Jim,

No matter how high up the executive food chain, when people ask what you do, you still work at McDonald's.

I dunno if I disagree with him, really. The information is out there if you really want to find it. The bottom line is, fast food was never intended to be healthy or low cal. If you're worried about it, ask for a Nutrition Guide at the restaurant or look it up online.

Yeah, we are horrible people who are against morbid obesity, transfats and corporate deception. We're also the horrible people who are against killing puppies and wearing shoes in the bouncy castle at the county fair.

He should be fortunate that they're not demanding that the ingredients be posted on menus or available. "100% horse meat" would really look good up on that menu.

@MadameX: I'd have no problem with them providing the nutrition guides as a substitute, as long as they kept them right up front where you could grab one and they kept them in-stock.

@juiceboxonfire: I wear cleats in the bouncy castle.

Hell, a lot of people are put at ease when they can at least see the information in more readily available areas. Some McDonalds simply refuse to provide any nutritional information. So to ask that it be posted on the menus isnt that bad of an idea.

I personally dont really care whats in the damned hamburger health wise. I know its unhealthy, I know its packed full of calories and crap. I know if im really concerned about it then I can find the information online.

I like to go to McDonalds on occasion. This would save me the bother of checking online before ordering new menu items. What a horrible person I am - trying to mind my own health!

@FLConsumer:
That is something McDonalds will never do :P
A lot of them around here cant even manage to keep their fronts clean and stocked. Adding one more item to that list will only make it worse.

Actually if you wanted to have an impact, instead of calories, show how many people been fucked over and screwed over from the beginning to the end of the chain from the store back to the original ingredients.

a fricking brochure, poster near the lobby is FINE.
The menu board is just overboard you know.

Geez!

I guess the question is...why? Is there actually a person going into McDonald's that would see the calorie content on the menu, and have it make them make a different choice?

If you're in McDonalds, you're not trying to eat healthy.

Quit whining.

Although I agree that this guy is kind of a dick for having an attitude like that, I kinda like that term. It describes a LOT of activist-types.

This whole posting of nutritional information is great, but it makes a pretty big assumption: that Americans know how many calories they should consume daily.

In my experience, the only people who know how many calories they need to consumer and keep track are already doing things to avoid fast food--at least this will help them.

@Meg Marco: Soccer, track or golf?

I think that nutrition info. should be printed directly on the containers. There should be a law that applies only to fast food places.

Actually I've found that seeing the nutrition information right on the menu board is very very helpful. I used to get those muffins from Starbuck's until I realized they're 700 calories each. I'm all for it.

@graymulligan: I'm so sick of this excuse. More information is always a good thing. I generally try to eat healthy, but occasionally I like to get fast food, and when I do, it would be nice to know the nutritional information of the choices I have.

Calorie And Vitamin Enquirers?

I'm more interested in WHAT is in food rather than calories.If it's a soy burger don't say hamburger.I don't know.If your dietary requirments are that special you already need more than calorie counts.And if your that interested in your diet you should already have a working knowledge of calories for stuff like french FRIEs or FRIED food.

I say let the market decide but for these nanny staters who make certain foods and/or establishments 'evil' .If you want to play nanny stater force the schools to EDUCATE kids on things like diets or give parents literature on diets.

Anecdotal but I have frequently lived off of fast food and stuff like the dollar menu.Your body needs fat.Too many calories or FAT in YOUR body is a SYMPTOM of something else like lack of exercise or ABUSE/over-eating of these foods.

Like MadameX said, the information is out there if you want it. Id rather they not jack up the price of the food to recoup the billions that they would have to spend to have new menu boards made for every McDonalds in the country. If ANYONE goes to McDonalds and doesnt know the food isnt good for you, then they have much more serious problems. Every McDonalds I have been to has brochures you can grab that has nutritional info in it if you really want it. I agree with the CEO as the people that constantly whine about this are the type of people who dont just want to eat healthy, they want to try and force everyone else to also live their lifestyle.

