Everything you ever wanted to know about how McDonald's food is made

McDonald's has been shedding new light on its heavily-criticized food sourcing and processing practices, as it seeks to revive lagging sales.
In the face of growing consumer demand for transparency, the Big Mac chain has launched marketing campaigns in the US, Canada, and Australia to answer consumer- submitted questions such as, "Are McDonald's eggs organic or free-range?" and "Does McDonald's import beef from other countries?"
McDonald's has also addressed the rumored existence of "pink slime" in its meat and information about which egg dishes are cooked in the restaurant and which ones are pre-made and frozen.
We have selected some of the most commonly asked questions and provided summaries of the company's responses.

1. Are McDonald's eggs organic or free-range?

"Our eggs are not organic, nor are they free-range; they are from caged hens," McDonald's Australia writes on its website.
Caged hens produce the cheapest eggs, which helps keeps McDonald's prices low, the company says.
"Our goal is to provide customers with great quality food at great value," the company's answer reads. "The cost of organic or free range eggs would raise the price of our food to a point that our customers may not feel they are receiving the value they've come to expect from us."
In the U.S., however, McDonald's buys a "small amount" of cage-free eggs " as part of a scientific research project McDonald's is part of to better understand different hen housing systems," the company writes.
"In the U.S., there is no consensus or firm scientific research on whether one type of housing system is better than the other, which leads to a lot of confusion," McDonald's USA adds.