Fast food giant McDonald’s — replacing “cheese” with other names — renamed some of the dishes in its outlet in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar after the state’s Food and Drug Administration unit suspended its licence for allegedly deceiving customers by using substitutes in burgers and nuggets instead of actual cheese.
McDonald’s India has responded to the allegations. “Amid recent reports about the removal of ‘Cheese’ from our menu at McDonald’s locations in Maharashtra, we want to assure our valued customers that only genuine, high-quality cheese is used in all our cheese-containing products,” it said in a statement.
Alternatives of cheese are meant to mimic the taste, texture and purpose of the traditional cheese. The substitutes, allegedly identified in several of the fast food giant’s dishes replaced milk or dairy fat with affordable vegetable oil, a Times of India report said.
“We are actively engaging with the competent authorities on this issue and awaiting their final clarification. We have always been adhering to stringent food standards and are fully compliant with all applicable food laws,” the company said.
McDonald’s even shared letters from its cheese suppliers which show that the cheese sauce used in the frozen cheese nuggets is from Dlecta Foods Pvt Ltd and not a substitute.
The FDA slammed McDonald’s for not disclosing the alternatives’ usage to its customers on the labels and accused it of “misleading” people into thinking of it as actual cheese.
“During inspection, our officers did not find any mention of cheese analogues (alternatives) anywhere. Items like ‘cheese nuggets’, ‘cheesy dip’ and ‘cheese burger’ were being labelled as such without indicating that the cheese was a substitute,” FDA commissioner Abhimanyu Kale told ToI.
He said that this incident has prompted the federal agency to plan an investigation of other fast-food chains as well.
The probe against the food giant began with the inspection of its Kedgaon branch in Ahmednagar in October last year. Following the discovery of cheese analogues in at least eight of the items, a show-cause notice was issued to the organisation.
Though McDonald’s dismissed the FDA’s allegations and contested against their actions, the federal agency decided to suspend its license saying that the explanation provided by the establishment was “unsatisfactory”.
FDA commissioner Kale then issued an order pressing on the need to clearly label the items with appropriate font size and colour scheming.
In addition to this, he suggested that the nutritional information of the content of these analogues be mentioned on the products. Kale said that 40 per cent of the space on display boards should have the details of nutritional values.
“Menu cards should clearly state the use of analogues, addressing allergen concerns, and diet concerns such as the presence of higher trans-fat,” Kale was quoted as saying.
Later in December, McDonald’s wrote to the food regulatory body and said that it replaced the word “cheese”. It renamed cheesy nuggets as veg nuggets, McCheese veg burger as cheddar delight veg burger, and blueberry cheese cake as blueberry cake, among others.
In fact, some of the outlets in Santacruz, Kurla and Bhendi Bazar have also started using the new names.
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