McDonald's To Add 'Cheese' Back In Menu After FSSAI Gives Clean Chit
India's apex food regulator has given a clean chit to McDonald's, saying that the American fast-food chain wasn't using cheese substitutes at its outlets.
The confirmation letter from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India explicitly states that the articles in question contain cheese or cheese products as a part of their composition and do not contain analogue in dairy context in any form, according to Saurabh Kalra, managing director of Westlife Foodworld Ltd.
The confirmation was backed by independent tests conducted by a NABL-accredited lab.
"We assure our customers and stakeholders that all our products are crafted with genuine, quality ingredients without any compromises whatsoever," Kalra said.
The operator of McDonald's chain in western and southern India has retained the term 'cheese' in the names of its products containing cheese.
The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration had earlier found that some of McDonald's outlets were serving an alternative to cheese, also called 'cheese analogues', in a few products, including burgers and nuggets.
Cheese analogues are essentially designed to replicate the flavour and consistency of conventional dairy cheese, frequently substituting more affordable vegetable oil for dairy fat.
The FDA's action against McDonald's began in October last year with an inspection of its Kedgaon branch in Ahmednagar. It had suspended the licence of the outlet, prompting McDonald's to rename various dishes by replacing the word 'cheese' in their menu.
While customers have questioned the brand with the fake cheese claims, it is too soon to quantify the impact on business, Kalra said.
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