Vegan Sues McDonald's Over French Fries
1 hour, 30 minutes ago
LOS ANGELES - A professed vegan has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit claiming McDonald's Corp. misled consumers into thinking its french fries are free of dairy and wheat products.
Nadia Sugich of Los Angeles said in the Wednesday filing that she "would have never purchased or consumed the french fries if she had known they contain dairy and were not vegan."
The suit, which alleges unfair business practices by Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald's, comes days after the company acknowledged that wheat and dairy ingredients are used to flavor the its fries. The company had said until recently that its fries were free of gluten and milk or wheat allergens.
Sugich sued on behalf of California consumers who avoid dairy or wheat products because of moral, philosophical or health concerns, and have bought McDonald's fries within the past four years. She is asking for the customers to be reimbursed for their french fry purchases in the filing, among other requests.
McDonald's representatives did not immediately respond to a call seeking comment on the suit.
The company has felt the heat over its fries before. McDonald's paid $10 million in 2002 to settle a lawsuit by vegetarian groups after it was disclosed that its fries were being cooked in beef-flavored oil more than a decade after insisting that it was starting to use pure vegetable oil.
It paid another $8.5 million in February 2005 to settle a suit by a nonprofit advocacy group that accused the company of misleading consumers by announcing that it was changing its cooking oil, then delaying the switch.
Vegan Sues McDonald's Over French FriesMy note; Bull, I have never seen Mickey D's (McDonald's) claim that their fries, were free of dairy and wheat products. This just shows, the greed of the world today.
