The sad truth about McDonald’s and Burger King

May 23, 2020

16 7 minutes read

Burger King and McDonalds are fighting for customers.

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According to a nutrition report by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, 91 percent of Germans value that their food is healthy. Whether they consistently implement this in everyday life, however, can be doubted. According to a survey by the Forsa Institute, every fourth German buys fast food or small snacks at least once a week. One in five goes out to eat at least once a week, according to the “Welt”.

Fast food chains have often tried to react to the new health awareness. For example, McDonald’s already offered an organic burger in 2015. But healthy alternatives never seem to make it into the menu of fast food chains in the long term.

Also read: McDonald’s employees explain which 6 products they would never order

As researchers at the University of Boston have found, the quality of fast food products has deteriorated over the decades. To this end, the scientists examined how over a thousand products from ten American fast-food chains such as KFC, Burger King and McDonald’s have developed since the 1980s. Various products from 1986, 1991 and 2016 were analyzed according to portion size, number of calories and salinity.

Ever larger portions at McDonald’s and Co.

The nutritional researchers looked particularly closely at starters, side dishes and desserts. These have been sold in larger and larger portions over the years. The researchers suspect that this should provide an incentive to buy additional small products in addition to the main course. The increased portion size should make the price-performance ratio more attractive.

In addition, according to “Welt”, there is also the fact that the larger the portions, the greater the amount of calories. The products have up to 60 calories more than those of ten years ago. Over the decades, more and more salt came into the products of McDonald’s and Co.

Also read: 48 unusual McDonald’s products that are no longer available today

In addition, fast food restaurants now offer more than twice as many products compared to the 1980s. Around 23 new products come onto the market every year. Since then, healthier products such as salads have also been added, but according to the researchers, the majority of the new products are even healthier than dishes that have been on the market for decades.

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This article was published by NewsABC.net in March 2019. It has now been checked and updated again.

Ever larger portions at McDonald’s and Co.

These unusual McDonald’s products no longer exist today – do you still know them?

These unusual McDonald’s products no longer exist today – do you still know them?

Long forgotten products

The McSalad Shakers survived only three years on the McDonald’s menu in the United States.

There were three different types: garden salad, chef salad and ceasar salad with grilled chicken.

A burger called Arch Deluxe, launched in 1996, is still considered one of the most expensive fast food misunderstandings in McDonald’s history.

The Arch Deluxe’s ​​advertising budget was over $ 150 million. Nevertheless, the burger was on the menu in the US stores for less than a year.

The onion nuggets were part of the McDonald’s dollar menu in the United States in the 1970s, but they were also only available for a short time. The fried onion pieces were removed from the range shortly after the market launch.

McDonald’s pizza should attract US customers who otherwise ate at chains like Domino’s and Pizza Hut.

Although most of the branches no longer sold pizza in the late 1980s, McDonald’s pizza was still offered in three branches until 2017. Today, they are only available in one branch – in a McDonald’s restaurant in Orlando (Florida).

The Chicken Selects were advertised as a “premium” version of the normal Chicken Nuggets.

They were on the menu from 2002 to 2013.

McDonald’s launched mozzarella sticks in late 2015. However, customers were angry when they found out that most of their mozzarella sticks did not contain cheese.

Customers got three mozzarella sticks for a dollar, but they were taken out of sale not long after they were launched.

The hula burger, which was introduced to the US market in the 1960s, was intended to be a meat-free option for Catholic customers who could not eat meat on Fridays during Lent.

Ultimately, the hula burger failed and was removed from the menu again.

The Fish McBites were added to the menu as another fish option, but they also failed to increase McDonald’s sales.

The small fried fish pieces were finally removed from the menu in 2013.

The McAfrika was a PR disaster for McDonald’s since it was launched in Norway, one of the richest countries in the world, while millions of people died of starvation on the African continent. The sandwich was quickly removed from the menu in 2002.

The McStuffins were bread filled with ingredients such as hot peppers or teriyaki chicken.

McDonalds’ HotPockets approach lasted less than a year and was removed from the menu in 1993.

For the McDLT, short for McDonald’s Lettuce Tomato, the salad and tomato of the burger were packed in a separate styrofoam box – for “maximum freshness”, as it was then called.

It was removed from the menu in 1991 after environmental activists voiced criticism.

The Mighty Wings also failed on the US market because they were too expensive and too spicy for McDonald’s customers.

They were on the menu from 1990 to 2003.

McDonald’s tried to sell Mexican food for a short time, including chicken fajitas …

… and burritos for breakfast. Fajitas and breakfast burritos were removed from the menu in the 1990s, most likely because they couldn’t keep up with competitor Taco Bell’s offerings.

The McSpaghetti was introduced in the 1970s. Even though they were removed from sale in the United States, they are still on the menu in the Philippines.

Ray Kroc, the founder of McDonald’s, said in his autobiography that the chain would never sell hot dogs because of quality concerns. In 1995, McDonald’s introduced the McHotdog anyway.

It was not well received by customers and was subsequently removed from the menu.

The McLean Deluxe is said to have 91 percent less fat than a conventional Big Mac and contained kelp extract.

It was removed from the menu in 1996.

McDonald’s fruit and walnut salad was launched in 2005 as a healthy option and was withdrawn from the market in 2013 because it wasn’t particularly popular.

The Big ‘N Tasty, which is said to be a whopper competitor, was discontinued in 2011.

But the burger is brought to the market every now and then on special occasions.

The McDonalds Triple Double Burger was a sesame roll topped with three beef patties and two slices of cheese.

Also known as Superhero Burger, it was launched in 1995 as part of a “Batman Forever” promotion and was soon removed from the menu.

McDonald’s introduced the Cheddar Melt twice and took it out of sale again: first in 1988 …

… and then again in 2004.

In the 1970s McDonald’s briefly offered a chopped beef steak sandwich that was advertised as a “long burger” with onions and steak sauce.

But it was removed from the menu shortly after its launch.

The McJordan Special, also known as Big 33 in honor of Michael Jordan, is the first fast-food sandwich named after a person, according to US magazine “Complex”. It was only offered for a limited time.

McDonald’s has taken the Orange Hi-C Lemonade off the menu to make way for the TropicBerry Sprite, but it’s still missed by fans everywhere.

McSoup was not well received, perhaps because many thought it was simple Campbell’s soup in a McDonald’s mug.

McDonald’s decided to sell lobsters in 1993.

While it’s still not on the menu permanently, New England has lobster rolls at McDonald’s every summer for a few weeks.

The McGratin Croquette was made exclusively in Japan from fried macaroni, shrimp and mashed potatoes. Many see the reason for the failure in the taste.

McDonald’s started offering super-size menus in 1993, but the option to order “oversize” items was stopped in 2004 after the documentary “Super Size Me” was released.

The cheeseburger was removed from the happy meal menu in February. McDonald’s Global Nutrition chief told NewsABC.net: “It’s a light push to encourage more positive decisions.” You can still order the cheeseburger separately.

McDonald’s fans in the UK and Canada whined when the Smarties McFlurry was removed from the menu in 2015 …

… to make room for the Oreo McFlurry.

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The Arch Deluxe’s advertising budget was over $ 150 million. Nevertheless, the burger was on the menu in the US stores for less than a year.