Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

NEW MENU ATTRACTION: Salad Days

Fast-food chains turn to greens as a break from beef, but top them with added fat, calories

Photos by JOHN LOCHER/REVIEW-JOURNAL The Bacon Ranch Salad, right, is one of three premium salads on McDonald's menu. The Southwest Chicken Salad from Jack in the Box, right, contains red onions, black beans, grape tomatoes, grilled corn and white chicken meat. Of the three salads pictured here, Wendy's Mandarin Chicken Salad with dressing, above, has the least amount of fat and calories. Spicy corn sticks add 130 calories to the Southwest Chicken Salad at Jack in the Box. The Creamy Southwest dressing includes 26 grams of fat.

A bowl of baby greens tossed with grape tomatoes, blue cheese, grilled chicken and red onion sounds like the kind of salad you get in a gourmet restaurant for $8.

Thanks to a new fast-food war being waged on a field of greens, you can get that type of salad, and others like it, at a fast-food restaurant near you. And you'll pay about $4.

For months, fast-food chains slugged it out over who would be the champ of the junk-food world by slashing prices so low they couldn't go any lower. But lately, they seem to have left the battle of the 99-cent burger behind and turned over a new leaf.

McDonald's and Jack in the Box recently added salad entrées to their menus, joining Wendy's in the effort to entice more women to eat their food. The menu changes coincide with the murmurings of waistline watchdogs who claim fast food is responsible for an obesity epidemic in the United States.

So far, consumers' response to the salads has been positive.

McDonald's sales jumped more than 6 percent after stores began selling the company's premium salads in March for $3.99. Jack in the Box, whose Ultimate Salads were first offered in April for $4.49, also reported strong sales.

Both companies are vying to reach the bar Wendy's set for salads in 2002, when the chain debuted Garden Sensations salads for $3.99.

While all of the chains' marketing campaigns tout their gourmet ingredients, are these salads worth the money? And, just how nutritious can a salad from a fast-food joint be?

It depends.

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a nonprofit health organization that promotes preventive medicine and good nutrition, conducted an analysis of McDonald's salads. The group found that they can be just as bad for you as a burger and fries, with more fat and calories than a Big Mac.

McDonald's Crispy Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad with dressing contains 51 grams of fat and 660 calories. Based on a 2,000 calorie diet, that's nearly a day's worth of fat. A Big Mac has 34 grams of fat and 590 calories. Each entree contains 85 milligrams of cholesterol.

The group also called Wendy's Chicken BLT Salad "artery-clogging."

But eating one of the salads is better than having a Big Mac and fries, says Sue Lednicky, Nevada Cooperative Extension nutritionist, because, despite the fat, they do provide a couple of servings of vegetables.

"If you're getting the salad because you want something low fat, then you really need to pay attention to what you're putting on there. If you're looking to incorporate more vegetables in your diet, then get the salad," Lednicky says. "At least you're getting the nutrients."

The fat and cholesterol are found mostly in the dressings and in the toppings that come on the side. McDonald's provides a serving of croutons fried in butter, while Wendy's Mandarin Chicken Salad is accompanied by a package of fried noodles and almonds. Fried corn sticks are served with Jack in the Box's Southwest Chicken Salad.

By withholding croutons, fried noodles and other such toppings, and using low-fat dressings, the salads are a much better nutrition deal, Lednicky says.

"You get a serving of meat, a serving of fruit (with Wendy's Mandarin Chicken Salad) and probably 2 1/2 servings of vegetables there," Lednicky notes.

Lednicky suggests those interested should check out the nutrition information provided by fast-food restaurants. Pamphlets are available at the stores.

The lack of gourmet ingredients is a drawback to the salads. The Review-Journal purchased salads from each of the three restaurants and found that they are more iceberg lettuce than baby greens.

The Bacon Ranch Salad from McDonald's is topped with a warm, grilled chicken breast sliced to order. Diners can choose the fried crispy chicken, which adds more fat to the salad.

The lettuce is a mix of baby greens with mostly iceberg lettuce. The salad includes four grape tomatoes, a few thin slices of carrot, diced bacon and a little cheese. The dressing is a plus: You choose between four Newman's Own dressings.

Wendy's Mandarin Chicken Salad is topped with a good amount of mandarin orange slices and diced chicken. A packet of fried noodles and almond slices is included, as is sesame dressing. The lettuce is, again, mostly iceberg with a few pieces of gourmet greens.

The Southwest Chicken Salad from Jack in the Box costs 50 cents more than the other restaurants, but it is much larger. Topped with black beans, grilled corn, diced chicken, six grape tomatoes and three slices of red onion, this is the most varied salad. It also comes with a packet of spicy corn sticks and, with 26 grams of fat, the most fattening dressing, Creamy Southwest. This salad also contains the most iceberg lettuce, with baby greens used as only a scant topping.

"I don't know that they're gourmet," Lednicky says. "I haven't tried them all, but you see the picture and you expect it to look like that. They don't have all the variety that you would think they have. I'd like to see them throw a few more grape tomatoes on top. A little more variety would be nice, but I'm not going to complain; it is a vegetable."