McDonald's settles case alleging sandwich sold at Mich. store wasn't halal as advertised

ap ^ | Published January 21, 2013

[ExxonPatrolUs]

DEARBORN, MICH. – McDonald's Corp. and a franchise owner have reached a tentative settlement in a lawsuit alleging that food at a Detroit-area restaurant with a large Muslim customer base wasn't prepared according to Islamic dietary laws as advertised.

McDonald's and Finley's Management Co. agreed Friday to pay $700,000. The money will be shared by Dearborn Heights resident Ahmed Ahmed, a Detroit health clinic, the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn and lawyers.

Daklallah said there are only two McDonald's in the United States that sell halal products and both are in Dearborn, which has one of the nation's largest Arab and Muslim communities. Overall, the Detroit area is home to about 150,000 Muslims of many different ethnicities.

The locations advertise that they exclusively sell halal Chicken McNuggets and McChicken sandwiches and they have to get those products from an approved halal provider, Dakallah said. He said there was no evidence of problems on the production side, but he alleges that the Dearborn location on Ford Road sold non-halal products when it ran out of halal.

Daklallah said he was approached by Ahmed, and they conducted an investigation. A letter sent to McDonald's Corp. and Finley's Management by Daklallah's firm said Ahmed had "confirmed from a source familiar with the inventory" that the restaurant had sold non-halal food "on many occasions."

In the settlement notice, Finley's Management said it "has a carefully designed system for preparing and serving halal such that halal chicken products are labeled, stored, refrigerated, and cooked in halal-only areas." The company added it trains its employees on preparing halal food and "requires strict adherence to the process."

He said although Ahmed believes McDonald's was negligent, there was no evidence that the chain set out to deceive customers.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

I agree that the fault here is McDonald’s, not for fouling up its efforts to patronize Muslims, but for patronizing them in the first place.

I saw a great example of this in a restaurant, once. The restaurant was owned by two Serbians, but because there is no large existing market for Serbian food in the US, they decided the theme of their restaurant would be Irish.

So, knowing nothing about Irish history, customs or food, they set up a fairly large restaurant. At some point they found a book about Ireland, so took interesting words and names from it to name their menu items.

Things like “Black and Tan Stew”, and “Flying Squad Salad”.

[a fool in paradise]

"Huh? I thought you said BAGEL. Fo'real! Sorry, baby!"

[a fool in paradise]

The locations advertise that they exclusively sell halal Chicken McNuggets and McChicken sandwiches and they have to get those products from an approved halal provider, Dakallah said.

Just a shakedown racket to get their vendors some business.

[SoothingDave]

Don’t confuse them with facts. Never mind that conservatives should be against fraud and misrepresentation.

[Conscience of a Conservative]

“Never mind that conservatives should be against fraud and misrepresentation.”

Exactly. Too many people around here have adopted an “ends-justify-the-means” approach, principles be damned.