In-N-Out Just Announced A Major Recipe Change

I really do appreciate it when I can tell that a food company reads our site. First came the fan service I particularly received from Costco when they added a lot of cinnamon products in one week. Now it seems that In-N-Out has poked their head in to see what we’re saying about them. Which, as you might know, was nothing positive. That must be why they decided to change a few of their recipes, right?

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Out With The Old

In-N-Out just announced changes to two of their products: their buns and their salt packets. In what they called a “commitment to quality,” In-N-Out announced that sesame flour would not be used in their buns and their salt packets would replace iodized salt with sea salt.

Why The Change?

In a statement, In-N-Out claimed the change was to provide customers with the “freshest, highest-quality food possible.” While In-N-Out didn’t choose to specify any particular reason for the change beyond that, we have some educated guesses. As sesame is considered a major food allergen, they probably axed it as an ingredient in their buns so they can serve more customers.

As for the salt, that’s a bit of a different story. Iodized salt became popular in the United States to combat iodine deficiency. Iodized salt and sea salt are virtually the same. The iodized just gets a bit more processed in the chain of events. Is it an earth shattering change? Certainly not, but I’m sure it’s buzzworthy so it’ll get them more views in the long run.

Add These To The Growing List

In-N-Out has been making a number of changes to their ingredients over the past few years. Last year alone, In-N-Out announced they would be changing their ketchup, both packets and dispensed, to be made with real sugar in place of high-fructose corn syrup. In the same year they also changed recipes for their strawberry shakes and signature pink lemonade to remove artificial coloring from the beverages.

All of this is in pursuit of better ingredients for their customers. I can’t argue with that. Especially when you’re taking allergens out of your food so more people can dig into your “delicious” burgers.

That said, I can’t help but have a bit of hesitation when it comes to taking away iodized salt. We added iodized salt into our diets because we needed a steady source of iodine that is cheaply available. It just feels like a step back that we won’t notice until it’s too late.