Maggots and McDonalds
The Herald reports:
An Auckland healthcare worker has been left “disgusted” after finding a maggot in her McDonald’s burger box.
Linda MacDonald, a mental health carer, had just finished eating an Angus Burger Combo, which she bought from the Pt Chevalier McDonald’s, when a colleague she shared the burger with pointed out something “wiggling” in the box.
The 59-year-old grandmother spat out her remaining mouthful and ran to the toilet to throw up.
“It was awful,” she said. “They offered me McDonald’s vouchers, and I told them: ‘No way am I ever going to set foot in there again’. The cheek of it – it’s so wrong.”
McDonald’s NZ boss Mark Hawthorne said he did not believe the maggot came from within the restaurant. It was dead when the company conducted tests. …
She says she cut the burger with a knife when she shared it with her colleague, but is adamant the maggot did not get there then.
There are many criticisms one can make of McDonalds, but bad hygiene is an unlikely one. It is not impossible of course, but they have a manual which is explicit on every single process, and management are trained to do nothing at all that deviates from the manual. This is bad for innovation, but good for consistency – which is their brand.
So I think it is unlikely the fault is with McDonalds, but do have sympathy for the customer concerned (my guess is the knife) as finding foreign material in your food is one of the most unpleasant experiences you can undergo. I had a Wellington shop prosecuted many years ago when I found a sticking plaster in my meal, as I was cooking it at home. I chucked up the moment I realised exactly what was on the end of my fork. Thank God I had not actually eaten any – that would have been worse.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:12 am
im just glad she ran to the media
March 12th, 2010 at 9:14 am
Q: What’s worse than find a worm in your apple?
A: Finding half a worm…
March 12th, 2010 at 9:19 am
I’m always suspicious of the folks who run off to the media with these stories. Might be doing this particular person a disservice but its an interesting fact pattern.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:29 am
McDonalds have a successful business model – one part of which is quality control and cleanliness.
Lefties loath successful businesses ergo McDonalds is guilty of this along with being guilty of making us all fat.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:29 am
There was a story doing the rounds 1 year ago as well complaining of exactly the same thing, maggots in their burger. Conveniently it was discovered in a takeaway, rather than in a burger eaten on site. Problem is I struggle to believe either of the stories.
Have to say I am very sceptical. Maggots do not just suggest bad hygeine, they invade dead and rotting flesh. Given McDonald’s systems, I find this very unlikely. You are more likely to get bacterial food poisonings than encounter a maggot.
My conclusion is that this person is likely to be a freeloader wanting to extract dollars from a big corporation. Problem is that they are too stupid to come up with a plausible story.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:34 am
Isn’t this part of the new “Weight Watchers approved” McDonalds’ menu. Just part of the price of eating low cal, low carb, high fibre, decaf foods. No maggots in greasy chips!
March 12th, 2010 at 9:44 am
This isn’t the only time. I remember someone from Tokoroa making a complaint late last year. Same thing.
And its always McDonalds.
March 12th, 2010 at 9:50 am
That sounds even more unlikely – how often are maggots found on knives?
I’m surprised how keen some people seem to be to jump in and defend McDonalds. Sure, they have procedures, but it doesn’t rule out lapses.
I do agree there is quite a “run to the media” mentality these days, but there is no proof that it is anything other than wanting to tell a story of disgust.
But hey, where would blogs be if conclusions weren’t jumped to.
Thomas – maybe crisped maggots aren’t as recognisable. Are you suggesting a Bulemic’s burger?
March 12th, 2010 at 9:54 am
“I chucked up the moment I realised exactly what was on the end of my fork.”
Wow, you eat Burger King with a fork? I didn’t know they could actually be classed as a restaurant.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:00 am
I dont know – some McDonalds are more clean than others. So I can imagine this to be the case (Heck at the Auckland Airport one – I had lettuce that was beyond rank).
Anyway – regardless – the Media is not the place for something can not be proven or disproven – esp as it brings the company into disrepute.
Personally – I think Murder Burger (Ponsonby) is the only way to go.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:23 am
Why does everyone complain about healthier food – added protein should cost more.
Having been involved in several investigations into contaminants in canned export milk powder and infant formula a couple of decades ago, the answers can be found into origin.
case 1 – glass fragments – found to come from fluorescent tubes of a kind not available in NZ and certainly not used in any of the factories involved. Glass analysis was quite definitive.
case 2 – insect parts – fly wings in particular – found to be from a species found particularly in the locale of the purchaser, never recorded in NZ. – Taxonomic analysis deinitive.
case 3 – machinery parts – a nut (as in off a bolt) – all machinery parts in the plant involved are specially marked so that they can be traced if they fall off into the product. Not found to be of that origin and as a common item could have come from anywhere after the tin was opened.
