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McDonald’s removes artificial preservatives from McNuggets

The changes come as the world’s biggest burger chain fights to win back customers after three straight years of declining guest counts at its established United States locations. “We don’t use high fructose corn syrup in our buns and our scrambled eggs are prepared fresh”, a McDonald’s New Zealand spokesperson said.

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In fact, this has already become a trend, with other companies including Panera, Taco Bell and Dunkin’ Donuts eliminating things like artificial preservatives, sweeteners, colors and flavors from a range of products.

Both changes are coming to all 14,000 of its US stores, McDonald’s said.

The fast food scenario has undergone major changes in recent times with key market players like McDonald’s scrabbling to draw more customers by offering healthier food. Bread free of high fructose corn syrup.

“Our culinary focus is more important than ever”, said Ms. Foust, who serves as one of the faces of the company’s food focus, including an appearance in a commercial for McDonald’s in Southern California for chef-crafted sandwiches.

The fast-food company’s “sweeping changes” will affect about 50 percent of the menu, said Mike Adres, president of McDonald’s USA operations.

It’s not often that Consumers Union praises a fast food company, but the policy and advocacy division of Consumer Reports says McDonald’s deserves a pat on the back for meeting its pledge to stop selling chicken that had been given medically important antibiotics.

“It was something we knew we were going to be able to do”, said Marion Gross, McDonald’s chief supply chain officer.

The company’s sales in its flagship U.S. market have showed improvement, helped by the fanfare over the introduction of an all-day breakfast menu in October.

“We’re really cooking with real ingredients”, she said.

McDonald’s shares rose 0.3 per cent to $118.01. The stock was little changed this year through the end of last week.

The publicity it garners by making these changes should help McDonald’s as it battles with fast-casual chains known for higher-quality ingredients.

McDonald’s said it continues to innovate its menu with such ingredients as turkey sausage, guacamole, sriracha and pico de gallo as part of local and regional launches, which recently have included Gilroy garlic fries in the San Francisco Bay area, Old Bay Filet-O-Fish sandwich across the Mid-Atlantic, and Lobster Rolls in New England.

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