Iowa McDonald’s Restaurants To Make Happy Meals Healthier
McDonald's is making changes to their signature Happy Meals this spring to make them healthier for kids. Soon, they'll be lower in sugar, calories, sodium, and saturated fat.
McDonald's Happy Meal menus, displayed on menu boards at restaurants in Iowa, and across the U.S., will soon feature meals that are all 600 or fewer calories. The change is to take effect in June. So what's changing?
The worldwide fast-food chain is removing cheeseburgers from their menu and from advertising, though it will still be available in Happy Meals, but only by request.
One of the chicken-nugget Happy Meals is also changing. Kids will still be able to get small fries when they order a 4-piece chicken nugget Happy Meal. However, if they opt for a 6-piece, that will come with "kids-sized fries," according to Business Insider.
This doesn't mean that all of McDonald's Happy Meals will be 600 calories or less. For now, it will only be the ones that are featured on menu boards that will meet those criteria. However, McDonald's says by 2022 at least half of their Happy Meals will be at that level. That same year they promise all Happy Meals will have only 10 percent of calories from sugar, no more than 650 milligrams of sodium, and no more than 10 percent of calories from saturated fat.
Good effort, McDonald's. I'd be even more impressed if you could move that 2022 goal up a few years, but this is all definitely a step in the right direction.