@B:

But that information should be VOLUNTARY. Not mandated with the government. If McDonalds is losing money because people dont eat there then they may add the information to the menu. If you dont like the fact that they dont post calorie information then DONT eat there.

@MadameX: Actually if you havn't eaten at McDonald's recently it gives you all the nutrition facts(not the ingredients) at least int he great(sarcasm) state of Florida. But I guess by the time you get your food I suppose it's to late.

@linbey: I'm tired of the "Fast foods is supposed to be unhealthy! Waaaah!" argument.

It's not that difficult nor unreasonably expensive to make fast food less unhealthy, if not necessarily good for you. Plus, there isn't a major fast food chain that doesn't serve some sort of salad - that is a direct result of consumers who want lower-calorie fast food.

Plus, the "leave the fatties alone!" argument doesn't work either. When you're unhealthy, other people pay, whether it's through increased health care costs or diminished productivity from time missed from work.

As silly and unhealthy as this may sound...I stopped eating at McDonalds when they stopped using Trans Fat in their fries. I would eat there every once and a while but now their fries just arent as good so there is no longer a point in eating there. I make better burgers at home, I just wanted their fries.

I agree with him to a point.

I'm sure the people who want this information posted never eat at McDonalds. These are the people who are trying to convince everyone else not to eat there.

You want calorie information? EVERYTHING at McDonalds has a lot. Is there anyone who does not know this??

I manage to eat at McDonalds 3-4 times a week without being obese. All things in moderation.

The people who routinely eat at McDonalds don't really care how many calories they're going through or the nutritional content of the food they're eating.

You could total up the calorie counts on the super-sized Big Mac value meal, print it out and make them sign the paper and they still wouldn't care.

Everyone already knows McDonald's is unhealthy.

@bdgbill: Many people order chicken because they believe it is a healthier alternative. McDonald's Chicken Selects is the highest-calorie item on the menu. This is counterintuitive to a lot of people, and seems like information people would like to have.

And to all the free-marketers out there: the "just shop somewhere else" argument only works if there is no collusion among competitors. In the restaurant industry, there is collusion among its members to keep nutrition information off of menus.

@chrispiss:

That has to be one of the funniest comments I've read on Consumerist! Of course I'd work there too if I got paid millions.

Most people know by now that mcdonald's isn't a very healthy place to eat if you're watching your calories and fat intake. But SOMEhow the health-watchers want them to put the calories on the menu, knowing their food isn't healthy.

Really, really not getting the people posting here in favor of LESS information for the consumer. You're mad that people want information about a product while they're actually in the store to purchase it? You think the only appropriate way to get information is online? Sorry, this is Consumerist, not the 'Why Customers Exist To Give Us Money' board at Forbes or Business Week.

Restaurant used to have "ladies' menus" so that a woman being taken out on a date wouldn't know how much her date paid for her meal. Maybe we need "cranky corporate shill posters" menus so people who go to McDonald's and don't want to know the salt content of a Big Mac will be satisfied.

OH MY GOD!!!!! IF ONLY THE INFORMATION HAD BEEN READILY AVAILABLE ON THE MENU BOARD I WOULDN'T BE SO FAT!!!

I WAS SCREWED - I ASSUMED THAT FRENCH FRIED POTATOES AND MEAT SMOTHERED WITH CHEESE CONSTITUTED A BALANCED DIET!!!

Are pickles a vegetable?

Get a grip people. If you are so stupid you need McDonald's to post information on a menu board to know the food is bad unhealthy, you need supervision.

@chrispiss: And no matter the fact that he works at McDonalds, he can still afford to buy your entire extended family and ship them to a desolated island in the world.

@MitchV:

Yeah! What Mitch said!

Get over it fatties! You're not victims, you're pigs.

@MitchV: Exactly!!

Is there anyone who doesn't know fast food is high in fat and calories? If you are that diet conscious that you need to know exactly how much grease, sugar and lard you are consuming, I dare say you shouldn't be going to McD's in the first place.

