Last summer it came out that McDonald’s used a beef flavoring in its french fries despite billing them as being vegetarian. Shortly after that revelation, Seattle-based attorney Harish Bharti began soliciting clients for a class action lawsuit against McDonald’s. This week Reuters and other news outlets reported that McDonald’s appears close to settling those lawsuits.
Based on confidential documents the news agencies claim they obtained, McDonald’s is offering to pay for public apologies in religious and vegetarian magazines, give $4,000 each to 12 plaintiffs who have filed 12 separate lawsuits against the company, and donate $10 million to vegetarian and religious organizations. It will also supposedly offer to set up an advisory board to aid it in matters related to vegetarians.
This is odd considering the weak position of the plaintiffs. After all, McDonald’s never claimed the fries were vegetarian or vegan. Instead, in 1990 it announced that it was switching to cooking the fires in “100 percent vegetable oil.” This change was made to placate customer concerns about cholesterol, but to my knowledge McDonald’snever claimed that there no animal products or derivatives in its fries.
Source:
McDonald’s makes beef-tainted fries payout. Vivian Chu, Reuters, March 7, 2002.
McDonalds nears settling vegetarians’ lawsuits. Ameet Sachdev, Chicago Tribune, March 6, 2002.