McDonald’s removes artificial flavor from vanilla soft-serve

McDonald’s Rolo McFlurry

OAK BROOK, Illinois — McDonald’s USA announced that its vanilla soft serve – featured in its popular vanilla cone, McCafé Shakes and McFlurry desserts – is made with no artificial flavors, colors or preservatives.

The introduction of the soft serve began in fall of 2016 and has nearly completed its transition to all 14,000+ restaurants nationwide. A popular destination for cold, sweet treats, this change impacts 60 percent of the desserts McDonald’s serves.

In addition, the chocolate and strawberry McCafé shake syrup has no high fructose corn syrup, and the whipped topping served on all three flavors of shakes is made with no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives.

“This summer we have a sweet surprise,” said Darci Forrest, senior director of menu innovation at McDonald’s. “We’ve been raising the bar at McDonald’s on serving delicious food that our customers can feel good about eating.”

McDonald’s Vanilla Cone

Soft serve now joins other changes such as removing artificial preservatives from McNuggets, committing to cage-free eggs by 2025 and only serving chicken made from chicken not treated with antibiotics important to human medicine.

Desserts have been a favorite at McDonald’s for nearly 60 years. Last summer alone, McDonald’s customers enjoyed 68 million cones. This summer, guests can continue to enjoy their classic cone, but also celebrate the return of a fan favorite from 2012 — the Rolo McFlurry.

For a limited time, the company is adding the rich combination of chewy caramel and smooth milk chocolate pieces to its iconic vanilla soft serve. The Rolo McFlurry will be available nationwide for a limited time from May 24 to Sept. 11.

“We are proud to partner with McDonald’s to bring our dairy products from thousands of dairy farmers across the U.S. to their millions of customers daily,” said Barb O’Brien, president of Dairy Management Inc.

Over the past two years, McDonald’s has made a series of changes to its menu, including the launch of All Day Breakfast and updated Chicken McNuggets, a new premium salad blend and using real butter on its English Muffins, bagels and biscuits, among other significant changes.