McDonald’s stops selling chicken raised on antibiotics; KFC to follow?

McDonald’s has been continuously tweaking its menu over the past year in an effort to drive up sales and improve the widespread perception that its food is unhealthy and overprocessed.

The fast food chain revealed on Monday that it had adjusted the ingredients for products such as its chicken McNuggets, sausage patties, omelettes and bagels.

McDonald’s in the U.S. is removing artificial preservatives from Chicken McNuggets, its most popular menu item, and making a host of other changes to its food in a bid to attract consumers looking for healthier, less-processed fare.

McDonald’s United States of America president Mike Andres said there are more changes on the way, and the company recognizes that “more than ever, people care about their food – where it comes form, what goes into it and how it’s prepared”.

When McDonald’s announced plans a year ago to use only cage-free eggs by 2025, more than 100 companies followed up with cage-free commitments of their own, Andres said. Revenue for the quarter totaled $6.265 billion, down from $6.50 billion from the same period past year and below the $6.269 billion FactSet consensus.

In good news for anyone who can’t resist the odd McDonald’s blowout, the burger chain has said it’s going to ditch some of the more unsavory ingredients in its meals.

“McDonald’s is not only the biggest quick-service restaurant, but I mean, it established us a fast food nation”. Now, in an attempt to win over more health-conscious customers, it promises to ditch preservatives in chicken nuggets and remove corn syrup from its burger buns.

Marion Gross, senior vice president for supply chain at McDonald’s, says numerous new ingredients will be more expensive to buy – but that cost will not be passed on to customers.

“We need to think about our ingredient labels as being much smaller”, Andres said at the time.

Still, when McDonald’s reformulated the Egg McMuffin with simpler, more natural ingredients this past September, the company reported a double digit increase in sales.

“We applaud McDonald’s for moving forward so quickly to implement its commitment to eliminate antibiotics in human medicine from its chicken supply”, says Kari Hamerschlag, deputy director of the Food and Technology program at Friends of the Earth. This means Big Macs, Quarter Pounders and McChicken sandwiches are about to get slightly healthier.

The latest updates come after other changes including switching from using margarine for Egg McMuffins back to real butter, and swapping out iceberg lettuce for a mix including romaine, baby spinach and baby kale in its salads.