“More than ever, people care about their food – where it comes from, what goes into it and how it’s prepared”, Mike Andres, president, McDonald’s United States of America, said in a statement.
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McDonald’s is accelerating plans to simplify its food and announced plans Monday to remove artificial preservatives from its chicken nuggets, pork sausage patties and other menu items.
The changes have been successful so far: McDonald’s same-store sales have grown for three-straight quarters following two years of declines.
The menu upgrades are the latest attempt by the fast-food chain to remake its image for a customer base that’s become more concerned with eating healthful and natural food.
Popular fast food restaurant chain McDonald’s will be dropping high fructose corn syrup and other unhealthy ingredients from its menu starting next month.
McDonald’s USA President Mike Andres told reporters at the company’s headquarters that the changes announced on Monday will affect about half its menu and more adjustments would follow.
On the table in front of her were the five ingredients that go into an Egg McMuffin: an English muffin, a large egg, a slice of Canadian bacon, McDonald’s proprietary American cheese and butter – no longer liquid margarine.
“[Eliminating] corn syrup doesn’t excite me either, because as I understand, they’re replacing that with sugar in the bun, and why a bun has to be sweet is beyond me”, Moss said. Its newest tagline reads “The Simpler the Better” – a departure from the uber-long ingredients that many associate with fast food and processed foods in general. Taco Bell and Burger King, for instance, has rolled out mash-ups like the Waffle Taco and Mac “n” Cheetos to attract Gen Z and Millennials.
In good news for anyone who can’t resist the odd McDonald’s blowout, the burger chain has said it’s going to ditch some of the more unsavory ingredients in its meals. One thing that’s helped: the all-day breakfast menu introduced a year ago and which continues to drive sales and traffic. McDonald’s has also been closing underperforming locations and is scheduled to close more than 14,000 this year. Will a healthier menu equal healthier profits for investors? McDonald’s says it has already stopped using chickens raised with antibiotics prescribed to humans and intends to switch to cage-free eggs in the next decade.
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“We need to think about our ingredient labels as being much smaller”, said Mike Andres, head of McDonald’s USA, at the time. “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.
