McDonald’s Malta has officially launched the new product packaging with nutrition information, being used in all its local restaurants. This nutritional initiative is the latest step in McDonald’s ongoing commitment to providing consumers with information to help them make personal and informed choices to establish a balanced, active lifestyle.
The Nutrition Information Initiative is the result of a research process that focused on consumer awareness and comprehension of nutrition and nutrition information, different concepts for providing this information and a pilot market test of the proposed model and the supporting communication materials.
During a press conference launching this initiative, Luca Bollani, explained how now, all McDonald’s restaurants throughout Malta and Gozo feature nutrition information on food packaging.
Now, Maltese customers may check the nutritional value of most McDonald’s products through comprehensive and user-friendly information available on trayliners, product packaging and specially designed leaflets available in all local McDonald’s restaurants,” said Mr Bollani.
Present for this press conference was Mr Melo Hili, Managing Director of McDonald’s and Joanna Ellis, Marketing Manager, and Mr Hector Naudi, Purchasing Quality Assurance Manager, McDonald’s Malta.
The new icon and bar chart format provides clear and user-friendly information on a menu item’s nutrition value and how it relates to daily nutrient guidelines. The icons represent the five elements that experts agree are most relevant to consumer understanding of nutrition – calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates and salt (sodium).
In addition, the new packaging includes the nutrition reference values, called Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA), which for the first time have been established on a European level, and are based on guidelines recommended in European countries as well as by the World Health Organization. McDonald’s is the first in the restaurant industry to utilize the GDA. The GDA for key nutrients are measured against a daily energy guideline of 2,000 kilocalories for adults. Those menu items which can be part of a Happy Meal also have information that is based on a GDA of 1,600 kilocalories, an appropriate value for children ages 4 to 7.
“We listen closely to our customers and understand how important transparency is to them.That’s why we’re putting nutrition information right into their hands,” said Melo Hili.“Our ongoing efforts to provide menu choice and variety and be an advocate for physical activity are further demonstrated here today.” Nutrition information on packaging, which was announced by Chief Executive Officer Jim Skinner in October 2005, is a first for the quick-service industry and builds on McDonald’s 30-year history of providing nutrition information to customers.
