Happy Meals Get Happier

You may have heard about the California woman who sued McDonald’s claiming the fast-food giant uses toys to market directly to young children. 

In response to the lawsuit, McDonald’s is making some big changes to the Happy Meal, with a goal of eventually making the whole meal less than 400 calories. McDonald’s pledged to reduce sugars, saturated fats and calories through “varied portion size, reformulations and innovations” by 2020. By 2015, it will reduce sodium by 15 percent.

By the beginning of next year, McDonald’s will include a half order of apples and a half order of fries. However, you can get all fries or all apples if you ask. Starting in September, there will be an automatic inclusion of a quarter cup of apples without caramel dipping sauce and “dialed back” fries. The current portion of fries is 2.4 ounces, and the new portion is 1.1 ounce.  

The old Happy Meal with hamburger, fries and a kid's size regular Coke contains a whopping 590 calories and 20 grams of fat (5 grams saturated fat). The new Happy Meal with the hamburger, fries and apples combo and a kid’s size regular Coke is reduced to 470 calories and 14 grams of fat (4 grams saturated fat). 

The nuggets have been reduced from 520 calories and 23 grams of fat (3.5 grams saturated fat) to 410 calories and 17 grams of fat (2.5 grams saturated fat). 

McDonald’s is also going to introduce a new mobile app focused just on nutrition information that will be available by next spring.

It seems as if the fast food industry is making significant strides toward making food healthier. Now, if they can just make you take the apples!