McDonald's to Post Calorie Counts

Fast food giant McDonald's is planning to post calories for its menu, say sources. "At McDonald's, we recognize customers want to know more about the nutrition content of the food and beverages they order," said Jan Fields, president of McDonald's USA.

"As a company that has provided nutrition information for more than 30 years, we are pleased to add to the ways we make nutrition information available to our customers and employees," she said in statement.

Locog Bows to McDonalds� Demands, Bans Independent Food Outlets from Selling Chips at Olympics
The London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) has been forced to ban the sale of chips by independent food outlets.

McDonald's over the years has come under fire for offering too few healthy menu items at a time when obesity, the number one public health scourge in the United States, afflicts one in three Americans.

The company on Wednesday announced additions to its menu that it said would give consumers more wholesome choices, without mentioning the obesity issue as such.

America's most popular restaurant, McDonald's serves more than 25 million customers every day.

Anti-Obesity Drive in Britain to Go Ahead Without McDonalds and KFC
Even as some of the major global firms signed up for the British government’s anti-obesity drive, many have criticized the campaign

The company said the new menu offerings would include more fruit and vegetables such as blueberries and cucumbers in season, and that it would also add more grilled chicken items.

But the changes coincide with additions to the chain's most calorie-laden fare with menu items such as the Angus Bacon and Cheese hamburger, which serves up a hefty 790 calories.

Burger King and McDonalds Move Towards Healthier Food
Research has indicated that fast food chains are slowly moving towards offering healthier food for consumers.

McDonald's also this year began offering its mammoth, super-sized soft drinks for the same $1 price as its smallest beverages, at a time when sugary beverages have been fingered as a main culprit for everything from America's increasing girth to an epidemic of diabetes.

Nevertheless, food and nutrition experts were encouraged by the decision to post the calorie count of its menu, although some said they suspected they were prompted by an awareness that mandatory guidelines from the federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will soon go into effect making such postings mandatory for most large retail food establishments.

20 Years On, McDonalds Commemorates Cold War Breakthrough
Global fast-food giant McDonalds on Monday celebrated the 20th anniversary of its debut in Moscow, an event that drew more than 30,000 curious Soviet citizens and foreshadowed the end of the Cold War.

"My guess is that they are doing this because they think they will have to as soon as the FDA rules come out," Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and public health at New York University, told AFP.

"I want to see how they do it before breaking into applause," she said.

Source-AFP