海角大神

If the reports are correct, pigs must be flying over McDonald's headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill., because the fast-food company known for its greasy burgers, crispy fries, and generously-sized soft drinks is to its menu lineup later this year: kale.

That's according to to analysts at Janney Capital Markets, which said, in an internal report, that the surprising move may come as McDonald's attempts to adapt to evolving consumer preferences that place higher priority on high-quality, natural ingredients.

鈥淧ossibilities include kale for use in salads, or perhaps a kale smoothie,鈥� analysts reportedly wrote in a note to clients. 鈥淢ore generally, McDonald鈥檚 clearly aims to raise consumers鈥� perception of the quality of its food. Adding kale to the menu in some way could help be a step in this direction.鈥�

News of McDonald's unexpected embrace of the leafy green "superfood" comes on the heels of other healthy changes the fast food giant recently announced.

Last week, McDonald鈥檚 announced that it will phase out chickens raised with antibiotics from its US restaurants over the next two years. It will also begin to offer low-fat white milk and fat-free chocolate milk that come from cows not treated with the artificial growth hormone rbST.

(And, on a related note, Burger King recently announced it will .)

Antibiotic-free chicken, rbST-free milk, and now, kale. What's going on?

As the Monitor's Schuyler Velasco reported last week, McDonald's "announcement comes at a tumultuous time for the company, which has faced falling sales and dwindling customers for years, due to increased competition, a changing industry, and an unshakeable (and ) two-pronged image problem."

Indeed, the company's stock has been flat for three years, and it just reported on Monday that same-store sales in the US were down 4 percent in February and 1.7 percent worldwide.聽McDonald's is well aware of its problem.In that same sales release, McDonald鈥檚 noted that 鈥渃onsumer needs and preferences have changed, and McDonald鈥檚 current performance reflects the urgent need to evolve with today鈥檚 consumers.鈥�

McDonald鈥檚 added that it must reassert itself 鈥渁s a modern, progressive burger company.鈥�

Enter: kale, antibiotic-free chicken, and new CEO Steve Easterbrook, who took over the fast food giant earlier this month to help turn it around. Of course, McDonald's has not yet confirmed that it will be adding kale to its menu, as Janney Capital Markets predicted. "As we continue to listen to our customers, we鈥檙e always looking at new and different ingredients that they may enjoy," McDonald's spokeswoman Lisa McComb told Business Insider, in response to questions about whether it will introduce kale to its menu.

Nonetheless, news that the fast food chain is considering adding the antioxidant-rich superfood alongside more typical standbys like iceberg lettuce, indicates a significant about-face, considering an 聽showing聽close-up shots of a Big Mac and poking fun at foodies and vegetarians.

"You can鈥檛 get juiciness like this from soy or quinoa," the ad's narrator chides. "Nor will this ever be kale," he adds as the camera zooms in on the lettuce in a Big Mac sandwich.聽

Can kale save McDonald's? As the company learned after its ad was released, never say never.