Yes, we all know fast food is bad for us; we all know it's unhealthy. But do we know HOW unhealthy? As a lifelong dieter, I figured I had a fair grip on most caloric counts/esimations. I was floored when I realized that the BK Tendercrisp chicken sandwich has 780 Calories, with 387 Cal coming from fat. (For perspective, the whopper "only" has 680 Cal.)

That said, in-stock nutritional phamplets and/or information printed on food containers would be more than adequate. I'd prefer both so that people can see before ordering and while eating. No one needs to see it on the menu bords, IMHO.

What is with the nanny staters? You can't go and find this information for yourself? Doesn't McDonalds still provide nutrition information on request? When I was in high school, they used to -- hence why I haven't eaten there in 10 years.

Better yet, vote with your dollars and don't shop any where that you don't like. Period.

@spinachdip: Ahh, I was hoping someone would mention the salad.

I'll admit, the salad is healthy..... if you don't eat the cheese and you use only 1/2 of the dressing (if it isn't Light or 'lite'). Go online to the fast food menus and see how much calories (and SODIUM) are in the dressing in a packet...

Oh, and FWIW, I'm VEGETARIAN and even I can't justify paying $4+ for a bunch of cold lettuce, half cut tomatoes, and itty bitty croutons especially if I eat less than half the dressing.

@ConsumerAdvocacy1010: To be honest though, virtually all salad dressing ain't healthy for you. So it is not fair to pick on fast food salad dressing....

Yes, how nanny-state of anyone to want a company to provide information at point of sale so that consumers can make an informed choice. How stupid for someone to buy fast food, since we know that there are only two kinds of food: unhealthy, which you should never ever eat, and healthy. There is no reason to learn anything more about food.

I eat at McD's.

My decision process....

1) How hungry am I

2) How much $ do I have in my pocket

3) How soon will I be eating again

4) Do I have enough $ for anything else that I need to do, buy or eat?

Calorie content? Nutrition? Not a factor.

I dunno, if I were a CAVE person, I might be against you saying such a thing and getting away with it.
Oh wait, you're a douchebag! That's the term we use for people like you, Jimbo.

It's amazing to see the comments here; when the proposal is for fast food restaurants to disclose the nutritional value of their products - I've got to ask: Who would benefit from keeping this information out of the public eye?

It's all about letting the customer make an informed purchasing decision. There's nothing wrong with that - or at least there shouldn't be. So why are the fast food corporations fighting so hard to keep from making this information readily available? Readily as in right there in plain sight when you're ordering, not on a flyer that is hidden under the counter or on some website somewhere.

If the fast food corporations are concerned about that information making their products look unhealthy - well, they could always work on making healthier foods. Then this information disclosure would be helpful to them and they could compete on something other than cute mascots or glitzy advertising.

@ConsumerAdvocacy1010: You can wipe off your GOTCHA smirk. I never said they were healthy (and I agree, fast food salads suck - it's mostly iceburg lettuce).

I was just pointing it out as an example of consumers demanding and getting healthier (or at least healthier looking) options from fast food restaurants. If nothing else, it debunks the canard that you can only expect unhealthy food from fast food joints - if there's enough of a market for it, they will respond.

@spinachdip: There should be some sort of a smiley face at the end of the first sentence. I kinda come off like a dick.

I do think that fast food places need to do more to show the calorie content of their food, but McDonald's, out of all of them, is probably the best about doing so. They print the damn information right on the wrapper of EVERY item. You can't NOT read it. (Do they do that everywhere? I'm in LA) That seems pretty damn sufficient for me.

Anyone who needs to see the calorie information on a fastfood menu (especially mcdonalds) are the same type of people that need a warning on their coffee that reminds them that it is "HOT!"

If you need a chart to convince you that fast food is bad for you, you deserve to die from eating it. It's just like cigarettes...everyone knows they're bad, but they choose to use them anyways.

Maybe they should use the Geico cavemen for their next advertising blitz.

well, I like to eat hamburger sandwiches from mcdonalds and I would like to know what the calorie contents are considering I consume many meat sandwiches a week.