McDonald's has released its 2016 New Zealand shopping list, illustrating the sheer volume of fast-food Kiwis get through each year.
More than $150m worth of our produce was bought by local chains alone, and even more was exported.
"The majority of the ingredients we use in our menu come from New Zealand," says McDonald's New Zealand's managing director, Dave Howse.
That includes 99 million locally made buns, rolls, muffins and bagels last year alone. That's enough buns to reach from Auckland to Washington DC.
Maccas uses 600,000kg of Angus beef a year, which the chain says is around the same weight as 390 professional rugby teams.
If you want fries with that, more than 10 million kg of them are produced here annually.
Kiwi customers - all 1.4 million of them - also got through:
- 5.1m kg of beef (not including Angus beef)
- 3.19m kg of chicken
- 805,000 kg of lettuce
- 288,000 kg of tomatoes
- 2.72m litres of fresh milk
- 5.3m litres of dairy products
- 1.46m kg of cheese
- 13.06m eggs
- 315,000 kg of Hoki fish
It may seem like a lot, but even more of our goods are sent overseas; $238m worth of food was exported to McDonald's restaurants around the world in 2016.
Mr Howse says it's "fantastic that overseas McDonald's recognise the quality of New Zealand produce. McDonald's is a significant export customer for New Zealand - nearly 10 percent of all beef exports go to McDonald's markets."
Newshub.
