Whenever a major Fast Food brand tries to fiddle with a signature recipe, hard core fans get vocal about their negative feelings. The latest monster brand to get into hot water with its purists is McDonald’s, which recently launched a new Apple Pie which it claims is ‘a positive change’…
The stuff of which posters are made: McD’s official message
to customers introducing its new Baked Apple Pie.
Okay… There are some positives about the new Apple Pie. First and foremost, McD’s got rid of all the artificial flavouring, colouring, additives and preservatives in what it calls its new ‘Baked Apple Pie’ – as opposed to the old one, which was deep fried. And the overall ingredient list is reduced considerably, which is usually a good sign that a new version of an old product is ‘healthier’ than the old one.
But close inspection reveals that the new Baked Pie contains more sugar than the old one. They got rid of some old Sugars, but added Apple Juice Concentrate, which is really just another source of sugar.
On the Fat front, the new Pie has 12 g, almost 20 percent of your recommended daily allotment, and 15 per cent of that comes as nasty Saturated Fat.
Sodium (Salt in all its forms) clocks in at 153 mg, or 6 percent of your daily allowance, and Carbs (which are not bad in themselves, but can be extremely harmful in excess) come in at 34 g, or 11 percent of your daily allowance.
The new Pie counts up 240 calories, fewer than the old Pie, but that’s a mere 8 Calories fewer.
McD’s proudly proclaims that their new Apple Pie has ‘a tender, flaky lattice-top crust’, which makes it appear as though the Pie has less crust, and is, thus, more ‘healthy’. But the experts say the difference in total crust weight is minor.
The backlash…
@natashacuevas Tweeted: @McDonalds why did you change your apple pie??? The crust is horrible and has so much sugar. Bring the famous apple pie back!”
@Ruth__Jaquelin was stunned: “I was going to get an apple pie at McDonald’s today but I saw they changed it so that’s a no from me.”
@UpinCT was downright insulted: “@McDonalds If you’re going to change the recipe for the apple pie, fine. BUT YOU MESSED WITH THE CRUST. No, no no. Where’s the crust? There’s more holes than crust in this so-called “crust”. I want my old pie back.”
@MTodayy was simply devastated: “McDonald’s changed the Apple Pies. My day is ruined.”
My Take…
The Coca Cola Company has tried more that once to modernize or otherwise fiddle and diddle with its classic Coke recipe. And, each time, Coke fans came out in outrage and forced the company to walk the idea back. McDobald’s once threatened to change the Big Masc. McDevotées uttered a resounding ‘No!’. So why does McDonald’s think it’s going to get away with changing the iconic deep-fried Apple Pie?
I predict the company will at least revert to the old crust. Whether they go back to deep-frying their Apple Pies, I can’t predict. I have, however, overheard longing recollections between McD’s Pie fans which went something like this: “Yah! I remember the first time I burned my mouth on an Apple Pie!”
Take notice, McD’s research and development types… Your best customers are die-hard traditionalists!
~ Maggie J.