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29 March 2024

I'm countin’ it: McDonald’s posts calorie counts on burgers, fries

Published
By Staff

McDonald’s Arabia announced yesterday in a media statement that more than 360 of its restaurants in the GCC will carry nutrition labelling directly on food packaging, as part of the company’s commitment to promoting balanced lifestyles.

McDonald’s claims to be the first Quick Service Restaurant in the Middle East to provide this information directly on food packaging, putting food labels in the hands of its customers.

Already being rolled out across all restaurants in all GCC markets, nutrition information will be displayed on the majority of McDonald's food packaging on easy-to-read labels.

The move is designed to make the information more accessible and visible, and to help customers make informed choices about the food they eat. Nutrition information has been available in McDonald’s restaurants and to its customers since 2002 on tray-mats and fliers, and is also posted on its website.

Yousif Abdulghani, Managing Director, McDonald’s Middle East and Africa, commented: “This is an exciting step for McDonald’s in the GCC, and we’re delighted to step in as the first Quick Service Restaurant in the region to proactively post nutrition information on its packaging.

“Telling our customers about our food is not something new for McDonald’s in the region. We have always been committed to helping consumers make informed choices about the food they eat, and this is just one of many ways we’re making our information more accessible to them. Put very simply – we’re proud of the food we serve, and want customers to understand what goes into it.”

The labels on McDonald’s packaging include five key nutrition components, which are calories, proteins, total fat, carbohydrates, and sodium; additional nutrition components can be found on McDonald’s Arabia’s website. Packaging has been formatted in a clear and easy-to-read format to allow customers to understand the nutrition breakdown of the products they’re enjoying.

The majority of McDonald's packaging will include nutrition information. For example, packaging used in limited time promotions, and wrappers and containers used for multiple products will not feature product specific nutrition information due to logistical limitations. In these instances, customers will be directed to McDonald's Arabia website or to in-restaurant tray-mats and fliers for the nutrition information they need.

Nutrition information was first made available to customers in McDonald’s Arabia restaurants on tray-mats and informative fliers in 2002. In 2005, this information became available on the official McDonald’s Arabia website.

Three years later, in 2008, McDonald’s updated the nutrition information on its food products. In 2012, the company introduced a nutrition calculator hosted on the website, allowing customers to calculate nutrition content for McDonald’s meals. The website was also further developed to function on smartphones through a customized mobile web interface, where information on nutrition, menu and store locations is made available.

In a growing digital world of smartphones, McDonald’s Arabia has now launched a mobile app that provides customers with on-the-go nutrition information. The Nutrition Information App is available for Apple iOS and will be available for Android formats in April this year.