Finding out if something is vegan

A long car journey a few weekends ago led to a trip to McDonald’s.

This was my first McDonald’s since going vegan in January so I wasn’t sure what I’d be able to eat.

I had a look on google and found I could eat the veggie burger as long as I asked for it to be made without the mayonnaise. Next I checked the fries and ended up on their FAQs and a modal popped up about if their fries were vegan.

Here’s the content:

Are your fries suitable for vegans? McDonald's UK French Fries are made by McCain's using Russet Burbank, Pentland Dell and Shepody potatoes, which are chosen for their quality, taste and long shape when cut. The fries are not coated in any fats or substances from an animal. Once at the restaurant, our fries are simply cooked in dedicated frying vats in a non-hydrogenated blend of sunflower and rapeseed oil which is 100 percent suitable for vegans.

The first sentence doesn’t answer my question at all. They say whether their fries are suitable for vegans in the last sentence. This is quite a lot of words to read when ‘yes’ would’ve done the same job. I wondered why they’d put the most important information at the end.

I couldn’t help but think there was an easier way to specify which of their products were suitable for vegans. Maybe a bullet list? Rather than separate FAQs for each product.

And not just for vegans. There are many more dietary needs to cater for, for example allergies and Coeliac disease.

Don't tell users a whole story about how your food is made instead of a simple yes or no answer.

Giving me the whole story actually decreased my trust in the information I was reading. It felt like McDonald's were avoiding giving me a straight answer.

Don't make it hard for users to find out what they can eat. Give users a quick, straightforward answer that they can trust.