McDonald’s to Include Extra Side of Healthy in Happy Meals

 

Fast food restaurants have been feeling the pressure about the overall quality and health quotient of their menu items. Children’s meal packs, like McDonald’s Happy Meal, have been hit especially hard, given the meteoric rise of childhood obesity. San Francisco went so far as to propose and pass a ban on traditional Happy Meals, reasoning that the free giveaways lure children in to buy unhealthy food.

McDonald’s has heard the activists knocking (nay, pounding) on the door, and in an effort to comply with stricter regulations in jurisdictions across the country, and to help America’s youth, it is offering up a healthier Happy Meal, averaging 20 percent less calories with healthier ingredients.

Starting in September, with a graduated rollout across the country, every Happy Meal will be served with a vegetable or fruit, which will rotate given the season and availability of produce. Options will include apples, carrots, pineapple, mandarin oranges and raisins. Served along with this new component will be a reduced portion of French fries, burger or chicken nuggets, and beverage. Health activists have long rallied against the addition of fries in the meal, but consumers have said otherwise.

"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."

To satisfy consumers, McDonald’s chose to keep the fries in the meal, but reduce the portion from 2.4 ounces down to 1.1 ounces. Low-fat milk and fat-free chocolate milk will be the two options offered as beverage, with the consumer having ask specifically for soda with a Happy Meal.

These moves are admirable on the part of McDonald’s, but will children eat the extra side of healthy? McDonald’s has been pushing—through advertisements—their apple dippers with caramel sauce in lieu of fries, but despite widespread knowledge of the choice, only 11 percent of children (and/or their parents) order this healthier option.

Certainly the option will be there to order a lower-calorie, healthier option Happy Meal, but time will tell whether parents and kids are getting the message.