McDonald’s salad blends are beginning to include red leaf lettuce and carrots.
The two new ingredients are mixed with chopped romaine, baby spinach and baby kale. Taylor Farms, Fresh Express, Ready Pac and McEntire Produce supply the red and green lettuces.
The blend started appearing in early June in such menu items as Bacon Ranch Salad and Southwest Salad, according to a news release.
“The current trend is moving toward a nutritional-based salad,” Andrew Williams, Salinas, Calif.-based director of agricultural operations for Fresh Express, said in the release. “McDonald’s began moving towards this last year by replacing iceberg lettuce with romaine, baby spinach and baby kale. Iceberg has been a staple of salads since the 1930s, but McDonald’s looked at its salads and decided it needed to innovate by adding more flavor and nutritious ingredients. We’re also seeing a huge shift in the industry as a whole to kales, arugulas, and spinach.”
That 2015 move away from iceberg lettuce was prompted by feedback to McDonald’s culinary staff that consumers didn’t want it in their salads and preferred more color.
“Color in produce is an expression of different nutrients,” Jessica Foust, McDonald’s chef and registered dietitian, said in the release. “The new salad blend offers at least 2.5 cups of vegetables.”
In January 2015, McDonald’s USA began offering side salads as an alternative to french fries in its Extra Value Meals as part of the company’s partnership with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation. That partnership aims to increase customer access to fruit and vegetables.
McDonald’s restaurants receive produce two to three times weekly and salads are freshly prepared every morning, according to the company.
Since 1955, McDonald’s has served the world some of its favorite food. And along the way, it has managed not just to live history, but create it: from drive-thru restaurants to Chicken McNuggets to college credits from Hamburger U and much more.