McDonald’s is dropping cheeseburgers and chocolate milk from its Happy Meal menu
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 children consume at its restaurants.
Customers can still ask specifically for cheeseburgers or chocolate milk with the kids meal, but the fast-food company said that not listing those items 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%, 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 a version that has less sugar.
Those moves have been especially important as the company tries to shake its junk-food image, since McDonald’s is known for getting more business from families with children relative to its traditional rivals, such as Burger King and Wendy’s. McDonald’s doesn’t say how much revenue it makes from the $3 Happy Meal, but the company said 30% of all visits come from families.
The latest Happy Meal changes, including new nutritional standards, will be rolled out in the United States by June.
“It’s a good step in the right direction,” said Margo Wootan, 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 less than 600 calories and 650 milligrams of sodium. It also wants less than 10% of the meal’s calories to come from saturated fat and the same percentage from added sugar.
The cheeseburger and chocolate milk didn’t meet those new standards, the Oak Brook, Ill., company said. It is, however, working to cut sugar from the chocolate milk and believes the beverage will return to the Happy Meal menu eventually.
There will be other tweaks: The six-piece chicken nugget Happy Meal will now come with a kid-size order of French fries instead of a regular small order, lowering calories and sodium from the fries by half. And bottled water will be added as an option to the Happy Meal menu, though it will cost extra. Currently, the Happy Meal menu lists milk, chocolate milk and apple juice. Soda does not cost extra.
For international restaurants, McDonald’s said 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; in Italy, for example, a grilled chicken sandwich was added to the Happy Meal menu.
