If you buy your kids a McDonalds Happy Meal every time you go to the store then you are about to see a whole new Happy Meal says McDonalds. Starting as soon as September 2011 McDonalds Happy Meals are going to start including apple slices as well as a choice of either fat free chocolate milk or 1 percent white milk. Up until this time apple slices have been a choice that kids could choose with their meal instead of French fries.
Bowing to pressure of the public and the changing times, McDonalds has no choice but to offer a healthier alternative to their Happy Meal set up as it is now. Although McDonalds reports that only about 11 percent of their customers were choosing the apple slices, they say that it is time that the Happy Meal is updated with the times. Children are being told to eat healthier and some parents are teaching their kids to eat better while others simply do not care.
McDonalds has recently added the McCafe as well where you can get a choice of wild berry, strawberry banana, or mango pineapple smoothies. The smoothies are actually made with real fruit and made on site. With the change of the kid’s meals other fast food companies will feel the pressure of creating or making their present meals for children healthier as well. What do you think is this a good move for the fast food giant or will they simply lose money?
The happy meals won’t be losing any of their ingredients though they will just come with the extra apple slices. For more than 30 years the kid’s meal has come with a soda, French fries and a hamburger/cheeseburger. Not only will parents see the addition of the apple slices but the fries in the kid’s meal will be smaller, including less fries than it has for the past 30 years. With these changes there is not a big difference but is this little change going to be enough to curve critics?
A better change would be replacing an entire bag of French fries that are loaded with saturated fat with the apples or replacing the sodium filled burger with something healthier such as a bowl of steamed and seasoned veggies. McDonalds says they will not take the toy out of their Happy Meal despite all the criticism that the toy lures kids into eating unhealthy.
McDonalds probably has one of the worst repetitions in the US for the unhealthiest food but this new change could clean up their act. Weigh in below and let us know what you think of the new change that McDonalds is doing. McDonald’s says it hopes to have the change in effect worldwide by the first quarter of 2012.
