McDonald’s adds red leaf lettuce, carrots to salads nationwide

McDonald's adds red leaf lettuce, carrots to salads nationwide
McDonald's adds red leaf lettuce, carrots to salads nationwide

McDonald’s announced Tuesday that all of the chain’s salad blends will now include red leaf lettuce and carrots .

Advertisment

Story continues below

The two new ingredients are combined with a blend of chopped romaine, baby spinach and baby kale.

Taylor Farms, Fresh Express, Ready Pac, and McEntire Produce supply the red and green lettuces for McDonald’s new salad blend, according to a company news release.

“The current trend is moving toward a nutritional-based salad,” says Andrew Williams, director of product management at Fresh Express in Salinas. “McDonald’s began moving towards this last year by replacing iceberg lettuce with romaine, baby spinach and baby kale,” continued Williams. “Iceberg has been a staple of salads since the 1930s, but McDonald’s looked at its salads and decided it needed to innovate by adding more flavor and nutritious ingredients. We’re also seeing a huge shift in the industry as a whole to kales, arugulas, and spinach.”

McDonald’s moved away from iceberg lettuce in 2015 after they receiving feedback from customers indicating they didn’t want iceberg lettuce in their salads and favored a more colorful salad bowl. The chain promptly dropped iceberg lettuce from the menu in 2015, and added blend of premium lettuces, including romaine and on-trend ingredients of baby kale and baby spinach.

McDonald’s is rolling out the new salad ingredients nationwide in early-June.