McDonald's has taken a move to provide healthier snacks to its consumers by excluding sugary soft drinks on their menu list. This action has reduced the number of costumers ordering soda for their Happy Meals.
Keybridge, a research firm reported that Happy Meal orders including soda were reduced to 48% from July 2014 to May 2015. This means an 8% decrease compared to last year's 56%. The 46% of all the orders during the aforementioned period were paired with water, milk and juice.
McDonald's director of nutrition Julia Braun stated that they are already expecting the results and they continue to hope a constant decrease.
The research firm was commissioned by the food company to continue tracking the progress of their agenda. This is to fulfill their pledge with Alliance for a Healthier Generation, an organization founded by the Clinton Foundation which promotes children's health.
The agreement is part of the company's strategy to eliminate detractors that insist their menu list motivate children to eat unhealthy foods. The action was to keep the company's reputation clean and make the stores child-friendly.
The promising results has caught the attention of nutrition experts. Center for Science in the Public Interest's director of nutrition policy Margo Wootan states that, "In less than a year period to see a shift away from soda is encouraging. Given that for decades restaurants have been promoting soda on kids' menus, it's going to take time to get into a new mind-set. Taking soda off the menu is a really important step."
Wootan believes that fast food chains have become a part of peoples' lives making it difficult to make them stop ordering unhealthy foods like fries.
Other large food companies like Burger King and Wendy's are also planning to take similar actions following the steps of McDonald's. They are planning to eliminate soda from the kid's menu as well.
