The internet is buzzing after McDonald’s announced a $200 million investment into regenerative agriculture practices, partnering with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to support ranchers adopting regenerative grazing. But what really caught everyone’s attention was RFK Jr.’s public call for McDonald’s to take it a step further — by switching back to grass-fed beef and beef tallow. Could the world’s biggest fast-food chain actually help reverse decades of nutritional damage? If McDonald’s replaces seed oils with animal fats, we might be witnessing the start of the greatest comeback in food history.
1. McDonald’s $200 Million Regenerative Investment
McDonald’s recently dropped a major announcement: a $200 million investment into regenerative ranching. Over the next seven years, the company plans to improve grazing practices on 4 million acres of U.S. grassland. The stated goal is to enhance soil health, increase carbon capture, boost biodiversity, and support ranchers who choose regenerative systems.
This marks the largest sustainability investment in McDonald’s history, signaling a potential shift in how the company sources its beef. If implemented authentically, it could restore degraded soils, improve water cycles, and reduce dependency on chemical inputs that have dominated industrial cattle operations for decades. Of course, many are skeptical — big corporations often make big promises — but this could be the first step in aligning fast food with real food values.
2. RFK Jr. Calls for Grass-Fed Beef and Tallow
RFK Jr. praised McDonald’s regenerative agriculture initiative but challenged the company to go further. He called for the use of grass-fed beef and beef tallow instead of grain-fed beef and industrial seed oils. Historically, McDonald’s used beef tallow in its fryers, which gave its fries their legendary flavor. However, in 1990, the company caved to anti-fat hysteria and replaced tallow with “heart-healthy” vegetable oils — a move that drastically changed not just flavor but also the health implications of their food.
RFK’s call to return to beef tallow could mark a cultural turning point. For decades, animal fats were vilified while seed oils quietly infiltrated nearly every restaurant and home kitchen. The irony? We replaced stable, nutrient-rich animal fats with oxidized, inflammatory industrial oils — and chronic disease skyrocketed.
3. Doctors Still Don’t Understand the Power of Tallow
Anyone who’s ever told their doctor they replaced seed oils with beef tallow knows the look. That uncomfortable pause, the raised eyebrow, and the subtle attempt to steer the conversation back to “cholesterol.” The reality is that most medical professionals are still stuck in outdated dietary dogma that demonized saturated fat based on flawed science from the 1960s.
Modern research continues to dismantle the old narrative. Unlike polyunsaturated seed oils, tallow is heat-stable and non-inflammatory when cooked. It contains beneficial fatty acids that support hormone balance, brain health, and satiety. And yet, because it doesn’t align with decades of pharmaceutical-funded “heart-healthy” marketing, tallow remains one of nutrition’s best-kept secrets. When people switch to a diet centered around beef, eggs, and animal fats, inflammation markers often drop while energy, focus, and skin health improve.
4. McDonald’s Biggest Move Yet
Let’s give credit where it’s due. A $200 million regenerative push is no small thing. If done right, this could help American ranchers transition away from chemical fertilizers and monoculture grain feed toward a model that mimics natural grazing cycles. Healthier soil means healthier cattle — and ultimately healthier food.
This investment also acknowledges something many of us in the ancestral health space have known for years: industrialized agriculture is broken. The constant extraction of soil nutrients has created weak ecosystems that produce weak food. Supporting regenerative ranching helps reverse this trend, restoring ecosystems while improving the nutrient density of the food we eat.
5. Grain-Fed vs. Grass-Fed: The Nutrient Divide
The difference between grain-fed and grass-fed beef isn’t just marketing — it’s measurable science. Grain-fed beef is paler in color, lower in omega-3s, and higher in omega-6 fatty acids, which can promote inflammation when consumed in excess. Grain-fed cattle also accumulate more pesticide and antibiotic residues due to feedlot conditions. Nutrient analysis shows grain-fed beef can be 10–30% lower in key vitamins and minerals than grass-fed beef.
Grass-fed beef, by contrast, has a richer color, higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), iron, zinc, and B vitamins. It’s cleaner, more flavorful, and more aligned with the way humans evolved to eat. The same holds true for the fat used in cooking. Tallow from grass-fed cows is loaded with fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K2 — nutrients that support everything from hormone health to bone density.
