This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Business & Tech

Marple and Newtown McDonald's Will Sell a Healthier Happy Meal

The fast food chain takes a healthy step in their Happy Meals.

You may have heard about the California woman who sued McDonald’s to market directly to young children. 

In response to the lawsuit, McDonald’s made some big changes to the Happy Meal including making the whole meal less than 400 calories.  McDonald’s pledged to reduce sugars, saturated fats and calories through “varied portion size, reformulations and innovations” by 2020. 

By 2015, it will reduce sodium by 15 percent. By the beginning of next year, McDonald’s will include a half order of apples and a half order of fries.  

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

However, you can get all fries or all apples if you ask. Starting in September there will be an automatic inclusion of a quarter cup of apples without caramel dipping sauce and “dialed back” fries. Current portion of fries is 2.4 ounces and the new portion is 1.1 ounce.  

Employees from both the and locations confirmed that the new Happy Meal changes will occur within the next month. In the meantime, both locations suggested customers may request only apples in their Happy Meal or sodium-reduced fries until the new changes officially occur.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

“In with the new, out with the old” as the old Happy Meal with hamburger, fries and a kid's size regular coke contains a whopping 590 calories and 20 grams of fat (5 grams saturated fat). 

The new Happy Meal with hamburger, fries and apples combo and a kid’s size regular coke is reduced to 470 calories and 14 grams of fat (4 grams saturated fat). 

The nuggets have been reduced from 520 calories and 23 grams of fat (3.5 grams saturated fat) to 410 calories and 17grams of fat (2.5 grams saturated fat). 

McDonald’s is also going to introduce a new mobile app focused just on nutrition information which will be available by next spring. It seems as if the fast food industry is making significant strides towards making their food healthier. Now if they can just make you take the apples!

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?