People keep coming back to our restaurants because they enjoy and trust the food we serve them. Over the past few years we’ve included healthier options on our menu and looked to increase its sustainability.
We regularly conduct research into how our customers feel about our menu and communicate with health professionals, Health Ministers and other experts. We have a close working relationship with The Food Group Australia and we turn to them regularly for advice and information about nutrition.
Keeping our food safe
Providing customers with safe food is our first priority and our most critical responsibility. To ensure the integrity of our food safety system we have hundreds of stringent food safety procedures in place at every stage of the food preparation process, based on the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) approach.
Menu choice
We're committed to help our customers confidently make healthier choices when visiting our restaurants. Working closely with Accredited Practising Dieticians at the The Food Group International, a number of menu changes have been made to improve the nutritional value of our food. For example:
- Reduced sugar content in our buns to just 5%
- Reduced the sodium content of our signature cheese by 20%
- Happy Meal Choices menu, which enables parents and children to select meal components to suit individual tastes and dietary requirements. Choices include, 3 or 6 pack of nuggets, apple slices, French fries, garden salad, Calci-Yum flavoured low fat milk, water or apple juice
Responsible marketing to children
Being a favourite place for children, we know we have a responsibility to communicate appropriately with families and young people.
In the past few years there has been increased stakeholder and community concern around marketing practices to children, and so in 2009 McDonald’s Australia and other Quick Service Restaurants launched the self-regulatory Quick Service Restaurant Initiative for Responsible Advertising and Marketing Communications to Children.
The main principle of the Initiative states that when we are promoting food and beverages to children under 14 years we will only use foods that are healthier options. For a meal to be considered a healthier choice it should reflect general principles of healthy eating as defined by credible nutrition authorities and must comply with defined criteria for energy, saturated fat, sugar and sodium. These criteria were developed by a team of Accredited Practising Dietitians in consultation with national guidelines and authorities on children’s nutrition.
As part of the joint initiative, a complaints mechanism has been established whereby consumers can make a complaint directly to the Advertising Standards Bureau providing a single speedy source for complaint resolution.
QSR Initiative for Responsible Advertising and Marketing to Children.pdf
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13/10/2013
Nutrition Criteria for Assessing Children's Meals.pdf
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13/10/2013
McDonald's Action Plan_2013.pdf
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13/10/2013
Sustainable coffee
Every cup of coffee at Macca's® and McCafé® is solely made with beans from Rainforest Alliance™ farms.
The Rainforest Alliance is an independent, non-profit environmental organisation that promotes improved standards for sustainable forestry, farming and tourism. Working with farmers in Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica, the Rainforest Alliance makes sure the coffee beans are grown in a sustainable way, protecting the ecosystem.
Conditions are also improved for workers and their families, helping to ensure a future for the rainforest, for coffee farmers and for their children.
Sustainable Tea
Our range of Zoetic Teas are Fairtrade certified. Fairtrade is an independent, non-profit organisation that exists to end poverty through trade by addressing social, economic and environmental concerns. Fairtrade ensures that farmers and workers are paid fairly and that they can invest in important community development projects to create a brighter future for their families and communities.
Animal welfare
We're working with our suppliers to ensure the humane treatment of animals. All our beef, poultry and pork suppliers' processing plants are regularly checked by independent auditors like Ausmeat and by trained Macca's personnel.
Nutritional information
Macca’s is committed to helping our customers make informed decisions about their food choices. While nutrition information has always been available in our restaurants, in 2004 we introduced nutritional labelling on our packaging and this was enhanced in 2006 to include percentage Daily Intake figures. All information is also available on the website.