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McDonald’s Strange Farm-Fresh Chicken Campaign In China

Monday, April 11th, 2011

Nobody goes to McDonald’s in the U.S. expecting to buy chicken nuggets made out of healthy, fairly-treated chickens; they just want crunchy nuggets, no questions asked. Things are a little different in China, where food safety is a major concern, especially after scandals like the one in 2008 where milk and infant formula throughout the country was tainted with melamine, a plastic used to make countertops and dry-erase boards.

In a funny role reversal, western fast-food joints have become places for urban Chinese to make sure their food is of a certain level of quality. To reinforce that notion, McDonald’s has launched the Chickileaks campaign (the actual translation is “unveil the secret of chicken grown”), an initiative that is intended to give Chinese customers more insight into the company’s chicken supply chain.

The campaign features a TV advertisement (a child playing with chicks that will presumably later be ground up into delicious chicken nuggets), as well as a series of online videos showing “reporters” visiting McDonald’s farms and speaking with technicians and scientists that work with chickens, according to Advertising Age. In one of the spots, the “reporters” eat chicken feed to demonstrate just how tasty it is.

The goal is not exactly to convince customers that their chicken was raised in an environmentally-friendly way; it’s to prove that the chicken is safe. When we contacted McDonald’s China, we were told that their emphasis is on food safety, with regularly-vaccinated chicken flocks, the ability to track where chicken flocks come from (presumably in case of contamination), and animal and transport disinfection certificates. We’re not talking about organic, free-range chicken here. It’s more like “don’t blame us” chicken.

“We source from designated suppliers who provide exclusive supply chain management for McDonald’s China. McDonald’s ensures that these suppliers adhere to the strictest precautionary measures and are in compliance with all Government food safety standards,” explained Betty Tian, a McDonald’s China communications representative, in an email.

We tend to believe that McDonald’s is telling the truth about its food safety standards; there is no benefit for the company in cutting corners on this issue. But what we’d really like to see is a day in the life of a Chinese McDonald’s chicken. It may be a safe existence, but it’s probably not too pleasant.

Source: Fast Company

Posted in Fast Food | No Responses »

The Truth About Kids’ Food Advertising

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

It was an Emperor’s New Clothes moment for the US food industry last week, when it was revealed that a major initiative touting its responsible advertising to kids actually allows promotion of many unhealthy foods. Is anyone really surprised?

As in the fairytale – in which everyone praises the emperor’s sumptuous new clothes without daring to point out that he is, in fact, naked – the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) has long been commended for its vocal stance on restricting direct advertising of unhealthy foods to children, but it seems no one has looked very hard at the substance of its claim.

The 17 companies that are CFBAI members have vowed “to shift the mix of advertising messaging directed at children to encourage healthier dietary choices and healthier lifestyles.” The initiative specifies that advertising should not be directed to children under 12 unless foods meet government standards defining the term “healthy” or the American Heart Association’s HeartCheck program criteria. Personally, I would like to see a ban on all advertising directed primarily to children, but the CFBAI program seemed like a good compromise.

So when a new study last week revealed that of 58 products made by companies that participate in the initiative, 49 did not meet these standards, industry should have been blushing.

Take a look at some of the products that qualify under the scheme as healthy enough to be advertised as healthy options for children under 12: there are cookies, desserts, sugary cereals, pizza, even Burger King hamburgers. What’s the point in having a self-regulatory system if its standards are this lax?

Now, I don’t doubt that CFBAI members, like other key players in the food industry, have made great strides to reformulate their products to contain less added sugar, less sodium and less saturated fat, and they should be commended for those efforts. A program such as the CFBAI has great potential to shift product formulation and have a positive effect on children’s diets, but its standards need to be strict – and strictly enforced.

The CFBAI assesses program compliance every year, and its latest report found that more than half (52 percent) of the cereals that participants advertised to children contained 10 grams of sugar or less, with some product levels down from 15 to 16 grams per serving before the initiative began. This is great news and industry should be applauded for taking so much sugar out of kids’ diets.

