Hold the fries and pass the salad.
On the heels of Burger King's big announcement of selling a lower-fat, lower calories French fry option, McDonald's is planning to offer customers an alternative of a different sort.
McDonald's plan to give customers the choice between salad, fruit, or vegetables, as a substitute for fries on its value meals, for no extra cost.
The largest fast food chain will roll out the change beginning next year in all U.S. stores. In France, customers have already made the swap. The change will take place in 30 to 50 percent of the areas within the next three years and 100 percent the regions by 2020. McDonald's has more than 34,000 locations around the world.
According to the Associated Press, CEO Don Thompson McDonald's is looking to develop a healthy side which appeals to their customers.
"What is it that customers will choose, and what will they eat?" Thompson said. "What we don't want to do is just put something on the menu and say, 'hey, we did it.' We really want consumption."
McDonald's also vowed to promote and market only water, milk and juices as the beverages in it's popular Happy Meals for children as part of its announcement at the Clinton Initiative annual meeting in New York last week.
Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the health advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest, said taking soda off the menu as an option for Happy Meals was a big step that other fast-food chains should follow. However, Wootan said the push to include positive nutrition messages in ads to kids could serve to give McDonald's a "health halo" that it doesn't necessarily deserve.
"The changes McDonald's are making make the food somewhat healthier. But I don't think a hamburger, some applies and fries is something I'd call healthy," she said.
The announcement comes as more companies respond to government and consumer pressure to address the global obesity epidemic. Last year, McDonald's said it would begin listing calorie information on menus in some 14,000 U.S. restaurants and drive-throughs.
McDonald's said its announcement is part of a plan developed with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, which was founded by the Clinton Foundation and American Heart Association, to increase customers' access to fruit and vegetables and help families and children to make informed eating and lifestyle choices.
