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Toys with McDonald’s Happy Meals will cost a dime in San Francisco

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San Francisco McDonald’s locations will stop giving away free toys with Happy Meals and Mighty Kids Meals as a new law aimed at child obesity takes effect Thursday.

Instead, the massive fast food chain plans to sell the toys separately for 10 cents with a purchase of the children’s combos in its 19 stores in the Bay Area city. The funds, the company said, would go toward a project through its Ronald McDonald House charity.

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It’s McDonald’s way of reluctantly complying with a new ordinance that forbids restaurants from offering toys gratis with a kid’s meal unless the servings have less than 600 calories, a drink option that isn’t too sugary or fatty and also includes a helping of fruits and vegetables.

The Oak Brook, Ill.-based chain began offering apple slices along with downsized servings of French fries in all its Happy Meals this summer. The company is also introducing low-fat milk, fat-free chocolate milk and apple juice.

Around the same time, San Diego-based Jack in the Box Inc. pulled toys out of its children’s meals entirely and began including apples with caramel.

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After the San Francisco measure was passed last year, the Los Angeles City Council voted to ban new fast food restaurants within a half-mile of similar chains in South Los Angeles, an area that suffers from high rates of obesity and diabetes.

In the spring, the New York City Council began considering a measure that would ban toys from children’s meals that fail to meet strict nutritional standards.

Some activists scoffed at McDonald’s toy-selling tactic Wednesday.

“As McDonald’s long has, it is again using a charity that helps children get well to defend a practice that contributes to a range of diet-related conditions like diabetes,” said the Corporate Accountability International group in an email.

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RELATED:

McDonald’s to make Happy Meals more healthful

Jack in the Box stops including toys in kids’ meals

Fast-food industry is quietly defeating Happy Meal bans

-- Tiffany Hsu

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