But that also means that nearly half (48 percent) of cereals from companies taking part in the program contain more than ten grams of sugar per serving. Remember, these are just the ones that the program allows to be advertised directly to young children.

In other areas, the initiative has greater success: Its compliance report claims that about a third of participants’ television advertising directed toward children advertised a product containing at least a half serving of vegetables or fruit; a third included milk or yogurt; and 27 percent of commercials were for meals that provided a half serving of whole grains.

The scheme needs to build on those numbers, and cut out advertising of foods clothed in only the flimsiest of claims. If it can really live up to its promise to shift food advertising toward healthier options, perhaps it can prevent more red faces.

Source: FoodNavigator-USA.com

Posted in Dietary Industrial Complex | No Responses »

UK Health Policy To Be Writen By McDonald’s, Pepsi and Kellogg’s

Sunday, November 14th, 2010

Britain’s new Conservative government is effectively handing over control of the country’s health policies to multinational food and drink manufacturers and fast-food retailers, says a report in the British press.

According to the Guardian, the coalition government led by Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has set up five “networks” to design reforms to the country’s health and nutrition policies. Each of the five working groups is dominated by corporate interests who are expected to put their own profits ahead of sound policy.

Among the companies listed as participating are PepsiCo, Kellogg’s and McDonald’s. Also listed are Unilever, which manufactures brands such as Hellmann’s, Knorr and Lipton, and Diageo, a liquor concern that owns Johnnie Walker, Jose Cuervo, Baileys and Guinness.

The Guardian reports that health activists are calling the move akin to “handing smoking policy over to the tobacco industry.”

The food network to tackle diet and health problems includes processed food manufacturers, fast food companies, and Compass, the catering company famously pilloried by Jamie Oliver for its school menus of turkey twizzlers. The food deal’s sub-group on calories is chaired by PepsiCo….

The leading supermarkets are an equally strong presence, while the responsibility deal’s physical activity group is chaired by the Fitness Industry Association, which is the lobby group for private gyms and personal trainers.

And the working groups’ early meetings suggest that the policy discussion is already focusing on making commerce easier for food and alcohol purveyors, rather than establishing health-oriented policies.

In early meetings, these commercial partners have been invited to draft priorities and identify barriers, such as EU legislation, that they would like removed. They have been assured by [Health Secretary Andrew] Lansley that he wants to explore voluntary not regulatory approaches, and to support them in removing obstacles. Using the pricing of food or alcohol to change consumption has been ruled out.

The Guardian notes in a separate article that the Conservatives began working with their corporate partners on plans for an overhaul of health policy long before they won this summer’s national election.

BRITONS TO GET ‘NUDGED’

The paper also reports that the new health policy will likely involve the British government’s new “behavioral insight unit,” a group that is working on policies that change people’s behavior without legislative change.

Dubbed the “nudge unit,” the office is based on an economic theory known as “libertarian paternalism” which preaches that people’s behavior can be altered by subtly changing their environment. For instance, cafeterias may place healthy foods in prominent locations while making unhealthy foods harder to reach, a method that has been shown in studies to increase consumption of health foods.

Libertarian paternalism also has fans within the Obama administration. Cass Sunstein, who runs the White House’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, co-wrote a book with University of Chicago professor Richard Thaler in 2008 entitled “Nudge,” which advocated the use of the economic theory.

The Economist describes libertarian paternalism as the theory that wants to “help you make the choices you would make for yourself — if only you had the strength of will and the sharpness of mind.”

Posted in Health | No Responses »

What Is A McNugget?

Tuesday, November 9th, 2010

Do you put dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent made of silicone, in your chicken dishes?

How about tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), a chemical preservative so deadly that just five grams can kill you?

These are just two of the ingredients in a McDonalds Chicken McNugget. Only 50 percent of a McNugget is actually chicken. The other 50 percent includes corn derivatives, sugars, leavening agents and completely synthetic ingredients.

