Seasoned fans want less

Kate Fitzgibbon, 16, from Grey Lynn (left) and Mily Hemi, 17, from Manurewa look forward to their fast-food meals. Photo / Dean Purcell

McDonald's customers are in no mood to bin their burgers just because New Zealand Big Macs are internationally heavy on salt.

"I wouldn't say I'm going to throw away my burger," Kate Fitzgibbon, of Grey Lynn in Auckland, said yesterday.

The hungry 16-year-old school pupil had just emerged from a McDonald's shop on Queen St clutching her lunch - a Big Mac in a brown paper bag that was producing a savoury aroma.

"It concerns me a little bit that it's higher than [Big Macs in] the US.

"I would like to know more about what it would do and why ours is higher than everyone else's."

Ms Fitzgibbon and her friend, Mily Hemi, 17, of Manurewa - who had bought chicken bites for lunch - both said they would like McDonald's to produce Big Macs containing less salt.

Hatem Anizy, a 20-year-old student from Saudi Arabia, who had a McDonald's chicken burger and sometimes chose a Big Mac, wasn't bothered by the salt study.

"I like salt," he said. "If the food doesn't have salt, I don't like it because it's not delicious, [but] I don't like too much salt."