FAST-FOOD INDUSTRY Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce -- and the fries

Fast-food chains offer fruit and milk to make kids' meals more nutritious.
RALEIGH NEWS & amp; OBSERVER
Forget the fries. The new word in fast food is fruit. At least when it comes to children's meals.
In an overhaul of their fatty fried ways, fast-food chains are making their children's meals more nutritious. Fruit juice and fruit roll-ups have replaced soda and cookies in Subway's Kids' Pak meal. KFC is stuffing its children's laptop boxes with applesauce and fruit snacks. Wendy's is testing milk instead of soda in its children's meals. And McDonald's is offering Happy Meals with the option of apple slices instead of french fries at some locations.
The fast-food chains say they are simply trying to help parents teach their children healthful eating habits. But after litigation and national criticism over fatty foods, the chains also are trying to polish their images and minimize their legal risk.
"It's a response to all the pressures that are coming from the outside world," said Ben Kelley, executive director of Public Health Advocacy Institute, a public health research and advocacy group affiliated with Northeastern University's law school in Boston. "They're listening to customers of all kinds of voices out there."
KFC was first
Although KFC was among the first to adjust its children's meal in November by adding applesauce and General Mills Fruit by the Foot snacks, Subway has become one of the industry leaders. Last month, the chain of sandwich shops based in Milford, Conn., changed its children's menu as part of a plan to pull in more adult diners, said Les Winograd, a Subway spokesman.
"We don't generally make a large concerted effort to market to children," he said. "We have the kids' meals to avoid the veto factor."
By having more healthful children's meals, parents might be more willing to choose Subway over other options. "We've taken our meal, which wasn't a bad meal, and made it better," Winograd said.
The meal now has a deli sandwich on a round roll, instead of the traditional 6-inch or 12-inch rolls, juice and a fruit roll-up.
The health change is fairly significant. For meals with a turkey sandwich, calories fell from 590 to 370. Fat dropped from 13.5 to 4.5 grams. And instead of 59 grams of sugar, the meal now has 31 grams.
Healthy toys, too
Even Subway's toy -- which every child expects to find in any chain's kids meal -- has a new healthful twist: they're designed to get children outside and moving. Among the offerings are a flying disc, Nerf football and a golf club.
Winograd said the new meals are now more in sync with Subway's marketing message promoting healthful eating. The chain has used variations of how Jared S. Fogle lost 235 pounds with Subway sandwiches as part of his diet.
"Since we have a reputation for offering a healthier alternative to fatty fast food, we saw an area in our kids meal that we could improve and bring up to the same level," Winograd said.
McDonald's and Wendy's aren't far behind.
Wendy's is testing milk as an alternative to soda and fresh fruit cups instead of french fries in children's meals. Restaurants are selling single-serve plastic containers of reduced-fat milk, either plain or chocolate, and fruit cups with chunks of honeydew melon and cantaloupe.
And at some McDonald's, Happy Meals now come with the option of apple juice or low-fat milk. Apple slices are being tested in Chicago; Altoona, Pa.; and Yakima, Wash. And Chicken McNuggets made with white meat instead of dark are being tested in New York and Columbus.
Around the world at other McDonald's restaurants, low-fat yogurt is on the menu in Brazil and France. Australian children have the choice of a toasted cheese-and-tomato sandwich and orange juice. And children in the United Kingdom can have apple slices and grapes.