The McDonald's 'Beef Fries' Controversy

In May 2001, a class action lawsuit1 was filed against the world's largest fast-food chain McDonald's, in Seattle, US. The lawsuit alleged that the company had, for over a decade, duped vegetarian customers into eating French fries2 that contained beef extracts.The lawsuit followed a spate of media reports detailing how the French fries served at McDonald's were falsely promoted as being '100% vegetarian.'

Although McDonald's initially declined to comment on the issue, the company issued a 'conditional apology,' admitting to using beef flavoring in the fries. The furore over the matter seemed to be settling down, when to McDonald's horror, some of its restaurants in India were vandalized. Activists of Hindu fundamentalist groups - the Shiv Sena, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the Bajrang Dal, staged a demonstration in front of the McDonald's head office in Delhi protesting the alleged use of beef flavouring....