Junk food giant preys on time poor families

21/06/2013

The battle between junk food giants and public health messages continues to surge with McDonald's recent promotion of its cheap family dinner boxes containing around half an individual's daily energy requirement.

The McDonald's dinner boxes – containing a mix of burgers, fries, soft drink and chicken nuggets – contain up to 4730kJ per person. An average person's daily energy requirement is 8700kJ.

"Promotions like these encourage families to make unhealthy choices more often," said Heart Foundation Chief Executive Maurice Swanson.

"Junk food giants drop prices to lure customers, and the family value dinner box for under $20 makes for a fierce rival against healthy foods that are less available and accessible," he said.

"It's not just about the energy intake, fast foods are of little nutritional value, low in fibre and high in saturated fat."

The McDonald's family value dinner box equates to between six to nine teaspoons of fat per person.

Angela Mallon, spokesperson for advocacy group The Parents' Jury said: "With one in four Australian children considered to be overweight or obese, it's no longer enough to simply tell parents to say no. Everyone has a role to play. McDonald's and other like-minded companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to make sure they're reaching families and it is undermining the healthy eating messages many parents give. It's time the food industry played its role in the debate to tackle obesity.

"People can overestimate the cost of making a healthy meal. A LiveLighter 'meal deal' containing steak sandwiches, chicken burgers, chunky chips and water, can be a quick and easy option for under $20," said Steve Pratt, Nutrition and Physical activity Manager at Cancer Council Western Australia.

"Eating healthy and being more active can lower your risk of developing a number of serious diseases. If we can improve our health we can also reduce the pressure on our health care system, he said.

Mr Swanson adds: The priorities are all wrong, we have a growing problem of unhealthy weight. We need interventions to ensure healthy, fresh food is accessible and affordable to all our communities so people can make the healthier choice."

For more information about healthy lifestyle changes and recipes visit www.livelighter.com.au.

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Media contact:
Kema Rajandran, Media and Communications Manager
T: (08) 9382 5913
E: media@livelighter.com.au

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NB:

• McDonald's adds salt to the fries and burgers after they are cooked and this extra salt has not been included in this nutritional analysis.
• McDonald's Canning Vale store quoted prices 20 June 2013.
• LiveLighter 'meal deal' calculated using Woolworths' online prices 19 June 2013.