I’ll confess, I was just at Burger King last week on my way home from CPAC but I didn’t notice this. It appears that the home of the Whopper has bowed to the attacks of the No Fat, No Sugar, No Fun crowd, led by folks like Mika Brzezinski, who famously declared Coke to be poison. In an effort to make their tasty but probably not all that healthy meals look less offensive to the guardians of proper living, the fast food giant has quietly taken soda out of their kids’ meals.

It’s getting tougher for kids to get soft drinks at the fast-food joint.

Burger King has dropped fountain drinks from its kids’ menu boards and they are no longer merchandised as part of Burger King Kids Meals. The stealth, unannounced move late last month by Burger King – under pressures from advocacy groups – follows similar announced moves in recent months by McDonald’s and Wendy’s.

Burger King made the change, “as part of our ongoing effort to offer our guests options that match lifestyle needs,” said Alex Macedo, president of Burger King North America, in an e-mailed statement to USA TODAY. Instead of soft drinks, the BK menu for kids will offer fat-free milk, 100% apple juice and low-fat chocolate milk.

Boy, that should have the kids lining up at the counter yelling for more. (/sarc) I have to take issue with Mr. Macedo’s explanation here when he says that their focus is to “offer our guests options.” In terms of the special meal deals, this sounds more like removing options to me. If you were really interested in offering options, you could just make the kids meal include “a drink” and let the parent decide between a soda, juice, milk or what have you.

And what purpose does it serve anyway, aside from getting the health fanatics off their back? They’re still selling soda to anyone who asks for it, so patrons can simply order the sandwich and fries and ask for the soda separately. There’s a bit of reality missing from this discussion, as Jim Treacher points out.

Nobody goes to Burger King looking for health food. They want to eat cheap crap, and they know that’s what they’re getting. People who don’t want to eat cheap crap don’t eat at Burger King. That’s the way it’s supposed to work in the United States of America.

But that’s not good enough for the food Nazis. If people won’t do what they’re told, well then, give ‘em fewer bad choices to make.

If you’re worrying about the kids, a fast food joint isn’t going to save them. The only ones who can make those healthy choices are the parents, and if they’re not interested in doing it the kids are going to eat what they like. If, on the other hand, you’re worried about telling the adults what is good for them, you should really get out of the food service business and form a government. That seems to be what they’re best at. Otherwise, serve up the options. Your food is fine once in a while even for people who are active and watching their waistlines. And if they want to live on nothing but triple Whoppers with cheese, shuffling the location of soda on your menu won’t save them.