麥當(dāng)勞菜單配料大變樣

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(dāng)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周一表示，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(dāng)勞還將小圓面包里的高果糖玉米糖漿換成了蔗糖，并提前一年兌現(xiàn)承諾，停止采購在飼養(yǎng)過程中使用人類抗生素的雞肉產(chǎn)品，原因是這些材料形成的健康威脅引人擔(dān)憂。麥當(dāng)勞還在朝著一個目標(biāo)努力：2025年前只使用散養(yǎng)雞蛋，據(jù)麥當(dāng)勞表示約有100家企業(yè)采取了這項舉措。

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(chuàng)新企業(yè)能滿足，而它們不得不依靠有限的供應(yīng)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(dāng)勞及其競爭對手大力改革所供產(chǎn)品，從而對泰森(Tyson)等企業(yè)的供應(yīng)鏈造成連鎖反應(yīng)。

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(dāng)勞已被指責(zé)行動不夠迅速，Chick-fil-A這類規(guī)模較小的競爭對手早就采取了類似舉動，包括禁止在雞肉產(chǎn)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(dāng)勞龐大的規(guī)模——在美國擁有1.42萬家餐館——意味著當(dāng)它開始作出這類改變時，將對供應(yīng)鏈產(chǎn)生大得多的影響。2004年麥當(dāng)勞引入蘋果片作為配菜后，該集團很快采購了全美10%的蘋果產(chǎn)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(dāng)勞表示雖然部分改變提高了產(chǎn)品成本，但它不會將成本提高轉(zhuǎn)嫁給消費者。該公司表示自己能夠通過節(jié)省食品采購費用，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.

隨著農(nóng)民人數(shù)增加以滿足麥當(dāng)勞這類大企業(yè)的要求，加上其他企業(yè)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(dāng)勞美國市場負(fù)責(zé)人邁克•安德烈斯(Mike Andres)表示，公司供應(yīng)鏈的改變雖帶來了挑戰(zhàn)，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(yè)，任何時候跟這么多家供應(yīng)商打交道——當(dāng)然從農(nóng)民的角度——都是具有挑戰(zhàn)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(dāng)勞供應(yīng)鏈管理高級副總裁馬里昂•格羅斯(Marion Gross)同時表示，與供應(yīng)商的規(guī)劃和合作極為重要，這樣才可以肯定基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施已經(jīng)到位，從而讓麥當(dāng)勞對食材進行大規(guī)模改變。