麥當勞McDonald’s菜單配料大變樣

McDonald’s has eliminated controversial ingredients in about half of its menu in a Move that highlights how pressure from US consumers is driving changes to the country’s food culture.

麥當勞(McDonald’s)已淘汰掉菜單中一半左右的爭議性配料，此舉凸顯了來自美國消費者的壓力，正推動其本土飲食文化改變。

The $100bn fast-food chain said on Monday it had removed artificial preservatives from its Chicken McNuggets, sausage patties, omelettes, bagel and biscuit breakfast sandwiches and its scrambled eggs.

這家市值1000億美元的快餐連鎖店在週一表示，已停止在麥樂雞、肉餅、煎蛋、貝果及脆餅早餐三明治，還有炒蛋中使用人造防腐劑。

It has swapped high-fructose corn syrup in its buns for sucrose and has met a pledge a year early to remove antibiotics important to human medicine from chickens it uses, amid concerns that these pose health risks. It is also working towards a goal of using only cage-free eggs by 2025, a move it said about 100 companies were following.

麥當勞還將小圓麪包裏的高果糖玉米糖漿換成了蔗糖，並提前一年兌現承諾，停止採購在飼養過程中使用人類抗生素的雞肉產品，原因是這些材料形成的健康威脅引人擔憂。麥當勞還在朝着一個目標努力：2025年前只使用散養雞蛋，據麥當勞表示約有100家企業採取了這項舉措。

Consumer demands for healthier food options, fewer artificial ingredients and more transparency in the food chain were until a few years ago met mostly by smaller innovative companies, which had to rely on a limited supply chain.

直到幾年前，更健康的食品選擇、更少的人工配料和更透明的食品鏈這類消費者需求，基本只有小型創新企業能滿足，而它們不得不依靠有限的供應鏈。

However, spurred on by pressure from social media, those demands have been pushed into the mainstream, forcing McDonald’s and its rivals to make significant changes to the food they offer, and having a knock-on effect on companies such as Tyson in their supply chain.

但是在社交媒體壓力的刺激下，上述需求已被推向主流，迫使麥當勞及其競爭對手大力改革所供產品，從而對泰森(Tyson)等企業的供應鏈造成連鎖反應。

McDonald’s has faced criticism for not moving fast enough given that smaller rivals such as Chick-fil-A had already made similar moves, including banishing the use of all antibiotics in its chickens.

麥當勞已被指責行動不夠迅速，Chick-fil-A這類規模較小的競爭對手早就採取了類似舉動，包括禁止在雞肉產品中使用一切抗生素。

But the sheer size of McDonald’s, with its 14,200 US restaurants, means that when it starts making such changes it has a far bigger impact on supply chains. After it introduced apple slices as a side dish in 2004, the group was soon purchasing 10 per cent of the domestic harvest.

但是麥當勞龐大的規模——在美國擁有1.42萬家餐館——意味着當它開始作出這類改變時，將對供應鏈產生大得多的影響。2004年麥當勞引入蘋果片作爲配菜後，該集團很快採購了全美10%的蘋果產量。

McDonald’s said that while some of these changes create higher costs, it would not be passing them on to the consumer. It said it was able to offset those costs through savings in its purchases of other food commodities and by using financial hedging tools.

麥當勞表示雖然部分改變提高了產品成本，但它不會將成本提高轉嫁給消費者。該公司表示自己能夠通過節省食品採購費用，以及運用金融避險工具來抵消成本增加。

As farmers scale up to meet demands of a company as large as McDonald’s, and other companies make similar changes, prices are also expected to come down.

隨着農民人數增加以滿足麥當勞這類大企業的要求，加上其他企業也作出類似改變，成本價格也有望回落。

Mike Andres, president of McDonald’s USA, said the changes to its supply chain had posed challenges but he was pleased with the progress.

麥當勞美國市場負責人邁克•安德烈斯(Mike Andres)表示，公司供應鏈的改變雖帶來了挑戰，但他對這些改進感到很高興。

“If you look at the food industry today, any time that you’re dealing with this many different suppliers, certainly from the farmers’ perspective, it’s going to be challenging,” he said.

他說：“如果你審視今日的食品行業，任何時候跟這麼多家供應商打交道——當然從農民的角度——都是具有挑戰性的。”

Marion Gross, senior vice-president of supply chain management, added that planning and collaboration with suppliers were vital so it could be sure the infrastructure was in place to scale up changes to its ingredients.

麥當勞供應鏈管理高級副總裁馬里昂•格羅斯(Marion Gross)同時表示，與供應商的規劃和合作極爲重要，這樣纔可以肯定基礎設施已經到位，從而讓麥當勞對食材進行大規模改變。