Updated Jul 7, 2023 09:37 am EDT
top line
McDonald’s restaurants in northern and eastern India have stopped serving tomatoes on their burgers, addressing what the company says are quality and supply issues as rising prices for the vegetable in parts of the country have caused internet pranks, music videos, muggings and protests.
key facts
The Indian franchise of US fast food giant, Connaught Plaza Restaurants Ltd, post notices in its stores on Friday saying it has been unable to source “adequate quantities of tomatoes that pass our strict quality controls” despite its “best efforts.”
The company added that “for the moment” it is “forced” to serve tomato-free products, without mentioning how long this problem will persist.
Various items on McDonald’s Indian menu, including his signature march emperor Chicken Burger – Include sliced tomatoes as an ingredient.
The problem only appears to be limited to McDonald’s restaurants in northern and eastern India, as McDonald’s franchise for the western and southern regions of the country is not affected by the shortage, Reuters reported.
McDonald’s India has Connaught Plaza Restaurants, which operates McDonald’s outlets in North and East India, while Westlife Foodworld, a third-party franchisee, operates McDonald’s restaurants in the South and West of the country.
key background
The price of tomatoes in some parts of India has exceeded $2 (165 rupees) per kilogram (about 90 cents a pound), five times more than at the beginning of the year. The price of tomatoes (along with onions) is often a sensitive political issue in India and is viewed by voters as an inflation marker. The most recent rice price has sparked jokes about tomatoes costing more than gasoline along with memes and music videos on social media High prices have even led to a widely reported mugging of tomatoes worth Rs 150,000 in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. The opposition Congress Party has blamed The “flawed” economic policies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government for price gouging while its members have organized street protests wearing necklaces made of tomatoes, comparing them to jewelry. The government, however, has insisted that the rise in prices is simply a seasonal production problem and he hopes that tomato prices will normalize soon.
Other reading
McDonald’s pulls tomatoes from India offerings, citing quality concerns as prices rise (Reuters)
A 445% price jump makes tomatoes more expensive than gasoline in India (Bloomberg)
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.