Marion Gross, Supply Chain SVP for McDonald’s, shared that high fructose corn syrup has been removed from the buns and will be replaced with sucrose. McDonald’s spokeswoman Becca Hary told USA Today on Monday that McNuggets, for instance, will have “ingredients that sound more familiar to people”.
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“Why go to the position of trying to defend them, if the consumer is saying, I prefer not to have that particular ingredient in my food?” said Mike Andres, president of McDonald’s U.S., during a company event, the Associated Press reported. Because the fast food behemoth has made them completely free of artificial preservatives.
The company also said Monday it completed ahead-of-schedule its commitment to phase out chicken raised with antibiotics important to human medicine.
While Brook applauds McDonald’s for implementing its new policy, she calls on the company to expand its efforts to include “meaningful antibiotics policies that also apply to pork and beef”. Music provided courtesy of APM Music.
Overall, McDonald’s and many fast food establishments still load food with too much salt, sugar and fat and encourage patrons to overeat by promoting super-sized meals, says Michael Moss, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of “Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us”.
The moves are the latest in a series by the company to address changing demands by consumers, who have pushed food companies and restaurants to provide more healthy options and fewer artificial ingredients.
McDonald’s is reacting to a shift in consumer tastes toward healthier, more natural foods and competing with other restaurants that are overhauling their menus to feature items free of processed ingredients.
Other possible healthy points of interest for McDonald’s that it announced at the time included images of its new “breakfast bowls”, freshly cracked eggs and other items that the franchise is testing.
Now, Nomura still is uncertain if this late move will help the company to regain composure and, more importantly, its major foothold in the industry.
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McDonald’s is focused on improving its core menu items as it works to continue to build sales. 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. That salad switch, for one, was not all that hard to pull off as lettuce only takes 60 to 90 days to grow, said Ali Leon, VP-Ready Pac Foods, one of McDonald’s produce suppliers. Registered dietitian Amy Gorin, owner of Amy Gorin Nutrition said “Fast food should still be enjoyed in moderation”.
