Team Blitz India
MUMBAI: In a big relief to McDonalds, the Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has revoked the suspension of the licence of fastfood giant’s outlet in Ahilyanagar (formerly Ahmednagar), according to a PTI report.
The outlet had come under fire for allegedly using a ‘cheese-like’ product in the dishes without indicating that it was actually a cheese substitute. The McDonald’s outlet was suspended after inspection and objections by Maharashtra’s Food and Drugs Administration (FDA). Recently the suspension was revoked after the chain in a compliance report said it had removed the word ‘cheese’ from product names.
“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,” Rajendra Bade, a food safety official from FDA-said.
According to Bade, the FDA had found that instead of pure cheese, the outlet was using a cheese-like product. He said it is 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, the FDA had suspended the outlet’s licence in November.
