Promising burgers and ‘cheese’ nuggets, McDonald’s ‘uses’ its replica made with vegetable oil | The unfair tale of Maharashtra | Top Vip News

Fast food giant McDonald’s, replacing “cheese” with other names, changed the name of some of the dishes at its outlet in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, after the state’s Food and Drug Administration unit suspended its license for trick customers by using substitutes in burgers and nuggets instead of real cheese.

Cheese alternatives aim to mimic the taste, texture and purpose of traditional cheese. The substitutes, allegedly identified in several of the fast food giant’s dishes, replaced milk or milk fat with affordable vegetable oil, a Indian Times the report said.

The federal agency sharply criticized McDonald’s for not disclosing the use of the alternatives to its customers on the labels and accused it of “misleading” people into thinking it was real cheese.

“During the inspection, our agents did not find any mention of cheese analogues (alternatives) anywhere. “Items like ‘cheese nuggets,’ ‘cheese sauce,’ and ‘cheeseburger’ were labeled as such without indicating that cheese was a substitute,” FDA Commissioner Abhimanyu Kale said. For me.

He said this incident has led the federal agency to plan an investigation of other fast food chains as well.

The investigation 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 organization.

Although McDonald’s dismissed the FDA’s allegations and challenged its actions, the federal agency decided to suspend its license, saying the explanation provided by the establishment was “unsatisfactory.”

FDA Commissioner Kale then issued an order insisting on the need to clearly label items with the appropriate font size and color scheme.

In addition to this, he suggested that the nutritional information of the content of these analogues be mentioned on the products. Kale said 40 percent of the space on signs should have details on nutritional values.

“Menu cards should clearly indicate the use of analogs, address allergen concerns, and dietary concerns such as the presence of higher trans fat content,” Kale said.

Later in December, McDonald’s wrote to the food regulator and said they had replaced the word “cheese.” They renamed the cheese nuggets to veggie nuggets, the McCheese veggie burger as the Cheddar Delight veggie burger, the blueberry cheese box as blueberry pie, among others.

In fact, some of the outlets in Santacruz, Kurla and Bhendi Bazar have also started using the new names.

However, according to ToI’s According to the report, the fast food giant on Thursday denied the use of substitutes or analogues.

“Regarding the removal of the word ‘cheese’ from our menu at McDonald’s stores in Maharashtra, we want to assure our customers that we use only quality, authentic cheese in all our cheese-containing products. “We are actively working with the relevant authorities on this matter,” a McDonald’s India (W&S) spokesperson said.

The company even shared letters from its cheese suppliers showing that the cheese sauce used in the frozen cheese nuggets comes from Dlecta Foods Pvt Ltd and is not a substitute.