McDonald's Removes Food Additives From Burgers On Its Menu

Fast food may have become slightly healthier this week. McDonald’s Corp. (MCD) announced Wednesday that the seven “classic burgers” on the menu at its namesake fast food chain are now served almost entirely without unhealthy additives.

That means everything from a plain hamburger to the restaurant’s signature Big Mac sandwich is now made without artificial flavoring, food coloring, or preservatives.

“We’ve been laser-focused on using our size and scale to implement meaningful changes across our entire menu, changes that we know are important to our customers, our franchisees, our people and our planet,” the McDonald’s press release said.

“We’ve evolved everything from when we serve certain items, to how we cook our beef patties, to the ingredients we use across our menu. And now, we’ve taken that journey to new heights.”

Everything from the American cheese McDonald’s uses on its burgers to Big Mac sauce, beef and buns are affected by this change. For unspecified reasons, McDonald’s decided to keep serving pickles with food preservatives in them but implored customers to skip ordering them if they do not want them.

This has been a growing trend in chain restaurants in recent years. Taco Bell, Panera Bread and more have committed to taking artificial additives off their menus prior to Wednesday’s announcement, according to CNN Money. McDonald’s took preservatives out of its McNuggets two years ago.

Whether McDonald’s did this for financial reasons, to avoid lawsuits, or because it was the right thing to do is unknown. However, the American Academy of Pediatrics warned earlier this year that common food additives were especially harmful to children. For example, the academy claimed food coloring can increase symptoms in children with ADHD.

McDonald’s share prices were up slightly on Thursday.