"You shouldn't eat junk food. McDonald’s: Out. Not in our country," said Israel’s health minister Yakov Litzman on April 12.

    McDonald’s is the biggest fast food chain in all of Israel.  There are even kosher branches scattered across Israel.  During passover, instead of it’s usual hamburger buns, McDonald’s uses special potato starch buns, so that Jews can dine there despite the tradition of not eating risen bread.

    Most Israelis are healthier than the average American.  The occasional salad for breakfast and falafel and hummus as food make it perfect for vegetarians, or even vegans.  Though, according to 2013 health ministry statistics, about half of Israel’s adults are overweight!  Obviously, some course of action needs to be taken.  That is why the health minister is proposing to boycott McDonald’s.

    In an attempt to prevent criticism, The fast food chain has made changes to its menu around the world: in Israel, McDonald’s says, they have eliminated trans fats from French fries, brought reduced fat from unprocessed meat from eighteen percent to nine percent, cut the saturated fat in its fried foods by two thirds, and reduced sodium and sugar in all of its food.  That was still not enough, though…

     Ideas for making people healthier in all of Israel by the health ministry include: taxes on soft drinks, limiting junk food ads, and providing healthy food for poor people.  Later the ministry uncovered an embarrassing fact: the office staff had spent approximately 70,000 shekels (about $18,600) on soft drinks in the past year.  Israel still has far to go, though at the last meeting of the health ministry, those present ate fruit and drank water.

Bibliography

http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/04/22/475271835/israeli-official-denounces-mcdonald-s-as-junk-food-but-chain-fights-back