Accidental Hedonist - Surprise! McDonald's is being sued

Surprise! McDonald's is being sued

02/21/06, by Kate Hopkins

1212 views • Categories: Food News, Fast Food

Remember last week when I mentioned that McDonald's recent revelations that their fries had gluten (until recently) may not be a big deal, unless someone can prove that the Golden Arches advertised the fries as gluten-free?

Well as it turns out, yes someone can prove that the Golden Arches stated that the fries are gluten free...and yes they are suing for damages.

All of those who are surprised, please raise your hands.

I did have a "M-wuh?!?" moment when reading this bit of the article:

On Wednesday, Nadia Sugich of Los Angeles sued McDonald's, saying she is a vegan and would not have eaten the fries if she had known they contained dairy products.

A vegan...at McDonald's. Riiiiiight. Nadia isn't perhaps looking for a quick payday, is she?

Personally, I have a hard time feeling sorry for any vegan who eats at McDonald's. I'm not saying they shouldn't eat there, but really. A vegan eating at McDonald's is like an American visiting Moscow and then complaining that everyone there speaks Russian.

UPDATE: It seems as if McDonald's is claiming that, in fact, their fries ARE gluten and Allergen free.

Cause -- meet effect.

Ken at Fast Food News has it exactly right: either someone is trying to cover their collective buttocks by clouding the issue regarding this, or there is a fair amount of incompetence surrounding the initial release of information last week. Either way, McDonald's is looking both amateurish and irresponsible.

Technorati Tags: Food, McDonald's, Fast Food, Lawsuit

Permalink • 9 comments

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: Sml [Visitor]

I know what you mean, but seriously, when you are a veggie or a vegan, you have to be more flexible than others are expected to be, otherwise you will only have veggie or vegan friends. Whether you like it or not, you will inevitably allow yourself to be dragged into maccas or similar meaty places so you are not labelled "too much hard work" and simply have some fries no matter how hungry you are!

Permalink 02/21/06 @ 07:13

Comment from: Anja [Visitor] · http://www.pipfugl.dk

Gluten isn't dairy though? How does being a vegan have anything to do with gluten content?

Permalink 02/21/06 @ 07:58

Comment from: Kate Hopkins [Member]

· http://www.accidentalhedonist.com

I understand your point, I really do. But there's a certain amount of expectation that one should get from a restaurant. In interviewing a vegetarian for Seattlest last year, I asked about Fast Food, and I was told that in their case, they just don't go, as the Fast Food Industry really doesn't go out of their way to meet the needs of vegetarians, whether they say so or otherwise.

I agreed with her then, and still do today. Fast Food Restaurants cannot be all things for all people. People with specialized diets, whether for political, religious or health reasons, are simply not served by these restaurants. Figuratively speaking of course, as yhey'll gladly sell you anything on their menu. It's the customer who has to compromise their own ethics, as Fast Food corporations tend to have little or nothing in the ethics department.

Permalink 02/21/06 @ 07:59

Comment from: Anne [Visitor] · http://www.annemaadesigns.com

Isn't gluten wheat? Shouldn't it be fine with vegans?

Permalink 02/21/06 @ 11:02

Comment from: Tom [Visitor]

I can't see how a true vegan can eat fries at McDonalds. I mean, do they have separate fryers for the chicken?

As someone who cannot digest wheat, I am upset but the recent disclosure, through. I do not eat at McD's, but I do rely on restaurants to tell me honestly whether they can serve food me without including wheat.

For me, its not a political choice, I end up on the floor in pain for days if I eat the stuff.

For the most part, eating out is easy, I just pick plain vegetables and fish, no breading, soups or sauces. Just thinking of a french fry, I would assume that a plain old fry would be made of potato and eat it. Now I'm not so sure. . . .

Permalink 02/21/06 @ 12:04

Comment from: Nicholas Caratzas [Visitor]

Anne, You're right. McDs is currently being sued separately by gluten-intolerant individuals and vegetarians (one claims the fries contain(ed) gluten, the other dairy.)

Kate, just to make this more interesting - McDs has some sloppy webmastering going on; their own site offers conflicting information on gluten-free offerings:

This is the version is dated 2/20/2006 and is the one you get going through the site's nutritional info menus. Note french fries are not on the list.

This .pdf dated 1/20/2004 lists the fries as gluten-free. I got to it through a Google search and not directly through the McDs homepage but this link isn't a cache -- it is on the McDs site. Still, they probably don't even know it's up there.

And in case anybody's interested, a direct link to yesterday's press release so you can hear the latest claim straight from the clown's mouth.

The odds are looking better for incompetence; McDs media and marketing people don't seem to have their stuff together.

Permalink 02/21/06 @ 12:30

Comment from: Nicholas Caratzas [Visitor]

Tom, you might want to consider being more careful around fast food fries (if you even go to such places.)

E.g., even though Burger King's fries don't appear to contain any wheat derivatives, they do contain non-potato products like rice flour. If it had turned out they did have wheat in there too I wouldn't have been too surprised (had 'em lately? They're some kind of bizarre, possibly extruded, coated strip and not the old-school, sliced potato fry you'd make from scratch.)

Given the increasing popularity of convenience foods at casual dining establishments, I wouldn't be surprised if the "fries" at some sit-down restaurants contain more than just the humble spud, too.

Permalink 02/21/06 @ 12:42

Comment from: Barbara Fisher [Visitor] · http://www.tigersandstrawberries.com/

I ate at McDonald's for the first time in years about a month ago. I figured that while I was there, I should analyze the flavors of everything.

The fries, which I remembered thinking tasted awesome--tasted really weird. Like, well, like dehydrated mashed potato flakes that had been extruded into a starchy substance, allowed to dry and then fried. They didn't taste potatoey at all. Just kind of starchy, salty and fried.

And the hamburger--you can't taste it. The bun is overly sweetened and the onions, plastic cheese, which was really salty, ketchup and mustard completely cover the flavor of the meat. Okay, the meat-like patty.

I tasted a bit of the meat alone and it tasted salty and sort of greasy, but not meaty.

The only thing I can think of is that folks who eat a lot of McDonald's don't like the taste of either meat or potatoes.....

Permalink 02/21/06 @ 18:30

Comment from: Nicholas Caratzas [Visitor]

Barbara, assuming your memory reflects the pre-1990 fries it's right on -- James Beard loved McDonalds' fries, too. They really screwed things up when they switched to vegetable oil. Man, they were great once... now, "meh" is understating it considerably.

Permalink 02/22/06 @ 00:41

The Accidental Hedonist's Guide to:

My Book

AH Alumni

Blogroll

Archives

Surprise! McDonald's is being sued

Comments, Pingbacks:

Leave a comment: