McDonald's refutes ‘fake cheese’ concerns

Days after the allegation of using dairy substitutes, McDonald's has responded to the allegation saying that they use authentic products. CMO Arvind RP takes to social media standing by the same

McDonald's has come up with a clarification regarding concerns raised about the brand using ‘fake cheese’.

The Maharashtra Food And Drug Administration (FDA) recently aired concerns that an outlet of the fast food chain was using a substitute instead of cheese for their burgers. As a fallout, the Ahmednagar outlet’s licence has been suspended. As per FDA, the company was using 'cheese-like' products or cheese analogues and not actual cheese. However, after the chain submitted a compliance report verifying the removal of the word 'cheese' from product names, their licence was revoked. 

In a response to the 'fake-cheese' allegations, Westlife Foodworld Limited, the company that holds the franchise for McDonald's in western and South India said they use authentic ingredients. "We use only real, quality cheese in all our products containing cheese."

Arvind RP, CMO at McDonald's India said, "McDonald’s in India, and across the world, is committed to ‘Real Food, Real Good’, not only adhering to the food regulations in each country, but also uncompromising on quality. Our products contain real cheese, as simple as that. We are working with the regulatory authorities to clarify the issue."

In a statement to PTI, Rajendra Bade, an official from FDA-Ahmednagar said, "In October 2023, we visited the outlet in Kedgaon and discovered that the names of food items displayed at the outlet included American Cheese Burger, American Cheese Nuggets, Cheese Burger, Italian Cheesy Lava Burger, and Blueberry Cheese Cake. All these names are their brand names for their products"

According to Bade, FDA had found that instead of pure cheese the outlet was using a cheese-like product. He said it was called a cheese analogue or substitute. "While pure cheese contains milk fat, the cheese analogue contains both milk fat and vegetable fat," he added.

On finding that the outlet's clarification was unsatisfactory, FDA suspended its licence in November, said the PTI report.

"They appealed against the suspension before the FDA commissioner in Mumbai. The commissioner heard arguments from both sides and instructed the fast-food restaurant chain that they cannot use the word ‘cheese’ in their product names if they are not using real cheese,” Bade added.

Abhimanyu Kale, the FDA commissioner, had directed McDonald’s to revise their labelling and prominently tag the products as “cheese analogue nuggets” or “non-dairy cheese nuggets” in a font size and colour that is easily visible and distinguishable from regular cheese products.

The order also required the outlet to list the ingredients on the packaging, ensuring the terms cheese analogue or non-dairy cheese are prominently displayed.

In their compliance report, Bade said, the American company had amended the labels. “Upon receiving their compliance report, a decision was made to revoke the suspension, and they have been granted permission to resume business as before.”