Long Island, NY - August 4, 2016 - As a part of its continued commitment to improving food quality, McDonald's has launched a new Chicken McNugget free of artificial preservatives and still without artificial colors or flavors. As of August 1st, customers across the region, including Long Island, can enjoy the new McNuggets at their local restaurant.

On August 2nd, McDonald’s Senior Director of Nutrition, Dr. Cindy Goody, discussed the new McNugget and McDonald’s recent food initiatives at Owner/Operator Paul Hendel’s McDonald's restaurant at 541 6th Avenue in Manhattan.

Made with ingredients including white meat chicken and tempura batter, McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets are one of the most popular menu items. They are sourced from three U.S. trusted suppliers: Tyson, Keystone Foods and Dorada Foods.

“The evolution of the McDonald’s menu continues with the introduction of the new Chicken McNugget,” said Josh Kaufman, a McDonald’s Owner/Operator on Long Island. “We are committed to providing our customers with quality food, and I am excited to offer this new menu item in my Long Island restaurants.”

McDonald's originally set out to achieve its antibiotics chicken commitment by March 2017, but through a collaborative effort with its suppliers and farmers on a large scale, the company was able to make this change a reality and bring it to its customers nearly a year ahead of schedule. Now every chicken item McDonald's serves is made from chicken not treated with antibiotics important to human medicine.

"More than ever, people care about their food -- where it comes from, what goes into it and how it's prepared," said Mike Andres, president, McDonald's USA. "We're making changes to ensure the food we're proud of is food our customers love and feel good eating, and we remain committed to our continuing food journey at McDonald's."

This effort is a part of McDonald’s USA’s effort to provide customers with great tasting food they can feel good about eating. Some additional moves McDonald’s has recently made across its menu include:

• Removing artificial preservatives from several additional items, including the pork sausage patties and omelet-style eggs served on McGriddles, Bagel and Biscuit breakfast sandwiches, and the scrambled eggs on its breakfast platters;
• New buns rolled out this month that no longer contain high fructose corn syrup, including the buns used on Big Macs, Quarter Pounders, hamburgers and cheeseburgers, Filet-O-Fish and McChicken sandwiches. The Artisan roll introduced in 2015 never contained high fructose corn syrup; and
• Completing a major commitment to only serve chicken not treated with antibiotics important to human medicine, nearly a year ahead of schedule.

In total, these changes affect ingredients in nearly half of the food on McDonald's menu. McDonald's continues to innovate its menu to include new tastes and ingredients that customers are looking for, such as turkey sausage, guacamole made with real Hass avocados, Sriracha and freshly prepared pico de gallo as part of local tests and regional introductions.

About McDonald’s New York Tri-State Restaurants
As one of the brand’s flagship markets, McDonald’s New York Metro Region represents one of the world’s best known brands within the Tri-State area. Based in Iselin, New Jersey, the regional office oversees 600 McDonald’s restaurants and more than 100 franchisees located throughout the New York, New Jersey and Connecticut Tri-State region. The regional office is run by a team of leading professionals in the fields of operations, marketing, public relations and public affairs.

Visit www.McDonaldsNYTriState.com or follow us on Twitter for more information about other McDonald's area programs.

About McDonald's USA
McDonald's USA, LLC, serves a variety of menu options made with quality ingredients to more than 25 million customers every day. Nearly 90 percent of McDonald's 14,000 U.S. restaurants are independently owned and operated by businessmen and women. Customers can now log online for free at approximately 11,500 participating Wi-Fi enabled McDonald's U.S. restaurants. For more information, visit www.mcdonalds.com, or Twitter and Facebook.