Less than a week after admitting that their french fries have a third more trans fat than they had previously reported, McDonald's is now admitting to potential allergens in the fries.
They've added "Contains wheat and milk ingredients" this month to the french fries listing on its Web site.
Evidently, their potato suppliers remove all wheat and dairy proteins, such as gluten, which can cause allergic reactions, but the flavoring agent in the cooking oil is a derivative of wheat and dairy ingredients. So it all comes back to the oil... trans fat, wheat, dairy, gluten... it's all in there!
Calling their fries "gluten free" when they weren't will be upsetting to the many people with gluten allergies including the 2 million Americans with celiac disease, an autoimmune disorder triggered by gluten.
Update (2/19): Three lawsuits have already been filed against McDonald's following their disclosure: a vegan, a person with celiac disease and a person with a gluten allergy (...all walked into a bar... oh wait, this isn't a joke!) have sued McDonald's.
I'm not a big fan of lawsuits, but these come closer to having merit than the 'obesity lawsuits.' McDonald's should be 'punished' in some fashion for their lies. In a perfect world the market would punish them because people would stop eating at McDonald's because they didn't trust them, but that rationale doesn't seem to work anymore.
But I'm not sure a vegan should win the lottery (so to speak) in a lawsuit against McDonald's over this. Anyway, what self-respecting vegan eats anything from McDonald's anyway, I wouldn't think they'd be a fan of all those chemical additives.
2 comments:
to say a vegan shouldn't win this lawsuit is ridiculous.
to many vegans, Veganism IS their religion. Which means that the choice to not consume animal products is a spiritual choice, not a health choice. Any time a consumer purchases a product under false pretenses, the seller should be punished.
If a vegan chooses to eat at a fast food restaurant, they have already disgraced their "religion".
The only person at fault is the vegan.
It's merely a matter of common sense when it comes to fast food and it's ties to animal by products; they're real and here to stay.
Stop trying to justify playing the victim.
This vegan shouldn't, and won't win this lawsuit.
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