“I applaud efforts such as those undertaken by McDonald’s in close collaboration with its suppliers and poultry farmers, to greatly reduce the use of medically important antibiotics in its animal agricultural food supply chain”, said Dr. H Morgan Scott, professor of epidemiology in the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology at Texas A&M University.
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McDonald’s Corp. has announced a number of menu changes in its 14,000 restaurants in the United States, including the removal of artificial preservatives from Chicken McNuggets, pork sausage patties and omelet-style and scrambled eggs.
The changes include eliminating artificial preservatives from its chicken nuggets and some breakfast food items and replacing high-fructose corn syrup in its buns for butter.
Last week, McDonald’s said the USA restaurant industry will raise prices far more than supermarkets this year, sending a chill through a sector that is searching for ways to protect itself from higher worker wages.
These changes also follow what AP’s Candice Choi called “three straight years of declining guest counts at its established US locations”. They mark the latest steps the company has taken to reinvigorate its core menu, a move that differs from some other chains that promote limited-time items rather than rethinking their main menu items.
Extra costs related to the changes will not be passed on to consumers, partly because a decline in commodity prices has reduced some food expenses, Andres said.
The menu adjustments continue a string of major changes that Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook has made since taking the helm in March 2015.
Dunkin’ Donuts, for instance, has promised to put more egg in its egg patty.
“Consumers have already begun to see GMO labeling disclosures on many familiar food packages as companies prepared to comply with Vermont’s groundbreaking law”, said Gary Hirshberg, chairman of Just Label It and Stonyfield Farm.
Subway, meanwhile, has introduced “rotisserie chicken” and “carved turkey” that have more texture and look more natural than its regular chicken strips and turkey.
But convincing people it serves wholesome food is particularly important for McDonald’s, which has long courted families with its Happy Meals.
McDonald’s USA domestic same-store sales gains slowed to 1.8 per cent last quarter, compared with 5.4 per cent in the prior quarter.
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Attendees at Monday’s event got to taste breakfast bowls the company has been selling in Southern California as well as the Gilroy garlic fries now being sold in the San Francisco Bay Area.
