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By Matthew Rees

Food and Health Fact #137: McDonald's, minorities, and store ownership

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McDonald’s issued a diversity, equity, and inclusion statement last week. The company says its goal is to “ensure at every interaction [at McDonald’s], all are welcome, comfortable and safe.” A centerpiece of the statement was a commitment of $250 million over five years to help individuals from “historically underrepresented groups” –who are identified as “African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanics or Chicanos/Latinos, and Native Americans” – become McDonald’s franchisees. The commitment may benefit the eventual franchise owners. But what will the effect be on the communities served?

Notably absent from the statement was any commitment to selling products with a healthier profile than what is currently offered. That’s a big omission, given that a study published last year by the Friedman School of Nutrition at Tufts showed that about 70 percent of fast-food meals were of “poor” nutritional quality. That poor nutritional quality contributes to high rates of obesity among adults who are African American (47.9 percent) or Hispanic (44.8 percent).

And while McDonald’s also pledged to more than double its share of spending with black-owned media and production companies, this comes against the backdrop of black children viewing approximately 75 percent more fast-food TV ads than their white peers, according to a report published earlier this year by the Rudd Center at the University of Connecticut.

“When we harness our scale to change the system,” said the McDonald’s statement, “there’s no telling how much of an impact we can make.” True. But are systemic changes that lead to minority communities having greater access to unhealthy food – and higher rates of disease along the way – an “impact” the company should be boasting about?