During McDonald’s early years French fries were made from scratch every day. Russet Burbank potatoes were (26)____, cut into shoestrings, and fried in its kitchens. (27)____ the chain expanded nationwide, in the mid-1960s, it sought to cut labour costs, reduce the number of suppliers, and (28)____ that its fries tasted the same at every restaurant. McDonald’s began (29)____ to frozen French fries in 1966—and few customers noticed the difference. (30)____, the change had a profound effect on the nation’s agriculture and diet. A familiar food had been transformed into a highly processed industrial (31)____. McDonald’s fries now come from huge manufacturing plants (32)____ can process two million pounds of potatoes a day. The expansion (33)____ McDonald’s and the popularity of its low-cost, mass-produced fries changed the way Americans eat.
The taste of McDonald’s French fries played a crucial role in the chain’s success—fries are much more profitable than hamburgers—and was (34)____ praised by customers, competitors, and even food critics. Their (35)____ taste does not stem from the kind of potatoes that McDonald’s (36)____, the technology that processes them, or the restaurant equipment that fries them: other chains use Russet Burbank, buy their French fries from the (37)____ large processing companies, and have similar (38)____ in their restaurant kitchens. The taste of a French fry is (39)____ determined by the cooking oil. For decades McDonald’s cooked its French fries in a mixture of about 7 per cent cottonseed oil and 93 per cent beef fat. The mixture gave the fries their unique (40)____.
26.

A. scaled
B. stripped
C. peeled
D. sliced