Editorial: What’s in a fry

Sunday, Oct. 30, 2005 | 9:01 a.m.

As if you didn't already know that fistful of french fries was bad for you, McDonald's is placing nutrition information on the wrapper.

We soon will know the numbers behind the ingredients that make those Big Macs and apple pies every cardiologist's nightmare. The amount of calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates and sodium will be clearly printed on each wrapper and box.

Still, will we care?

Such information has been available from many fast-food chains for years, either posted on placards inside the restaurants or on the chains' Web sites.

But McDonald's will be the first to place the information right on the package that holds the evil within. The new wrappings, to be unveiled at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Italy, will be used in 20,000 restaurants worldwide by the end of 2006.

It's McDonald's latest effort to market itself as a place where healthy eating is an option. After all, serving Dad only heart-attack meals isn't exactly family-friendly. That likely is why McDonald's in recent years has added salads, fresh fruit and other healthy items to its menu.

The company announced its new wrappers the same day a federal judge, who has been presiding over a long-running lawsuit about whether McDonald's ads lure children into obesity, ruled that plaintiffs need to offer more to support their claims.

And last year, McDonald's dropped its "Supersize" fries and drinks from the menu just before the release of the documentary "Super Size Me," in which the filmmaker ate nothing but the chain's food for a month and gained 25 pounds.

According to a USA Today report, "simple icons" on the wrapper will illustrate each of the five major nutritional elements. For example, three dots in a circle will represent the top of a salt shaker, which denotes "sodium content." Good luck with that. On face value, the image looks like "dots in a circle."

Still, if we figure it all out we will be able to make the right choices -- if we want to. That's still the rub. Most of us don't hit McDonald's for the salad. We want the fries. We know they're bad, but we're lovin' it.