McDonald’s may soon be serving burgers with cries.
A portly city councilman wants to yank toys from the fast-food chain’s Happy Meals to stop encouraging kids to scarf down too much greasy grub.
“If we can get parents and the food chains to create healthier eating habits to instill in young children at an earlier age, it will definitely impact their eating habits for life,” said Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-Queens).
Comrie, who has admitted to weighing as much as 335 pounds, says his bill to make the meals decidedly less happy will be introduced today. It’s similar to one going into effect in San Francisco this December, he said.
The councilman, who is himself overweight, says he gobbled down Happy Meals and other fast food as a child. And he admits that he has set a bad example for his own two children, who are now in their teens, by letting them have Happy Meals and regularly dining with them at fast-food restaurants.
“Clearly, my weight has always been an issue, and it’s something that has given me the impetus to do this bill,” Comrie said.
The bill would still allow toys in some of the healthier kids’ meals: those under 500 calories or with fewer than 600 milligrams of sodium.
“Taking away toys from kids’ meals won’t solve childhood obesity,” McDonald’s regional VP Mason Smoot said.
“We offer nutritionally-balanced Happy Meal” choices, such as substituting Apple Dippers for fries, in order to stay under the 500-calorie mark, he said.
But the chain also offers a cheeseburger Happy Meal with a small fries and triple-thick shake that weighs in at a gut-busting 1,090 calories and contains 1,080 milligrams of sodium.
Comrie says he hopes that the companies would rather change their menus than lose the ability to run lucrative cross-promotions for cartoons and Disney movies with the toys.
Parents were split over letting the government get involved in what their kids eat.
“I think it’s a good idea to remove the toys,” said Cristina Delvalle, 23, of Jackson Heights, Queens, as her 6-year-old son noshed on a 510-calorie chicken McNugget Happy Meal at a Times Square McDonald’s.
“McDonald’s is not good for kids, it’s junk food,” she said.
But John Hoffmann, 39, who was dining at an Upper East Side McDonald’s, disagreed.
“McDonald’s has had toys in their Happy Meals since I was a kid,” he said. “It’s a tradition.”
Additional reporting by Annabelle Nyst