So when is food a toy, and when is a toy food? Toddlers are confused, and so are parents and consumer groups wrestling with the toys given away by Ronald McDonald in his tasty chain of family eating establishments. Harmless you say. Well, maybe, but let’s chew on the issues.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is a mouthful, but it’s not about finding the final frontiers of cosmetic surgery, it’s about food and it’s suing McDonald’s in California. CSPINET say in their press release, “A mother of two from Sacramento, Calif., says that McDonald’s uses toys as bait to induce her kids to clamor to go to McDonald’s and to develop a preference for nutritionally poor Happy Meals. ”
“According to Parham, the main reason her six-year-old daughter, Maya, asks to go to McDonald’s is to get toys based on Barbie, i-Carly, Shrek, or Strawberry Shortcake.”

So they’re filing a class action suit to stop the toy giveaways entirely. Up till now California law did allow them with “healthy” versions of Happy Meals, meaning ones under 600 calories and no french fries but still including cow’s milk. But why would a parent take a child to a McDonald’s in the first place, let alone eat the alleged food themselves? There are healthier and more responsible alternatives.

Kids love building things, and one asked me the reason they can build a new McDonalds so fast. Her friend said they just bring a cement mixer full of a special source that they pour into concrete forms to make the building, then use the same special liquid to make all the food too. Simple and efficient, but has anyone tried eating a McDonald’s? What do those golden arches taste like? They must have a really low fat content anyway.]]> http://safetoys.info/436/just-play-with-your-food/feed 0