I think itâs great â there isnât anybody out there who thinks that McD is healthy, or that making these changes will suddenly make everything rainbows and unicorns.
BUT
Itâs a big deal --when a player this big begins to listen to the small voices instead of to the bottom line, itâs a sure sign of our thoughts about food as a society beginning to change (and for once at least a little for the better)
While I applaud the effort, the McNugget is such a triumph of modern food processing that the artificial preservatives almost seem like a trivial part of whatâs problematic about them. Thereâs a whole chapter on MxNuggets in Eric Schlosserâs Fast Food Nation (donât have it in front of me so I donât remember which).
Ok, so theyâre removing preservatives from the mcnuggets- that doesnât therefore mean they are made from actual âfoodâ, or are a healthier more nutritious menu item.
And by removing high fructose corn syrup from the burger buns iâm certain they will just swap in another other sweetner
They could make a much more significant impact by simply removing the largest size soda from the menu
From a public health point of view, yes. However, soda size is a choice determined by customers, whereas preservatives are not. If a customer determines to get a large size sodaâŚ, McDonald isnât the main problem.
It has to do with public demand as well as bottom line. When there is enough demand for âmore naturalâ food, and when people start pushing back against artificial food like McNuggets, it becomes a bottom line issue for them.
The push for more natural food got started by Chipotle when they became popular a few years ago. Chipotle trumpeted that the food was made fresh, from natural, and sometimes organic and seasonal sources. And they got rewarded pretty handsomely for it when the public bought into the concept. McDonaldâs, on the other hand, frequently was the target when people highlighted franken fastfood- e.g. McNuggets. McDonaldâs knows Chipotle well. They used to own Chipotle.
They did away with âsuper-sizeâ a few years ago.
Maybe guys order super-size soda to impress their girlfriends â mucho macho
thereâs endless refills at the fountain in the restaurantâŚso doesnât really stop muchâŚ
A couple of thoughts-
Why are preservatives needed in the first place for food thatâs supposed to be cooked, and before that, refrigerated.
And they are only nixing artificial preservatives.
Itâs progress.
My favorite auntie called them McBeak nuggets
