Why You’ll Never Hear McDonald’s Workers Say ‘Milkshake’

It's not "the milkshake machine is down," it's "the SHAKE machine is down."

You may not have noticed, but there is not one mention of a "milkshake" on the McDonald's menu. It is called a Shamrock SHAKE, after all.

Why McDonald's Doesn't Call Them Milkshakes

The Madrid-based newspaper AS.com recently tracked down the reasoning behind the fast food giant's insistence on only calling the drinks "shakes."

The website pointed toward last summer's marketing campaign around the Grimace shake as an example. The word "milk" never appeared in any of the advertising for the shake.

"The world's largest fast food joint is well-known for its rotating selection of shakes but there is an important reason these are not 'milk'shakes," AS.com said.

McDonald's has actually gotten asked about their shake nomenclature so many times, they needed to add the answer to the FAQ section of their website. 

"Our shakes contain milk from our reduced-fat soft serve, which makes them thick and creamy," the company says on its corporate website. "Dairy regulations actually vary from state to state on what can officially be called a 'milkshake.'"

Is There Milk In McDonald's Milkshakes?

While the company does acknowledge it is careful to use "shake" as a way to avoid varying state regulations, it does suggest curious fast food fans to check out the list of ingredients.

Once again, McDonald's doesn't mention "milk" when listing the individual ingredients of its shakes. A chocolate shake, for example, is said to be made from vanilla reduced fat ice cream, chocolate shake syrup and whipped light cream.

READ MORE: McDonald's To Eliminate Self-Serve Soft Drinks At All Locations

You actually need to dig a little deeper to find out if there is any milk in McDonald's shakes.

The "allergen information" section of the website breaks down the components of each of the three individual ingredients used to make shake. Both the vanilla reduced fat ice cream and the whipped light cream are clearly listed to contain "milk."

So, yes, there is milk in McDonald's shakes.

"We like to keep it simple and refer to them strictly as 'shakes,'" the company shared.