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News
McDonald's apologizes
May 24, 2001: 9:16 a.m. ET

Fast-food chain 'regrets confusion' about beef flavoring in French fries
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - McDonald's Corp. apologized Thursday for "confusion" about beef flavoring used in the French fries it sells in the United States.

"Because it is our policy to communicate to customers, we regret if customers felt that the information we provided was not complete enough to meet their needs. If there was confusion, we apologize," McDonald's said.

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The statement, found on the company's U.S. Web site, is at least partly in response to a recent lawsuit by Hindu lawyer Harish Bharti. He accused McDonald's of deception, saying the company does not reveal that it uses beef fat to flavor raw fries, but claims to cook the fries in 100 percent vegetable oil.

McDonald's, the world's largest fast-food chain, acknowledges it uses beef flavoring in the fries. "A small amount of beef flavoring is added during potato processing -- at the plant," McDonald's said. "These fries are then shipped to our U.S. restaurants. Our French fries are cooked in vegetable oil at our restaurants."

Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald's said it was not required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reveal the use of beef flavoring

McDonald's also said it doesn't use the beef flavoring for fries sold at its restaurants in India or predominantly Hindu countries. Hindus abstain from beef for religious reasons.

McDonald's (MCD: Research, Estimates) shares closed down 26 cents Wednesday at $30.24. graphic

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.