Balanced, Active Lifestyles

McDonald’s wants to lead our industry on the well-being issues so many of our customers care about. Helping people achieve the right balance between the energy they consume as food and the energy they burn in physical activity calls for involvement and collaboration by many sectors. We aim to play an important role.

“We have a responsibility to lead. But more important, we can and will make a difference.” — Jim Skinner, Vice Chairman & CEO

Passport to Play

To help motivate and engage children in physical activity, McDonald’s has developed a unique physical education curriculum—Passport to Play. The curriculum will be used this fall by PE teachers in 31,000 elementary schools across the country. With the guide and materials we provide, approximately seven million children in grades 3–5 will learn about and play games from 15 countries around the world, including Australia, Congo, France, Mexico, India, and the Netherlands.Passport to Play is one of the many initiatives we have launched to support balanced, active lifestyles in the U.S. and around the world. The curriculum was reviewed by teachers, physical activity experts, district curriculum directors, and experts at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. It is supported by the United States Olympic Committee and the National Association for Sport and Physical Education.

Nutrition Information Initiative

As part of our global commitment to promote balanced, active lifestyles, we have begun rolling out new food packaging that gives our customers essential nutrition information in an easy-to-understand icon and bar chart format. This is a first for our industry.The rollout began in Torino, Italy in connection with the February 2006 Winter Olympics, which we sponsor. It should be in more than 20,000 of our restaurants, including our U.S. restaurants, by the end of the year. We plan to have additional information on this Web site and in our restaurants to help customers become familiar with the format and how to apply it in their daily lives.

Balanced, Active Lifestyles OverviewOn an ongoing basis, we are support balanced, active lifestyles by: quality and safety, so that our customers can feel comfortable fitting any of our food products into their personal eating styles. Serving a variety of nutritious, high-quality food products and portion sizes, including new salad, fruit, and vegetable offerings and Happy Meal choices.

Providing nutrition information to help our customers make smart choices that address their individual lifestyle needs. Informing our customers about energy balance and fun, practical ways to incorporate physical activity into their everyday lives. Motivating kids to be active by engaging Ronald McDonald as our ambassador for play and activity. Supporting local youth sports programs. Sponsoring major sports competitions, including the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup soccer matches.