McDonald’s to offer healthy choices for value meals, will not promote sodas for Happy Meals
Looking for a salad to go with your Grilled McChicken sandwich instead of French Fries?
Well now this choice and others will be available at McDonald’s, according to a company press release Thursday.
This is one of the outcomes of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Commitment at the 2013 CGI Annual Meeting in New York City.
McDonald’s worked with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation to develop a comprehensive plan for 20 of the restaurant chain’s largest markets.
Some of the specific commitments by the fast food chain include providing customers a choice of a side salad, fruit or vegetable as a substitute for French fries in value meals. (Salad, fruit or vegetable option will vary per participating market.)
In addition, changes to the promotion and advertising of Happy Meals will also take place. These include promoting and marketing only water, milk, and juice as the beverage in Happy Meals on menu boards and in-store and external advertising, utilizing Happy Meal and other packaging innovations and designs to generate excitement for fruit, vegetable, low/reduced-fat dairy, or water options for kids and dedicating Happy Meal box or bag panels to communicate a fun nutrition or children’s well-being message.
“We’ve seen voluntary agreements with industry have profound impact — including our work with the beverage industry to limit the amount of calories shipped to schools. Those agreements resulted in a 90 percent reduction in total beverage calories shipped to schools between 2004 and 2010,” said President Clinton. “If we want to curb the catastrophic economic and health implications of obesity across the world we need more companies to follow McDonald’s lead and to step up to the plate and make meaningful changes. I applaud them for doing it.”
“This is an essential step in the fight against obesity. Effective promotion of healthier choices can have a substantial impact on the food and beverage choices that get made,” said Dr. Howell Wechsler, CEO of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. “It is imperative for McDonald’s and other industry leaders to leverage their market share and cultural relevance to help inform and influence the way families eat outside the home.”
McDonald’s will take these actions in 20 major markets representing more than 85 percent of global sales. The markets are Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Canada, China (includes Hong Kong market), France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom, and United States.