interestingly enough, this began to drastically rise around the same time fast food restaurants switched from beef tallow to seed oils in their fryers.”
Kennedy also revealed that Trump will advise all water systems in the United States to remove fluoride from drinking water since the substance is “an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease.”
