You won’t find Super Size Me in Steve Easterbrook’s DVD collection. “Riveting and darkly comic . . . a whip-smart documentary,” said USA Today of the unlikely big-screen hit of 2004. “One of the blackest comedies to have hit the screen since Dr Strangelove,” said Rolling Stone.“Sobering,” said The Times, soberly. “Sensationalist and a little bit tedious,” says the man from McDonald’s.

In any case, Steve Easterbrook, the chief executive of McDonald’s UK argues that the company (and the world) has moved on in the four years since Morgan Spurlock, the New York filmmaker, gorged on nothing but the Golden Arches’ finest fare for 30 days, gaining weight and fame in the process.

There is 20 per cent less salt in a Happy Meal, Mr Easterbrook points out. Sugar content is down and hydrogenated oil has been removed from the cooking process, taking trans-fats to “minimal” levels. The milk served with a McDonald’s coffee is organic, Chicken McNuggets use 100 per cent breast meat and porridge now sits alongside the Big Mac on a menu.

Even Hollywood, spiritual home of America’s health-and-beauty-obsessed, which was so taken by Spurlock’s project that it was nominated for an Oscar, has embraced McDonald’s again. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, a trendy, glamourous couple if ever there was one, bought Happy Meals for their children on Christmas Day.

In Britain, perhaps, there might have been an outcry over such a visit. Childhood obesity has become a big issue. But for Mr Easterbrook, it’s far too simplistic to link the undeniable growth in children’s waistlines with the fact that McDonald’s UK is on the brink of its best year for two decades. In December, 88 million people bought a McDonald’s - or rather it sold 88 million meals, drinks, packets of fries and the rest. Margins are up, despite “savage” cost inflation. Like-for-like sales are up nearly 6 per cent - "the high fives" - within a whisker of the best growth rate for two decades.

“I don’t know who is to blame,” Mr Easterbrook says. “The issue of obesity is complex and is absolutely one our society is facing, there’s no denial about that, but if you break it down I think there’s an education piece: how can we better communicate to individuals the importance of a balanced diet and taking care of themselves? Then there’s a lifestyle element: there’s fewer green spaces and kids are sat home playing computer games on the TV when in the past they’d have been burning off energy outside.

“The Government has a part to play, individuals have a responsibility and so does the food and drink industry. These are the three pillars that need to work together and demonstrate that they have a commitment to solving the issue. We’re front and centre of the diet piece of the debate and, as a large business with a big influence, it is a responsibility that we accept as a leader in our sector.”

For clues on what a balanced diet should be, Mr Easterbrook says that his three daughters visit one of Dad’s restaurants “like most families” once a week, or three to four times a month, typically on the way back from the swimming pool. He argues that taking breakfast, lunch and dinner together, out of the 90 or so meals that people eat each month, McDonald’s will be a “relatively small but hopefully mean-ingful” part of their lives.

“I don’t think there is any definition of what is either a healthy or unhealthy food, but there are unhealthy and healthy diets. What I have looked to do is broaden out the menu and provide more options for people. If we continue to make quality and nutritional improvements, then we are taking steps to help people’s diets. It’s about businesses making small changes in the way they conduct themselves and individuals making small changes in the way they live their lives.”

While campaign groups such as Sustain acknowledge the progress that McDonald’s has made, it is an argument unlikely to hold sway with the group’s fiercest critics. Long before Spurlock came along, the McDonald’s reputation had been tarnished by the “McLibel” trial in Britain and the infamous “McJob” tag, which has made its way into the dictionary to define an “unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects”.

Last month McDonald’s was attacked in America for advertising on school report cards, just as reports in Britain claimed that childrens’ diets were now so bad that they risk dying a decade before their parents. On New Year’s Day, it was alleged there are up to 18 additives in a cheeseburger. Commuters returning to work on January 2 and mulling the start of a new fitness regime were met with the offer of a free Big Mac in newspapers.

