Food Police 1 Liberty 0

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McDonalds has surrendered to Michelle Obama and her Food Patrol!

(Reuters) – McDonald’s Corp said on Tuesday it will soon tweak its children’s Happy Meals, reducing the French fry portion by more than half and automatically adding apples to the popular meals, after coming under pressure from consumer groups to provide healthier fare.

McDonald’s — which consumer groups say should lower calories, sugar and sodium in its meals for children — said that it would start making the changes in September and that the new Happy Meals would be available in all of its 14,000 U.S. restaurants by the first quarter of 2012.

The world’s largest hamburger chain also said it would reduce sodium, added sugars, saturated fats and calories across its entire U.S. menu by 2020.

“We are going to be casting our gaze more closely on portion management as well as how we can introduce more food groups such as fruits, vegetables and whole grains,” Cindy Goody, McDonald’s senior director of nutrition, said on a webcast.

The new child’s French fry portion will be 1.1 ounces, down from 2.4 ounces previously. The new child’s fry portion has about 100 calories, the company said.

The new apple portion includes a half-cup of peeled fruit and has no added sugar or accompanying dipping sauces.

The move will reduce calorie counts for Happy Meals by about 20 percent. As a result, the new Happy Meals will be well under 600 calories.

Now, if McDonald’s wants to put apples in every Happy Mean, fine, but you know damned well this action was caused by government pressure, and that is a terrible trend that will only serve to erode liberty and of course, increase the pull of the Nanny Statists.

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