Cheeseburger and Chocolate Milk out of the Happy Meal.

[PACOX]

NEW YORK (AP) — McDonald’s will soon banish cheeseburgers and chocolate milk from 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 percent, the company said.

The Happy Meal 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.

It’s 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. The Happy Meal is a key part of that.

The latest changes will occur in the United States by June.

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 percent of the meal’s calories to come from saturated fat and added sugar.

The cheeseburger and chocolate milk didn’t meet those new standards, the Oak Brook, Illinois-based company said. It is, however, working to cut sugar from the chocolate milk and believes it’ll be back on the Happy Meal menu eventually — but doesn’t know when that will happen.

There will be other tweaks: the six-piece chicken nugget Happy Meal will now come with a kids-sized fries instead of a small, lowering calories and sodium from the fries by half. And bottled water will be added as an option to the Happy Meal menu, but 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 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.

http://wishtv.com/2018/02/15/mcdonal...cheeseburgers/

I honestly dont care what McDonalds does but I do think they are peddling bullshit here. So their plan to provide "healthy" food for kids is to take their already shitty burger and remove the redeeming part of it? I know when I was a kid if I went to McDonald's it was for a treat, you told me I couldn't get cheese and I was like "then why are we going?" You mean you get a soda and my choice is water or whatever? Take me home, please.

The article already cited that McDonald's is serving up less Happy Meals (but I think they are doing good in other areas), so that tells me that kids aren't really feeling McDonald's anymore because McDonald's keeps fucking with the kids meal. The toys are probably shitty anyway. Im trying to wrap my head around McDonald's real game here, like do they actually want to attract customers?

[Hey There Guys its Metro]

If they want to cut down on those things then stop advertising towards children or close down outright.

[LMuhlen]

http://wishtv.com/2018/02/15/mcdonal...cheeseburgers/

The article already cited that McDonald's is serving up less Happy Meals

Where does it say that? I re-read it real quick and couldn't find it.

I think it's funny how they tend to reduce the amount of food to restrict calories and what not... Kids still have to eat, they should focus on making it healthier, not reducing the servings.

Also, bottled water is charged extra? Why?

What are they replacing the cheeseburger with? What is less unhealthy than a cheeseburger in their menu? Just a burger? Are they really blaming the cheese?

[Al Gorefiend]

Clearly McDonalds is to blame for childhood obesity, not the parents plopping them in front of the TV for 2 hours of spongebob and another 3 hours of X-box.

[Orby]

They need to ban fast food period, god knows how people eat that stuff... Yuk ;P

[Varithimas]

Clearly McDonalds is to blame for childhood obesity, not the parents plopping them in front of the TV for 2 hours of spongebob and another 3 hours of X-box.

Its 2018 you can't blame personal responsibility. Blame McDonalds for people willingly showing up and handing them money. /sarcasm

[Afrospinach]

Clearly McDonalds is to blame for childhood obesity, not the parents plopping them in front of the TV for 2 hours of spongebob and another 3 hours of X-box.

Is that before or after they take them to McD's to get a days worth of calories in between meals?

Should note, I loved Mcdonald's when I was a kid, probably because it was what it was. It was never a problem. Perhaps they should investigate why that is. We all know why, but apparently there are loads of people that just do not want to know, including McD's.

[igualitarist]

This is because of terrible parents, who can't cook foods for their kids.

McDonalds is the typical place you shouldn't go to eat more than once a month, but because many people and kids eat there everyday, they now need to cut the nice things from more responsible customers.

[PACOX]

Where does it say that? I re-read it real quick and couldn't find it.

I think it's funny how they tend to reduce the amount of food to restrict calories and what not... Kids still have to eat, they should focus on making it healthier, not reducing the servings.

Also, bottled water is charged extra? Why?

What are they replacing the cheeseburger with? What is less unhealthy than a cheeseburger in their menu? Just a burger? Are they really blaming the cheese?

2nd paragraph says Happy Meals fell 14%

[Varvara Spiros Gelashvili]

Its 2018 you can't blame personal responsibility. Blame McDonalds for people willingly showing up and handing them money. /sarcasm

It just dumb to remove something cause of health concerns but leave everything else unhealthy. I can do more than one thing and a time. Parents who let there kids live off mcdonalds are retarded and so is this change...

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

2nd paragraph says Happy Meals fell 14%

No...it says soda's ordered with happy meals dropped.

Since it removed soda from the Happy Meal menu four years ago, orders for it with Happy Meals have fallen 14 percent, the company said.

[PACOX]

No...it says soda's ordered with happy meals dropped.

True true. I stand corrected.

[Super Kami Dende]

Its 2018 you can't blame personal responsibility. Blame McDonalds for people willingly showing up and handing them money. /sarcasm

Indeed, It's becoming a Sad World where People now constantly play Victim because they think all their self-inflicted problems are other peoples responsibility.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

True true. I stand corrected.

Also, if people still want cheeseburgers and chocolate milk in the happy meal...they can still just ask for those things.

[Dalinos]

Whenever the argument involves the words "Children" and "Fast Food", I believe the Ancient Greeks had the right answer. "Πάν Μέτρον Άριστον", they used to say, roughly translating to "Everything is good in moderation" or, more specifically, "Moderation everywhere leads to excellence".

How my grandpa put this in action? McDonald's was a once a week thing, IF I had been a good boy all week and with the knowledge that I had been exercising all week (my generation spent its afternoons riding bicycles, playing hide & seek etc). Don't blame the company, blame parents with 0 parenting experience.

On Topic: Fast food is fast food. They're SUPPOSED to be unhealthy, cheap meals, hence their name. You don't go to McD's expecting a gourmet burger with a medium rare cooked burger that was caught in the wilds a week ago which is brimming with nutritional value, you expect the plastic mass produced burger they offer you. Because that's their niche.

[Celista]

I think a better option would be to offer healthier options for kids. Their menu has a couple of OK things health-wise for adults but no main item on the kids menu.

Example: Baked fries, grilled chicken "tenders" more like chopped chicken breast than their mcnuggets. Veggie burger. More whole fruit options.

[Speaknoevil]

They could try offering a healthier burger product / meal?

[Deleted]

Now if they replace the bread with rice, the minced meat with fish or not fried quality meat and the sugar based sauces with quality ones... maybe it helps.

[Lorgar Aurelian]

So how does this stop people from geting thoses things just outside of happy meals?

[Mister Cheese]

Stop bringing your kid to fucking mcdonald's and they wont get fat.