More fast food chains are joining the global trend towards healthier menus. The latest to join the list, in a bid to keep diners who are veering to restaurants with better options, are Taco Bell and McDonald’s.

Associated Press reports that Taco Bell is getting rid of artificial ingredients such as food colour and flavouring, high-fructose corn syrup and palm oil by 2016. By December 2017, Taco Bell will also no longer use preservatives “where possible.” However, the chain won’t change the ingredients of its sodas that have high-fructose corn syrup and its Doritos taco shells which are made by its partners.

Meanwhile, McDonald’s chief executive, Steve Easterbrook, announced changes in the way the burger chain prepares its buns and patties. The burger buns would be toasted longer to make its sandwiches warmer, while McDonald’s would alter the manner it sears and grills the beef for its hamburgers so that it would be juicier.

“It’s these little things that add up to big differences for our customers,” Easterbrook said on Wednesday at the Bernstein Strategic Decisions Conference in New York, quotes AP. McDonald’s earlier said it would no longer use antibiotics on its chicken.

Besides the two fast food giants, Pizza Hut, Chipotle and Panera Bread likewise announced changes in its food preparation or ingredients use. Pizza Hut no longer uses preservatives and artificial colours, Chipotle no longer uses genetically modified ingredients and Panera Bread removed 150 chemicals from its kitchen.

But AP warns that despite the move by these fast food chains, the question if some of their offerings are now “healthier” remains because the upsized items on its menu, such as Taco Bell’s gigantic burrito or McDonald’s quarter pounder – while yummy – are still a weighing scale’s enemy.

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