6. The Fall of Tallow and Rise of Seed Oils
Until 1990, McDonald’s cooked their fries in beef tallow — and they were legendary. Then came the low-fat craze, fueled by the belief that saturated fat caused heart disease. McDonald’s switched to industrial seed oils, such as soybean and canola, believing it was the “healthier” choice. What followed was a nutritional disaster.
Unlike tallow, which remains stable at high heat, seed oils break down rapidly when fried, producing oxidized fats and toxic aldehydes. These compounds are linked to inflammation, insulin resistance, and cancer. Worse, the same oil is reused for days, compounding its toxicity. Researchers have found that reheating seed oils leads to the formation of trans fats and lipid peroxides — substances directly associated with atherosclerosis and liver damage. The truth is, the switch from tallow to seed oil didn’t make food healthier. It made it far more dangerous.
7. The Health Collapse That Followed
The timeline doesn’t lie. As seed oil consumption skyrocketed after the 1960s, chronic disease rates surged. Americans were told to cut saturated fat and replace butter and tallow with vegetable oils — a move that was supposed to protect the heart. Instead, obesity tripled, and heart disease and cancer rates doubled.
One major study published in BMJ Open found that replacing saturated fats with seed oils actually increased mortality in men. Another, the Minnesota Coronary Experiment, revealed that even though seed oils lowered cholesterol levels, they did not reduce deaths from heart disease — in fact, participants consuming more seed oils had higher mortality rates. Yet public health policy never corrected course. Today, seed oils dominate our food supply, hidden in everything from fries to salad dressings, while animal fats like tallow are unjustly shamed.
8. The Carnivore Bar Difference
At Carnivore Bar, we never compromise. Every bar is made with 100% grass-finished beef and tallow from regenerative farms — no seed oils, no additives, no preservatives. The same animal fats that nourished our ancestors now fuel modern performance and endurance.
When the world’s largest fast-food chain starts to reconsider animal fats, it’s a sign of shifting tides. People are waking up to the truth: real food doesn’t need to be engineered. It grows, grazes, and regenerates — naturally.
Closing Thoughts
If McDonald’s truly follows through on this regenerative pledge, it could spark a food revolution. The return to grass-fed beef and tallow would not only mean better flavor and nutrition, but a shift away from the toxic legacy of industrial seed oils that have ravaged our collective health for decades. Maybe, just maybe, this is how the seed oil era finally ends — not with a government mandate, but with a fry cooked in tallow.
The lesson is simple: nature got it right the first time.
References
- National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. “Grassland Resilience and Conservation Initiative.” NFWF.org, 2024.
- McDonald’s Corporation. “McDonald’s to Invest $200 Million in Regenerative Agriculture.” Press Release, 2024.
- Kennedy, Robert F. Jr. “RFK Jr. Endorses McDonald’s Regenerative Initiative.” X/Twitter Post, 2024.
- Enig, Mary G., and Sally Fallon. Eat Fat, Lose Fat: The Healthy Alternative to Trans Fats. Penguin, 2005.
- Simopoulos, Artemis P. “The Importance of the Omega-6/Omega-3 Fatty Acid Ratio in Cardiovascular Disease and Other Chronic Diseases.” Experimental Biology and Medicine, vol. 233, no. 6, 2008, pp. 674–688.
- Liu, W., et al. “Reheated Cooking Oils and the Risk of Chronic Diseases.” Nutrition Reviews, vol. 78, no. 10, 2020, pp. 889–903.
- Ramsden, Christopher E., et al. “Re-Evaluation of the Minnesota Coronary Experiment.” BMJ, 2016, doi:10.1136/bmj.i1246.
- Harcombe, Zoë, et al. “Evidence from Randomised Controlled Trials Did Not Support the Introduction of Dietary Fat Guidelines.” Open Heart, vol. 2, no. 1, 2015, doi:10.1136/openhrt-2014-000196.
- DiNicolantonio, James J., et al. “The Evidence for Saturated Fat and for Sugar Related to Coronary Heart Disease.” Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, vol. 61, no. 1, 2018, pp. 51–62.
- De Souza, Russell J., et al. “Saturated and Trans Fatty Acids and Risk of All Cause Mortality, Cardiovascular Disease, and Type 2 Diabetes.” BMJ, 2015, doi:10.1136/bmj.h3978.