Only 3% of "kids' meals" served at fast food restaurants actually meet federal dietary guidelines!  Three percent?!  They can do better than that, can't they?  Well, the study just released by the Michigan State University in December shows that the fast food industry has a lot of room for improvement when it comes to kids' meals.

An article in the Detroit Free Press highlights the study, reporting, "Researchers examined the nutritional value of children’s meals in the Houston market, and found that more than 65% exceeded guidelines for total fat, 75% were deficient in calcium, 82% were deficient in iron and 85% were deficient in vitamin A.

The small percentage of meals that did pass muster included fruit as a side dish and milk, and nearly all of them were deli-sandwich meals." 

You can check out the full article here.

The research team posted their press release on Science Daily. You can click here to check out the whole thing, and here's a little more info on what the nutrition standards they used (the same standards school lunches need to meet!) and why they chose Houston, Texas as their site:

The team assessed the quality of kids’ meals in the fourth largest U.S. city by using nutrient values provided by the major fast food companies, the seven nutrient criteria from the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) and dietary guidelines for sodium, fiber, added sugar and trans fat.

“We chose Houston because its fast-food restaurants include 12 of the 13 national and regional fast-food companies, represented by 477 restaurants that sell kids meals,” O’Donnell said. “Virtually every meal combination is offered in this market, so it provides a pretty comprehensive snapshot of what’s out there.”    

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