McDonald’s
Corp said on Tuesday it will soon tweak its Happy Meals, reducing the french
fry portion by more than half and automatically adding apples to the popular
children’s meals, after coming under pressure from consumer groups to provide
healthier fare.
McDonald’s
— which has been taking heat from parents, consumer groups and local lawmakers
over the nutritional content and marketing of Happy Meals — said it would
start making the changes in September and the new Happy Meals would be
available in all of its 14,000 U.S. restaurants by the end of the first quarter
of 2012.
The world’s
largest hamburger chain also plans a 15 percent reduction in sodium across its
U.S. menu by 2015. Beyond that, it vowed to cut sodium, added sugars, saturated
fats and calories in domestic meals by 2020.
“We
are going to be casting our gaze more closely on portion management as well as
how we can introduce more food groups such as fruits, vegetables and whole
grains,” Cindy Goody, McDonald’s senior director of nutrition, said on a
webcast.
The new
child’s french fry portion will be 1.1 ounces, down from 2.4 ounces previously,
and equal to about 100 calories.
McDonald’s
currently offers apple slices with caramel dipping sauce as a Happy Meal side.
The new apple portion size is 1.2 ounces, compared with 3.1 ounces previously,
and has no added sugar or accompanying dipping sauces.
The new
Happy Meals will have about 20 percent fewer calories than today’s most popular
Happy Meal, executives said. As a result, the new Happy Meals will be under 600
calories.
Prices will
not change as a result of the new composition, and toys will continue to be
included in every Happy Meal, said Jan Field, McDonald’s U.S.A. president.
The Jolly Good News 