I'm not lovin it

As a student member of Dietitian's of Canada (DC) I often get stuff in the mail. Stuff can be anything from coupons for free products, industry newsletters, new product information packages etc. Today I opened the mailbox and had a package of information from McDonald's. I was immediately interested...what could McDonald's be sending me information on? The package came in a cute little folder and was titled "See What We're Made Of"; on the inside I found a nice little letter from the President of McDonald's Restaurants of Canada outlining their commitment to food quality and encouragement of nutrition education. The cover letter explains that the purpose of sending me this package is "to share with Canada's network of dietitians about [McDonald's] products & strict standards for sourcing, preparing and serving quality food made with high quality ingredients. What kind of information would this little package contain I wondered as I began to flip through the15 page Food Quality Info Kit that was attached. Turns out it contained a lot of information on the company, a lot of which was shall we say....a stretch!

Here are a few of my favourite highlights:

Eggs Every Day? No Way! - I turned to the 'Egg Quality Facts' sheet, where I read that "Canada's Food Guide [CFG] recommends 1-2 servings of eggs daily". Wait a minute! Last time I checked CFG recommends consuming 1-3 servings of Meat & Alternatives each day, where 2 eggs are an example of a serving. It doesn't actually say that you need to eat 2-4 eggs per day! Typo? Most dietitians would recommend you not consume that many eggs a day for a number of reasons, particularly the high cholesterol!

Produce Friendly- The 'Produce Quality Facts' sheet was no better. Here it was stated that fruit & salad options make McD's one of the leading Canadian purchasers of produce, purchasing in 2007, 151 million pounds of potatoes, 21 million pounds of tomatoes & 3 million apples! This is great and all, but if they are suggesting that the measly slice of tomato on a burger makes a major contribution to the F&V consumption of Canadians I beg to differ. Sure, you can order a salad at McD's to get some of your daily F&Vs...but how many people go there for a salad?

Unhappy Meals - And then there was the 'Made for Families Facts' sheet that explained how McD's Happy Meals supply close to 1/3 of a child's estimated daily caloric requirements (that is if your child gets the hamburger, small fries & 1% milk, which comes in at 570 calories & 21g of fat). They attempt to validate this meal choice by comparing it to a 'popular lunch' for children consisting of a PB&J sandwich, potato chips & 1% milk (at 600 calories & 26g fat). Now I was a kid once, I don't remember EVER having PB&J with chips and milk for lunch...do most kids eat that?. Also, is stating that McD's kids lunches are better than absolute garbage really that great a claim? Next time McD's should try comparing a Happy Meal to a CFG & DC approved kid's 'popular lunch' and see how that works out...

Breakfast of Champs! - Oh yes, My favourite! The "CFG Facts" sheet made recommendations for ordering meals according to CFG when visiting a McD's. The suggested breakfast: an Egg McMuffin & Small OJ, providing 2 1/2 servings of fruit, 2 servings of grains, 1/4 serving of milk and 2/3 serving of meat. WOW! 1/4 serving of milk! Also, what they don't tell us here, (but what you can find online on the McDonald's Canada website) is that this breakfast also contains 760mg sodium, 12 g fat (4.5 of which are saturated), 33g of sugar and a mere 2g of fiber! Sound like a great breakfast now? Not to mention, you might not be full after consuming that for breakfast...tempting you to add a hash brown or two to the meal!

Why did McDonald's Canada send me such a ridiculous package of information, portraying themselves as a healthy company and misusing CFG to market their not so healthy products? I understand McD's is trying to position themselves as being less evil than they are often portrayed. Who doesn't think 'bad' when they here the 'M' word and who hasn't seen 'SuperSize Me' afterall? And although there is a 'bad' vibe surrounding McD's they have made some steps in the right direction: in 2006 they became the first quick serve restaurant to (voluntarily) include nutrition information on the packaging of many menu items, and in 2008 they switched to a trans fat free Canola oil blend of cooking oil to meet Health Canada's Voluntary Trans Fat Limits guidelines. And at least small steps in the right direction are better than NO steps.

But let's remember, this package was sent to me, as I am a nutrition professional...Did they really think I would believe this and then spread the good word about McD's to my colleagues?