McDonald’s Corp will replace corn syrup in hamburger buns with sugar this month and has removed antibiotics that are important to human medicine from its chicken months ahead of schedule, it said on Monday, moves that are part of its drive to target increasingly health-conscious consumers. The changes are a nod to customers who are putting more stock into ingredient sourcing and quality as they choose where to dine out. “That’s why we’ve been on this food journey”.
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“The vision and the commitment is here”.
But that doesn’t mean the food is good for you.
Coming to a McDonald’s near you – healthier sandwich buns, Chicken McNuggets and some breakfast items.
“If it matters to our customers, it matters to us”, Andres said.
“We’re creating a different food culture here at McDonald’s“, McDonald’s United States of America president Mike Andres told a gathering of media at the company’s soon-to-be-vacated headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill.
“Why take a position to defend them if consumers are saying they don’t want them?”
“We have more controls around chicken”, Gross said.
In fact, the group says the fast food company met its commitment sooner than it had promised.
He said different sizes of the iconic sandwich have been doing very well in Columbus and Dallas. Food makers from General Mills Inc.to Yum Brands Inc.’s Taco Bell have begun stripping their products of ingredients that have made many customers wary.
Still, when McDonald’s reformulated the Egg McMuffin with simpler, more natural ingredients this past September, the company reported a double digit increase in sales.
An exterior angle photograph of a new style McDonald’s Restaurant.
“The reckless overuse of these critical medications on healthy livestock is contributing to our antibiotics resistance crisis”, said Jean Halloran, Director of Food Policy Initiatives for Consumers Union.
McDonald’s USA President Mike Andres and Supply Chain SVP Marion Gross (right).
This isn’t the only major change McDonald’s is making. The company needs to roll any updates out to more than 14,000 US locations, most of which are run by franchisees.
So are artificial preservatives in Chicken McNuggets and some breakfast items. Now, restaurants will have to be aware that the oil won’t last as long.
The new changes will affect about half of the menu.
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Reporters there were treated to “breakfast bowls” the company is testing in Southern California. Among the food haul is one Big Mac, one Quarter Pounder, large fries, one Crispy Chicken Snack Wrap, one McChicken, a large Coke Zero, a large chocolate shake, a large caramel sundae, one Double Cheese Burger, six Chicken Nuggets and one Filet-o-Fish.
