McCain Foods in Easton is a mechanized wonderland of potato processing—the source of millions of pounds of fries in every shape known to modern man—and is the potato-powered engine behind Aroostook County’s economy.
For any French fry lover, witnessing a 36-hour run of curly fries at McCain Foods is almost a religious experience.
It’s a river of fries—in fact, a million pounds of moving food, coursing through the confines of cutters and catwalks and conveyor belts, being batter-dipped, baked, bagged, and frozen, and finally packed into boxes ready to be shipped out to await the orders of hungry customers.
McCain Foods is the largest buyer of potatoes in Aroostook County, the potato capital of Maine. Approximately one-third of all the potatoes grown in the County are processed in the McCain factory in Easton. That order of curly fries you got with your roast beef sandwich at Arby’s or the large fries that came with your McDonald’s extra value meal may well have come from the fields surrounding the McCain plant;likewise, the bag of tater tots or waffle fries in the back of your freezer. The company’s motto might as well be “This spud’s for you.”
“All of our raw material is grown locally and processed in this facility,” says plant manager David McKenney. “That’s an area about 60 miles north to south and 40 miles east to west.”
McCain Foods Easton (Courtesy: McCain Foods)
