McDonalds to include nutrition data in wrappers

In its latest measure to fend off critics that blame the world's largest restaurant company for contributing to a rising incidence of obesity and other health problems, McDonald's said yesterday it will start printing nutritional information on the packaging of its food.

By the way, this information (including calories, fat grams, protein, carbohydrates and sodium) for McDonald's and many other fast food restaurants has long been available from this site's host: Fast Food Facts. And in print in their Fast Food Facts book.

McDonald's sells quality in new ads

from CNN/Money:

Every day inside an unassuming building on the outskirts of Oklahoma City, thousands of hamburgers are run through metal detectors on their way to becoming Big Macs and Quarter Pounders.

The detectors, along with hourly tasting tests of burger and sausage patties made at the plant and five-hour-long nightly cleanups, are just a few of the food quality and safety measures McDonald's Corp. requires of its suppliers. And the company wants its customers to know it.

McDonald's on Monday will kick off a two-day media event to tout the quality of its food and combat critics who say its burgers and fries are unhealthy.

One of the myths Gonzalez-Mendez said the new campaign aims to eradicate is the perception that McDonald's burgers are filled with additives and other non-beef ingredients.

To combat that assertion, the company invited Reuters to tour the Lopez Foods Inc. meat processing plant, where 2,000-pound containers of beef are fed into gigantic metal grinders before being pressed into patties, frozen and finally stacked into cardboard boxes.

Burger Bill passes House

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill aimed at making it harder for people to sue the food industry for causing obesity. Lawmakers voted 306-120 in favour of the Personal Responsibility in Food Consumption Act - or the "cheeseburger bill", as it has been nicknamed. The bill, which has still to go before the Senate, follows a series of legal actions against fast-food companies. A spokesman for the firms welcomed the move to outlaw such cases. Scott Vinson of the National Council of Chain Restaurants praised the House for "denouncing frivolous obesity lawsuits brought by plaintiffs seeking to blame restaurants for making them overweight". The council represents brands including McDonald's, Burger King, KFC and Pizza Hut.

McD: Shrimp burgers in Japan

McDonald's, with 3,700 stores in Japan, has announced the introduction of the Shrimp Burger there to boost sagging sales.

"The 270 yen ($2.40), burger, shown to reporters Friday and set to go on sale this month, is the latest effort by the Japan unit of the U.S. fast-food chain to win over Japanese palates _ and spark sales."

Fast food coffee upgrades

The Starbucks induced coffee craze being what it is, I'm surprised fast food restaurants didn't respond a long time ago, but the upgrade to better fast food coffee is fairly recent.

The most recent is Burger King with last week's introduction of BK Joe — brewed 100% from premium arabica beans. Sold in decaf, regular and "turbo strength" (extra caffeine), the coffee will be in all of Burger King's more than 7,000 U.S. stores by the end of November.

Other coffee upgrades:

• McDonald's tested a premium roast and plans a national rollout soon.
• Chick-fil-A added a Cafe Blends line this summer.
• Subway is trying gourmet java in some stores to lure morning traffic.

Jack's new Butterfinger Cheesecake

Jack in the Box has introduced the Butterfinger Cheesecake. The dessert is a classic-style cheesecake topped with melted pieces of Butterfinger candy bar.

BK gets more enormous

As if Burger King's enormous omelet sandwich wasn't big enough, now they've introduced the Meat'Normous Omelet sandwich! But hey, that only makes sense because while the nutritionists cried foul over the original, consumers stepped up to the trough. So the obvious response is to step it up a notch.

Meat'Normous has three slices of bacon, two slices of ham and a sausage patty between two omelets, two slices of American cheese and a toasted bun. It weighs in at almost 11 ounces, has 770 calories and 47 fat grams.

Dining out...in your car

Americans are increasingly more likely to order and eat meals in their cars, according to a published report.
USA Today reports that takeout meals and curb-side service is on the rise at more upscale restaurants, rather than the traditional fast-food drive-up window.
The newspaper cites a survey from market research firm NPD Group, which asked those surveyed about the meals they had the day before and estimated that the average American:

• Ordered 22 percent of restaurant meals from their car, according to the firm's latest survey, up from 14 percent in 1998.
• Ate about 32 restaurant-purchased meals a year in their cars, up from 19 in 1985.
• Took home 57 restaurant meals a year, compared with 33 in 1985.
• Ate 80 meals a year at restaurants, down from 93 in 1985.

Supermarkets might have to follow the restaurant trend and offer curbside service, Harry Balzer, a vice president for NPD Group, told the newspaper. "At some point, they are going to have to knock a hole in the side of the wall and throw the rotisserie chicken out as you drive by," he said. [USA Today]

French fry vending machine

Ah, the magic of science! You can't get french fries much faster than from a vending machine on your favorite street corner! A Spanish company, Patatas Chef, has developed a vending machine of the same name, that will do just that. Here's their description:

"The fully automatic french-fries vending machine provides, in a record time, a delicious portion of hot crunchy and golden fries.

"The potatoes are fried on the spot, and a tray is provided to collect your portion. Also, the salt and ketchup, if wished, are dispensed automatically.

"It works like a clean and small sophisticated factory with the most absolute respect for the environment, and maintains the hygienic conditions required by edible products, and is equipped to maintain the quality of natural products that are being used."
[Patata Chef corp website]