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AISLE 6 · FAST FOOD
McLean Deluxe
by McDonald’s
Yes — McLean Deluxe was discontinued in 1996 after 5 years on shelves, and it has not come back.
McDonald’s answer to the low-fat nineties: a 91% fat-free patty in which most of the missing fat had been replaced with water, held together by carrageenan — an extract of red seaweed. Customers nicknamed it the McFlopper and went back to the Quarter Pounder.
🧾 One more thingThe patty was engineered by food scientists at Auburn University, and McDonald’s put a reported $100–150 million behind the Deluxe line built around it, including ads that showed Ronald McDonald golfing and hitting nightclubs. The McLean is said never to have cleared 2% of sales; it was dropped in February 1996, and the rest of the Deluxe line was buried in August 2000.
🕯️ Shoppers also mourned