My point – food manufacturers are almost never at fault of contamination if they follow best practice. Problems are generally found long before they reach the consumer. Consumers on the other hand are often careless in the way they handle delicate food products (although a burger can hardly be described as delicate) and are quick to blame manufacturers for their own errors.
Having said that, there are plenty of recorded cases where the food preparation has been at fault (like the mouse-in-the-pie) and plenty of cockroaches that have passed through consumers’ digestive tracts without being noticed.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:42 am
DPF – do you remember the Courtney Place McDonalds of some years ago? When I first walked into that place I realised that the McDonalds Quality System (TM) had meet it’s match.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:49 am
Many mental health workers are crazy. They are attracted to the profession the way pyromaniacs are attracted to volunteer fire brigades. Not that I am suggesting this lady has made it all up, of course.
A likely possibility is that one of her care-in-the-community types has managed to contaminate the meal.
March 12th, 2010 at 10:59 am
@ david agree 100%. In my experience, much of the product problems occur with the consumer (hey my milk was off, I only left it out of hte fridge for 3 days…)
March 12th, 2010 at 11:00 am
Yeh there was this story in the Herald from last year –
More: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10551314
I’m not sure whether it’s true or not either, but it sounds like a disgusting find.
March 12th, 2010 at 11:09 am
@Fletch,
I happened to be in Whangarei at the time that story broke. The word going around was that this was all a hoax. There were so many maggots in the photo its authenticity was totally unbelievable. Those people were thought to be freeloaders wanting a financial handout. Needless to say it failed miserably. Their photograph in the local rag did not do their case any justice either.
March 12th, 2010 at 11:20 am
Grizz, just as well!!
I would think a pattie like that would have been hard to miss.
I remember when I was at high school there was a teacher who bought a particular brand of popular pie from the canteen and it had a chunk of meat with fur/hair still on it. She vowed never to eat one again, but tried a little while later and found a bit of rubber in one.
Maybe some people just strike it unlucky?
March 12th, 2010 at 11:20 am
Yes to believe it you have to believe that somehow the person cooking the meat (a) didnt cook the maggots as well (because they are alive) and (b) somehow didnt notice them either.
Alternatively that the maggots were somehow in the non-meat ingredients of the burger (like the lesser known varieties of lettuce maggot I guess).
March 12th, 2010 at 11:26 am
For fucks sake this woman needs to harden up, it’s not like one maggot would eat much.
March 12th, 2010 at 11:47 am
I would have guessed it was in the lettuce etc. Great material for the little f*ckers to hide in.
PS:
[andrei]: “Lefties loath successful businesses ergo McDonalds is guilty of this along with being guilty of making us all fat.”
The only lefties in this story are the imaginary ones you just introduced. What a dick. Are you looking for Kiwiblog brownie points, or do you really reduce everything in life that you don’t like down to political ideology?
March 12th, 2010 at 11:53 am
RRM, no “lefties” would support a business like McDonalds, and like, buy anything off them.
March 12th, 2010 at 11:56 am
I’m a leftist voter and I love greasy, takeaway sh*t. I pay for it with money I earn and pay tax on.
But try explaining ideas like that to the nut jobs here with their strange prejudices….
March 12th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
A woman in Scotland made legal history many years ago when she finally got damages from a ginger beer maker after finding a snail in the bottom of an opaque ginger beer bottle after drinking most of it. It went all the way to the House of Lords. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donoghue_v_Stevenson
That decision would be very persuasive in NZ (it no doubt has been cited with approval by NZ judges). If Linda chose to sue McDonalds, her lawyer could properly cite that case in her support.
March 12th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
Curious how these foreign objects are most often discovered while the customer is dining at home (or in their car or wherever), and always after some little time has passed. i.e. there has usually been an opportunity to introduce them.
March 12th, 2010 at 1:37 pm
“That decision would be very persuasive in NZ (it no doubt has been cited with approval by NZ judges). ”
LOL Donoghue V Stevenson is taught in Law 101 to every student, its one of the fundamental cases of our tort system.
March 12th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Bit more than persuasive peter, more like the case from which the entire common law tort of negligence stems from
March 12th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
Gawd, in terms of hygiene throwing up in a MacDonald’s toilet sounds worse than the actual maggot!
March 12th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
What’s wrong with maggots?