Posted on 07/26/2011 5:49:25 AM PDT by markomalley
Under pressure from health and children's advocacy groups, McDonald's Corp. is making changes to its famed Happy Meals.
The fast food chain will add a serving of fruit or vegetable to all of the meals, which are aimed at children, and shrink the portion of French fries.
The changes, to be announced Tuesday, will take effect in September in some markets and then roll out to all 14,000 McDonald's restaurants in the U.S. by April.
McDonald's said it first experimented with cutting fries entirely from the Happy Meals, but children and parents rebelled.
"People come to McDonald's and, first of all, they want the choice and the control to be theirs, but their expectation of a Happy Meal does include a fry," said Jan Fields, president of McDonald's USA. "When we did it without fries, there was a huge disappointment factor."
The new French fry holders in Happy Meals will contain 1.1 ounces of potatoes, down from 2.4. Apple slices will often be included as the healthful side dish, but it could also be carrots, raisins, pineapple slices or mandarin oranges, depending on the time of year and the region in which they're being served, Fields said.
Although subject to variation depending on what's ordered, the new meals will represent, on average, a 20% decrease in calories, the chain said.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
“We don’t care what you want to eat, this is what WE want you to eat.”
Bit by bit, our freedoms are being whittled away.
Parents will start buying an extra fry off the dollar menu.
The apples will be dipped in caramel sauce and feed the future diabetics.
Before long, a Happy Meal will consist of:
Tofu burger on wheat roll
Side of arugula
Choice of Barack or Michelle Action Figure
McDonald’s ALWAYS caves to liberal special interests - always. Six months after this switch sales of the Happy Meal will plummet. McDonald’s will then announce that it is retiring the Happy Meal due to lack of demand.
Somebody needs to splain McDonald’s that they are in business to make money, not make us healthier. If we wanted to be healthier, we wouldn’t eat there.
Ahhh Mom, I don't want a disgusting 'ol Happy Meal! Just get me a burger, fries and coke off the big peoples menu.
Took the words right out of my mouth. Besides, kids aren't getting fat due to the number of fries in a Happy Meal (I'm guessing burger, small fries, drink = 700 calories or so). Cutting that by 150 calories isn't going to make a difference unless the kid eats 10 Happy Meals per week.
If it’s a Michelle figure, the happy meal won’t come up in a box, it will be a Conex.
More wasted food goes into the trash can.
Unbelievable.
LOL, reminds me of a buddy that went off on a McDonald's manager one night. We were waiting for our order to come up and it was taking much longer than normal. My friend was getting a little antsy and ask what the hold up was. The manager (picture Jim Carrey in the Cable Guy) sensing my friend starting to get annoyed, turned to him, trying to ease some tension, smiled and said, "Good things take time..."
My buddy launched into him, "I DON'T EF'IN' WANT GOOD FOOD, I WANT FAST FOOD!!! IF I WANTED GOOD FOOD I"D GO TO A RESTAURANT! THIS IS EF'IN' MCDONALD'S FOR GOD SAKE, IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE GOOD, IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE FAST!!!"
An older guy at a nearby table almost choked on his french fries, he laughed so hard.
I bring my child to McDonalds as a treat....
She is made aware that it is junk food, not really good for her and should be only eaten occassionally....
But it tastes good and the greasy fries are part of it.....
It is my responsibility ss a parent not the federal government....
You’re exactly right. Instead of buying a cheeseburger happy meal with miniscule fries and throwing away some unwanted side that the kid won’t eat, parents will end up purchasing for their child a Two cheeseburger combo, and that’ll come with a regular size fries and drink.
Liberals will never understand the law of unintended consequences...
Health-wise, the worst food you can put in your mouth is a fried white potato. That’s why I avoid them. When I really want them, I get really good ones at places like 5 Guys.
As a matter of fact, I avoid restaurants as much as possible. The reason people go to restaurants is because they wouldn’t dare eat that much salt and fat at home.
Yep. McDonald’s is pure evil. Doing this saves them money anyway. Less product and fruit is cheap.
They're a great source of vitamin C.
Well, well and well. Once again the Marxists strike out at anything with the word “happy” associated with it,. Above all else it is important that the proletariat be miserable.
My grandson loves happy meals. Of course, we treat him to one of those only every 5th or 6th outing or so. He will not eat fruit or cereal. I suspect a lot of today’s kids are the same.
So, I hope McDonald’s is prepared to kiss the pseudo happy meal good bye. Corps. who allow political considerations to trump what their customers want are doomed to failure.
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