Why don't fast-food restaurants make their food healthy?

[Ephemeral]

Places like McDonald's have no excuses.

1) They have plenty of money and resources to provide healthy products.

2) They don't have to worry about losing customers; they're freaking McDonald's. Their customers would probably still eat there if they started serving ostrich egg stuffed with cow intenstines.

If the major fast-food places change their menus to healthier, maybe even some organic foods, it'd be a hit. People will be healthier and they'll still be reeling in dough.

 

[Corny]

healthy/organic food is not cheap.


sure you could just offer some raw or slightly steamed vegetables. with brown rice etc .. and no - people would not eat it unless they could drown it in gravy or worse.

 

[G-Lexington]

Yeah, if only they offered salads or something.

Lex

 

[herry1]

If I go into a fast food place I want grease and salt. So if they started serving nothing but healthy food I'd pass. If I want the healthy option I know where to get it.

 

[Joshua_me]

Fat and salt are cheap.

> And tasty !

People LUV it, and McD's can sell it at a HUGE profit margin. Why should they change it ? It's good business.

It's the public that are the problem. There's nothing wrong with a burger and fries... *once in a while * It's a treat, or at least it used to be...

Now some folks eat at McD's all the time... two and three times a day. That's their choice... It's a dumb one, but their choice none the less...

 

[Spiff]

Blame the consumer and the government, not McDonalds. They have attempted to put healthy items on their menu, but they simply don't sell as well as their fat and sodium enhanced counterparts. And unhealthy food is cheaper because the government gives subsidies to companies that produce it, while suppliers of more healthy food are left out in the cold. At least in the U.S., the government continues to penalize health conscious people, and give the other losers a big break.

 

[G-Lexington]

I used to order the McLean Deluxe back when they had it. Apparently, not enough people did. Burger King still has their veggie burger, and they both have plenty of salad options. But people buy the crap far more than they buy the healthy stuff.

Lex

 

[gsdx]

They have attempted to put healthy items on their menu, but they simply don't sell as well as their fat and sodium enhanced counterparts.

That is because people have become addicted to fat and sodium because of places like McDee's:

Sodium inMcDonald's Small
Hamburger
530 mg

Sodium in McDonald's Small
Cheeseburger
740 mg

Sodium in McDonald's Double
Cheeseburger
1,140 mg

Sodium in McDonald's Quarter
Pounder
730 mg

Sodium in Quarter Pounder With
Cheese
1,330 mg

Sodium in McDonald's Big Mac
1,010 mg

Sodium in McDonald's Big N Tasty
790 mg

Sodium in Big N Tasty With Cheese
1,010 mg

Sodium in McDonald's McChicken
810 mg

Sodium in Grilled Chicken Club
Sandwich
1,690 mg

Sodium in McDonald's Filet O Fish
640 mg

Sodium in McDonald's Large French
Fries
330 mg

Sodium in McDonald's Small French
Fries
140 mg

Sodium in Catsup Packet
100 mg

McDonald's McNuggets (4)
450 mg

McDonald's Egg McMuffin
860 mg

Sodium in McDonald's Sausage
Biscuit
990 mg

Sodium in McDonald's Biscuit
680 mg

McDonald's Big Breakfast
1,920 mg

Scrambled Eggs (2)
200 mg

Hashbrowns
290 mg

McDonald's Warm Cinnamon Roll
660 mg

http://www.collectivewizdom.com/SodiumInCommonFoods.html


Recommended sodium intake per day:

• 1,000 milligrams (mg) for children aged 1 to 3
• 1,200 mg for children aged 4 to 8
• 1,500 mg for people aged 9 to 50
• 1,300 mg for adults aged 51 to 70
• 1,200 mg for seniors over 70 years of age

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/82-003-x/2006004/article/sodium/4148995-eng.htm

 

[Daximus]

Fat and salt are cheap.

> And tasty !

People LUV it, and McD's can sell it at a HUGE profit margin. Why should they change it ? It's good business.

It's the public that are the problem. There's nothing wrong with a burger and fries... *once in a while * It's a treat, or at least it used to be...

Now some folks eat at McD's all the time... two and three times a day. That's their choice... It's a dumb one, but their choice none the less...

Bravo.

I remember eating fast food *once in a while* when I was a little kid in the 80's. In the 90's as a teenager, it was a staple since I spent so much time away from home hanging out with friends and getting high. :) And today, I eat fast food at least twice a week. It's how our society it evolving. Good or bad. But in the end, it’s still the consumers choice.