Organic Authority helpfully transcribed the full ingredients list provided by McDonalds:

“White boneless chicken, water, food starch-modified, salt, seasoning (autolyzed yeast extract, salt, wheat starch, natural flavoring (botanical source), safflower oil, dextrose, citric acid, rosemary), sodium phosphates, seasoning (canola oil, mono- and diglycerides, extractives of rosemary).

Battered and breaded with: water, enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), yellow corn flour, food starch-modified, salt, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium aluminum phosphate, monocalcium phosphate, calcium lactate), spices, wheat starch, whey, corn starch.

Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.”

Source: Organic Authority

Posted in Fast Food | 1 Response »

San Francisco Bans Happy Meals

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

San Francisco’s board of supervisors has voted, by a veto-proof margin, to ban most of McDonald’s Happy Meals as they are now served in the restaurants.

The measure will make San Francisco the first major city in the country to forbid restaurants from offering a free toy with meals that contain more than set levels of calories, sugar and fat.

The ordinance would also require restaurants to provide fruits and vegetables with all meals for children that come with toys.
“We’re part of a movement that is moving forward an agenda of food justice,” said Supervisor Eric Mar, who sponsored the measure. “From San Francisco to New York City, the epidemic of childhood obesity in this country is making our kids sick, particularly kids from low income neighborhoods, at an alarming rate. It’s a survival issue and a day-to-day issue.”

Just after the vote, McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud said, “We are extremely disappointed with today’s decision. It’s not what our customers want, nor is it something they asked for.”

The ban, already enacted in a similar measure by Santa Clara County, was opposed by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who was vying to be lieutenant governor in Tuesday’s election. But because the measure was passed by eight votes — one more than needed to override a veto — his opposition doesn’t matter unless one of the supervisors changes his or her mind after the promised veto.

Under the ordinance, scheduled to take effect in December 2011, restaurants may include a toy with a meal if the food and drink combined contain fewer than 600 calories, and if less than 35% of the calories come from fat.

Over the last few weeks, the proposed ban caused a stir online and on cable television, with supporters arguing that it would help protect children from obesity, and opponents seeing it as the latest example of the nanny state gone wild.

Supervisor Bevan Dufty, whose swing vote provided the veto-proof majority, said critics should not dismiss the legislation as a nutty effort by San Franciscans. “I do believe the industry is going to take note of this. I don’t care how much they say, ‘It’s San Francisco, they’re wacked out there.’ ”

Proud, the McDonald’s spokeswoman, said the city was out of step with the mainstream on the issue.

“Public opinion continues to be overwhelmingly against this misguided legislation,” she said. “Parents tell us it’s their right and responsibility — not the government’s — to make their own decisions and to choose what’s right for their children.”

McDonald’s is not the only fast-food chain to offer toys with children’s meals, but because it is so prominent the company has become a key face of opposition to the ban.

Daniel Conway, spokesman for the California Restaurant Assn., bemoaned the ordinance’s passage and contrasted it with San Franciscans’ exuberant feelings after the Giants won the world series on Monday night.

“One day you’re world champions, and the next day, no toys for you,” Conway said.

He said the industry could respond in a number of ways to the ordinance. Some might continue to include toys but charge separately for them. Others might reformulate their meals so that they comply with the law. Restaurants might also simply stop offering children’s meals altogether, he said.

Proud said the company does offer more healthful menu options, including apple slices that can be ordered with kids’ meals instead of French fries.

The vote was held the same day that McDonald’s reintroduced nationwide its McRib sandwich, a pressed pork patty that gets half its calories from fat and has a cult-like legion of fans.

Mar said it would lead the fast-food giant and other restaurants to provide more healthful food for kids. The ban, he said, was crucial to the fight against childhood obesity and the illnesses that go along with it, including diabetes and the risk of heart problems and stroke. The cost of fighting those diseases, he said, will be in the billions.

“It’s astronomical how much it’s going to cost if we don’t address it,” Mar said. “It’s incredible the crisis that’s going to hit us.”

Source: LA Times

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