McDonald's Begins Worldwide Rollout of Product Packaging with Nutrition Information at 2006 Torino Olympic Winter Games

The 26 restaurants in the Torino area are the first McDonald’s restaurants in the world to have the updated packaging for customers.

07/02/06 TORINO, ITALY -- McDonald’s Corporation today launched the official global rollout of nutrition information on its product packaging in restaurants in the 2006 Olympic Winter Games host city, Torino. The 26 restaurants in the Torino area are the first McDonald’s restaurants in the world to have the updated packaging for customers. This is the latest step in McDonald’s ongoing commitment to providing consumers with information to help them make informed choices.

"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 Mike Roberts, McDonald’s President and Chief Operating Officer, who today unveiled the new packaging at a press conference in Torino. "Our ongoing efforts to provide menu choice and variety and be an advocate for physical activity are further demonstrated here today."

McDonald’s two official Olympic venue restaurants at the Main Press Center (MPC) and Torino Olympic Village, plus the 24 McDonald’s restaurants located in and around Torino, feature nutrition information on food packaging. The new icon and bar chart format provides 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). McDonald’s Europe will use the bar charts and icons exclusively, allowing for consistent packaging across Europe. In addition, the new packaging will include the nutrition reference values, called Guideline Daily Amounts (GDA), which for the first time have been calculated on a pan-European basis.

Comprehensive and user-friendly background information to help familiarize customers with this new format and explain how they can apply it to their daily lives will be added to in-restaurant materials including brochures and trayliners and McDonald’s websites. During the Games, unique kiosks will also be placed in select restaurants in Torino to help customers access personalized nutrition information using this new format.

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.

"We are proud that the world’s visitors to Torino, both spectators and athletes, will be the first to experience our new packaging with nutrition information," said McDonald’s Italy Chairman Mario Resca. "It is now even easier for customers to see the variety of quality menu options we offer and how McDonald’s can be a part of daily meal choices."

Guideline Daily Amounts

McDonald’s Europe is the first in the restaurant industry to utilize GDA, nutrition reference values which have been established on a European level, and are based on guidelines recommended in European countries as well as by the World Health Organization. The GDA for key nutrients will be measured against a daily energy guideline of 2,000 kilocalories for adults. Those menu items which can be part of a Happy Meal, including the Hamburger, Cheeseburger, 4-piece Chicken McNuggets® and Small French Fries, will also have information that is based on a GDA of 1,600 kilocalories, an appropriate value for children ages 4 to 7.

Implementation Background

The remainder of Italy’s restaurants will introduce the new packaging and supporting communications materials beginning in March 2006. Restaurants throughout Europe will roll out the new packaging starting in the second quarter of 2006. In the U.S., restaurants in four test markets currently feature packaging with nutrition information, and the national rollout begins in February 2006 and will continue throughout the year. By the end of 2006, McDonald’s plans to have the updated packaging in more than 20,000 of its restaurants worldwide, including markets in Asia, Latin America, Canada and other areas of the world. The remaining restaurants will provide nutrition information on packaging as it becomes locally relevant and commercially feasible.

When implemented, the majority of McDonald’s packaging will include nutrition information, with a few exceptions. For example, packaging used in short-term promotions, and wrappers and containers used for multiple products, such as beverage cups, will not feature product specific nutrition information. In these instances, customers will be directed to McDonald’s websites or to in-restaurant materials for the nutrition information they need.

Restaurants in Australia and Brazil already provide nutrition information on their food packaging using a different design, and will introduce the new icon and bar chart format on their packaging in 2006. McDonald’s 13,000 U.S. restaurants also feature nutrition information on Happy Meal® boxes and bags.

McDonald’s continues to work closely with scientists, key government officials, and other experts to ensure the new nutrition information meets local guidelines and is appropriately adapted for local relevance. For example, in the U.S. and Canada, the Nutrition Facts panel that has appeared on packaged foods for years also will be featured on McDonald’s packaging along with the icons and bar chart.

Olympic Athletes Join Local Children and Get Active

Following the debut of the new packaging, Olympic medalists including Olympic champion speed skaters Dan Jansen (U.S.) and Johann Olav Koss (Norway), Olympic gold medalist skier Stefania Belmondo (Italy) and Olympic gold medalist swimmer Janet Evans (U.S.), helped children experience the McDonald’s energy balance "it’s what i eat and what i do™ … i’m lovin it®" message through "Passport to Play™," a specially designed program for children ages 8 to 10 featuring unique and interactive games from around the world.

"Passport to Play" was recently launched in the U.S. and provides thousands of children with the opportunity to experience activities from around the world, such as Buka Ball from Thailand, Kameshi Ne Mpuku from Congo, Korfball from Holland, Rayuela from Colombia and Tlatchtli from Mexico.

"This program is just one example of the countless grassroots sports programs McDonald’s supports worldwide," said Roberts. "From local sporting events and activities to our worldwide sponsorship of the Olympic Games and World Cup Soccer, it’s all about encouraging children and families to be active and have fun."

McDonald’s Canada sponsors the Go Active!™ Fitness Challenge, an elementary school program that focuses on encouraging physical activity. McDonald’s Germany supports a youth training program, reaching ten million children and 44,000 schools. In addition, McDonald’s is the exclusive worldwide sponsor of the Olympic Day Run, an annual global event that involves hundreds of thousands of people of all ages, who come together every year to celebrate the fun and excitement of sport. McDonald’s markets and local National Olympic Committees (NOCs) host the event in over 70 countries around the world.

Further, McDonald’s is working with more Olympic athletes around the world than ever, including such noted Olympians as Kiira Korpi (figureskating, Finland), Brad Martin (men’s snowboarding, Canada), Denis Belloti (short track, Italy), Marianne Timmer (speedskating, Netherlands), Zoe Gillings (women’s snowboarding, United Kingdom), Lindsay Kildow (skiing, U.S.), and many others who are all spreading the important message of energy balance at the grassroots level.

McDonald’s Olympic History

McDonald's became an Official Sponsor of the Olympic Games in 1976 and has a long-standing commitment to the Olympic Movement. At the 1968 Olympic Winter Games, McDonald’s airlifted hamburgers to U.S. athletes competing in Grenoble, France, after they reported being homesick for McDonald’s food. Since then, the company has served its menu of choice and variety to millions of athletes, coaches, their families and fans.

The Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games mark McDonald's fifth Olympic Games as a TOP Sponsor and sixth as the Official Restaurant of the Olympic Games. McDonald's current sponsorship will continue through the 2012 Games in London.