As per recent developments following discrepancies in the food quality standards of fast food chain McDonald’s India, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) have awarded a clean chit to Westlife Foodworld – the operator for the chain in India. Following claims that the fast food chain did not meet the standards of using real cheese in their food products, tests were conducted by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) to verify if the ingredient claiming to be cheese was authentic.
In the recent accusations made against the chain, an outlet was found using dairy analogues in products that were marketed as containing cheese. However, the results of the inspection revealed otherwise, stating that ‘cheese or cheese product as a part of the composition and does not contain analogue in dairy context in any form.’ This confirmed the use of 100% real cheese in the chain’s food products, following the removal of the word ‘cheese’ from its menus in Maharashtra, wherever there was mention against offerings like burgers and nuggets.
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Saurabh Kalra, the managing directior for McDonald’s India (West & South) also shared that the cheese used in their products were sourced from global suppliers, and that the validation would help dispel notions about the usage of cheese analogues or substitutes. The inspection in recent times is a follow-up to an incident that took place at the Ahmednagar outlet in December, where the McCheese burger was noted to be non-compliant with food standards as well as improper labelling on multiple food products raised concerns.