Mr Easterbrook looks to counter such criticism with examples of progress. The vast majority of Happy Meal combinations, for example, can still be advertised on television since the nutritional content meets Ofcom guidelines on marketing to under16’s that came into force on New Year’s Day. McDonald’s is conducting trials to remove the preservative sodium benzoate from pickles and is in discussions with suppliers to reduce additives “where possible”. Mr Easterbrook points out, too, that McDonald’s is improving its environmental record by recycling some of the oil from its kitchens into bio-diesel – “McEnergy”, if you will.

Since taking over two years ago Mr Easterbrook has also set up a website – www.makeupyourownmind.co.uk – to answer some of the doubts that customers and critics alike may have.

Questions e-mailed in range from “Are there eyeballs in your burgers?” to “Is it true the french fries are coated in pig fat prior to being frozen?” The answers: “No. All our burgers are made from 100 per cent beef”; and “No, our French Fries are vegetarian.”

Mr Easterbrook says: “I think we’d allowed a mystique to build up around the business that didn’t really reflect what McDonald’s was about. There was plenty of advice coming from all corners, everyone has an opinion. A brand like McDonald’s is a polarising brand. I just think it was part of my responsibility to pro-actively communicate what our business is about. We are not looking to change McDonald’s, we are looking to be a better McDonald’s.”

The latest push is a project in which £40 million will be spent on giving 200 drive-throughs a more “modern and contemporary” makeover, including wood-trim on the outside and less aggressive signage. Last year, more than 140 of McDonald’s oldest high-street restaurants received a similar update, be they controlled by the business or run by franchisees.

Half the 1,200 McDonald’s restaurants are now run by franchisees in the UK, reflecting the fast food giant’s model elsewhere in the world. Up to three quarters of its sites in other countries can be controlled by entrepreneurs, who take out a 20-year lease, invest their own capital, pay McDonald’s rent and a proportion of the profit. Mr Easterbrook argues that the franchise model is part of his effort to “fix the fundamentals” since taking over.

“The business had stalled,” he says. “We hadn’t done a good enough job of reacting to some of the signals we were getting out there. Since then, we have looked at addressing that and putting the pace and energy back into the business. We have just had one of our strongest years for the past 20 years, so we feel pretty confident about the momentum we have built up.”

Curriculum vitae

Born: August 6, 1967

Education: Watford Boys Grammar School, Durham University

Career: Appointed president and chief executive of McDonald’s UK in April 2006, followed by his appointment to the role of president, northern division of McDonald’s Europe in January 2007. This comprises the UK, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Ireland. Joined McDonald’s UK in 1993 from PriceWaterhouseCoopers and held positions in finance and operations before his promotion in 2006. Was selected for a secondment to McDonald’s Corporation in Chicago.

Family: Married with three daughters

Other interests: Keen football fan and cricketer. Chairs the CBI’s education and training affairs committee and is a member of the CBI’s chairmen’s committee

The leader questioned

If you could change one thing in the financial and commercial environment, what would it be?

I would reverse the proposed scrapping of taper relief on Capital Gains Tax, keeping the effective rate back at 10 per cent. This would give the thousands of enterprising men and women, like our own franchisees, who invest in small businesses for the long term, greater incentive to grow their companies and better reward for the risks that they have taken when they come to sell them

Who is or was your mentor?

One of the benefits of working in a large business is that there’s always someone to turn to for advice. I’ve been lucky enough to benefit from this at each stage of my career so far

Does money motivate you?

Money is not my primary motivator, but it is important to me to be rewarded fairly for the results that I help to deliver

What is the most important event to happen in your working life?

Making the seemingly illogical move in 1998 from a good finance role to becoming a McDonald’s restaurant manager – a move which opened-up more opportunities for me than I ever would have imagined

What gadget must you have?
An iPod, to numb the pain in the gym

What does leadership mean to you?

Setting a clear vision, communicating it in a simple way and then giving people the confidence and motivation to get the job done

Which business person do you most admire?

I’ve never met him, but I love the simplicity with which Warren Buffett describes good and bad businesses and how he makes his investment decisions

How do you relax?

Family and friends help me to relax and I’ve always found top-quality sport to be a great distraction, which is why I’m a lifelong Watford fan