 

[onetwothreefour]

McDonald's will change as they have to. I guess right now the public hasn't demanded it enough that they change. Go to Chipotle instead. It's real food.

 

[Ephemeral]

McDonald's will change as they have to. I guess right now the public hasn't demanded it enough that they change. Go to Chipotle instead. It's real food.

I don't have a Chipotle in my area. The healthiest fast-food joint around is Subway.

 

[LilBit]

And while we're on the topic, why doesn't Pizza Hut sell tacos?

 

[G-Lexington]

>>>Go to Chipotle instead. It's real food.

They need to stop making their burritos so fucking large. I bet American productivity would go up 20% if they cut those puppies down. Everybody comes back from lunch there looking bleary-eyed, unable to do a damn thing.

Lex

 

[ibill1]

Chipotle? The ones in my area are horrid. Steam tables filled with who knows what and sitting there for who knows how long. But I live in the southwest with wonderful Mexican take-out resturants
that would put Mcdonalds fat and sodium content to shame. I eat there because when I want fat I'm gonna get it. Period

 

[braex27]

Someone once told me...

"Going to McDonald's for healthy food is like going to a brothel for a hug."

 

[seven2go]

Places like McDonald's have no excuses.

1) They have plenty of money and resources to provide healthy products.

2) They don't have to worry about losing customers; they're freaking McDonald's. Their customers would probably still eat there if they started serving ostrich egg stuffed with cow intenstines.

If the major fast-food places change their menus to healthier, maybe even some organic foods, it'd be a hit. People will be healthier and they'll still be reeling in dough.

HERE'S a novel idea: Don't EAT there.......

 

[BabiGayPimp]

I used to believe in caveat emptor (let the buyer beware); but the truth is, places like McDonalds are slamming toxic food down the throats of a nearly captive audience in the same manner that derivatives charlatans on Wall Street package and passed toxic, mortgage-backed assets on to investors.

The worse part is, when people are done destroying themselves on that poison, the general public will be force to step in with a medical "bailout;" triple-bypass on the public dime.

It's not good business if the taxpayers are paying the medical bills for the people getting sick off the shit.

They need to have some nutrtion standards imposed.

It's not a free country when some people are paying other peoples bills.

 

[NotThatCreative]

Funny that you should recommend Chipotle. There was a time when Chipotle was owned by McDonald's. They also use to own Boston Market.

McDonald's has plenty of options. Don't get a Big Mac when you go there (Big Macs are total rip-offs anyway, they have the same amount of meat as a double cheeseburger at two-tenths of a pound). Get yourself a SW chicken salad, or a bacon ranch salad. Buy a chicken wrap, or a grilled/crispy classic/BLT chicken sandwich. Kids can get apples instead of fries and apple juice instead of pop. They do offer healthy options.

McDonald's doesn't need regulated, we don't need nutrition standards, it's not a big conspiracy, and fast food isn't cheaper because it's better subsidized (seriously, anyone who thinks this clearly isn't aware of how much we subsidize farming/agriculture in this country).

And don't forget breakfast, which McDonald's dominates. You can get coffee, a hash brown, and a muffin with a real egg, cheese, and canadian bacon or sausage on it, among many other options. For breakfast, that's not terribly unhealthy.

Plus, since when was it corporations' responsibility to babysit the country and make sure they eat right? They're there to deliver a profit to their shareholders and employ lots of people. Their "social responsibility" ends there. As has been said, if you don't like it, don't eat there.

Side note: remember when their chicken nuggets weren't white meat? Remember when they didn't have apples for happy meals? Remember pre-salad days? They have changed their menu and added on to it in a manner sometimes healthier, sometimes not, over the years. It's a response to consumers.

 

[Ephemeral]

HERE'S a novel idea: Don't EAT there.......

I don't but when you've got more McDonald's than you can count eyelashes in one city, their commercials are constantly in your face, everyone and their 98-year-old grandma going there, and you're a broke 18-year-old with little cooking experience, it's gets difficult to eat healthy.

 

[seven2go]

Not really. ALL the fast food joints have some pretty nice salads......which I don't eat......
But those places are not CHEAP places to eat either. You don't need cooking experience to buy some veggies and make a dandy salad with some boiled egg or diced ham that would cost 1/4 or less what you'd pay at the fast food joint.
Cooking isn't that tough......experiment.....