On the 19th, Yonhap News reported that an office worker in Seoul encountered an issue while having lunch at a nearby McDonald’s on the 15th. He noticed something unusual in his food, which turned out to be the wax paper used to store patties.
After this incident, the office worker researched similar past occurrences and concluded that McDonald’s had ongoing issues with foreign substances in their food. He demanded a written explanation from the McDonald’s headquarters about the cause, the countermeasures for the foreign substance, voluntary reporting to the Food and Drug Safety Administration, a public apology for two weeks, and a public statement of remorse in the media.
However, McDonald’s did not comply with any of these demands, stating that wax paper is not a foreign substance that requires voluntary reporting and that the demands for a public apology and public remorse were excessive. They only refunded the office worker for his meal on the day of the incident.
The office worker told Yonhap News, “I felt like I was chewing on seaweed, but when I took it out, it was wax paper. Young children could potentially mistake it for tough lettuce and eat it. It’s a problem when substances that shouldn’t be eaten come out of hamburgers that children frequently eat, from a parent’s perspective.”
He continued, “The foreign substances in McDonald’s food can be easily found on the internet, indicating the severity of the situation and the need for improvement.”
The office worker plans to report the issue to the Food and Drug Safety Administration for investigation.
In response, McDonald’s Korea stated, “Judging from the photos received from the customer, the foreign material appears to be a meat liner made of paper material used for storing patties.”
They added, “For the store in question, we plan to check the internal cooking procedures to prevent the inclusion of foreign substances and strengthen employee training.”
