Sept. 15--McDonald's Happy Meals are about to get a little healthier.
Starting Friday, McDonald's restaurants throughout Southern California will include a quarter-cup serving of sliced apples in every Happy Meal, along with a 1.1-ounce order of fries that's about half the size of the current one.
Both items will be included with each meal, along with the traditional choice of hamburger, cheeseburger or four-piece Chicken McNuggets. Kids also will get a choice of fat-free chocolate milk, 1 percent low-fat milk, apple juice or a fountain drink.
Currently, Happy Meals come with a choice of French fries or apple slices with a low-fat caramel dip.
The new Happy Meal will be available in Southern California and some other major markets starting Friday and will be available nationwide by the first quarter of 2012.
Nichole Hisel, an Ontario mother of three, said the changes are a good idea. Kids love the French fries, so the apples can be a tough sell, and Hisel said she usually takes half the fries out of the Happy Meal anyway because there are too many.
"That will be awesome," she said. "That's perfect, because you do go to McDonald's. It's so convenient."
Dick Shalhoub, owner of 23 McDonald's franchises in Southern California, said the change is a way to offer consumers more choices and help increase children's consumption of fruits. "The whole purpose is to strive for a balance of good enjoyable food," he said.
The new Happy Meals are expected to provide kids with about 100 million cups of produce a year, according to the McDonald's Operators Association of Southern California..
McDonald's and other fast-food restaurants have been under increased scrutiny in recent years as concerns over childhood obesity, diabetes and other health issues have grown. Last fall, San Francisco passed a new law prohibiting fast-food restaurants from offering toys with meals that do not meet certain nutritional standards. Supervisors in Santa Clara County had approved similar rules several months earlier, and lawmakers in New York City and elsewhere have considered following suit.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a health advocacy group that has opposed the use of toys in marketing fast-food meals to kids, said the Happy Meal changes are "an important step in the right direction."
McDonald's "clearly has a lot more to do, both for kids and adults," the center said in a statement. "But this move is a sign that the company recognizes that parents don't want burgers, fries and soda to be the default fast-food experience."
Shalhoub said the Happy Meal changes are not a response to the toy bans, but a plan that was in the works long before. In focus groups, customers have asked for more choice, more balance, and more nutritional information, he said, and "it's what the customers want that we do."
Glendora resident Karen Grammer, on a recent visit to McDonald's with her grandchildren in Eastvale, said the changes are good, but she would like to see McDonald's also offer grapes, carrot sticks, or other types of fruits and vegetables.
Shalhoub said there is more to come. McDonald's USA also has announced it will reduce sodium use in its menu by 15 percent by 2015, and it is working to reduce its use of added sugar, calories and saturated fat by 2020. The company said it also plans to roll out additional fruit and vegetables choices for the Happy Meal over the next few years.
"This is not the end of the trail," Shalhoub said.
"This is the beginning of the trail."
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