PEST: Political

The "Labour Party" in UK are urging governments to introduce legal limits on sugar, salt and fat content in food. The Party says the "Department of Health's" voluntary agreement with food companies to make their products healthier is not working. Their argument is that NHS data indicates that one third of children in UK are either overweight or obese by the time they leave primary school. If governments do introduce legal limites on sugar, salt and fat content in food it will be a great impact to McDonalds, as all their products either contain one of the three ingredients mentioned. Brand taste is extremely important, and if McDonalds were to redesign their products according to these laws, customers may switch out or even quit McDonalds as they may not like the taste anymore. Sugar, salt and fat content are extremely important elements in McDonalds products, therefore if there are legal limits, McDonalds will need to find other ingredients to replace these so that they can make a product that satisfies the demands of the market, and that may boost production cost or research cost.

Link to Article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20914685