Cheeseburgers moving off Happy Meal menu
NEW YORK — McDonald’s is taking cheeseburgers and chocolate milk off its Happy Meal menu in an effort to cut down on the calories, sodium, saturated fat and sugar that kids consume at its restaurants.
Diners can still ask specifically for cheeseburgers or chocolate milk with the kid’s meal, but the fast-food company said that not listing them will reduce how often they’re ordered.
Since it removed soda from the Happy Meal menu four years ago, orders for it with Happy Meals have fallen 14 per cent, the company said. Hamburgers and Chicken McNuggets will remain the main entrees on the Happy Meal menu.
The Happy Meal, launched nearly 40 years ago, has long been a target of health advocates and parents who link it to childhood obesity. McDonald’s has made many tweaks over the years, including cutting the size of its fries and adding fruit. Most recently, it swapped out its apple juice for one that has less sugar.
The latest Happy Meal changes, including new nutritional standards, will occur in the Unit- ed States by June.
“It’s a good step in the right direction,” said Margo Wootan, the vice-president for nutrition at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “We would love to see many more restaurants do the same.”
McDonald’s said Thursday that it wants all its Happy Meal options to have 600 calories or fewer and have less than 650 milligrams of sodium. It also wants less than 10 per cent of the meal’s calories to come from saturated fat and the same percentage to come from added sugar.
The cheeseburger and chocolate milk didn’t meet those new standards, the Oak Brook, Ill.based company said.
It is, however, working to cut sugar from the chocolate milk.
For international restaurants, McDonald’s Corp. said that at least half of the Happy Meal options available must meet its new nutritional guidelines.
The company said some are adding new menu items to comply, like in Italy, where a grilled chicken sandwich was added to the Happy Meal menu.