Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Hey Dear READERS!

Pls take note at the post here... ESPECIALLY FOR VEGETARIAN?!?

McDonald's Fries
$10 million settlement-includes $255,000 for Hinduism Today, an international magazine published by Kauai's Hindu MonasteryThey deceived the public about beef flavorings in heir "vegetarian fries." They got caught. They were sued. They settled in court. This week the food giant McDonald's mailed a check for $254,773.19 to Hinduism Today magazine's endowment fund (Hindu Heritage Endowment), one of a handful of elite vegetarian-friendly institutions in America chosen as recipients of the court-ordered $10 million settlement.It was all started by a Seattle lawyer, Harish Bharti, a vegetarian Hindu who makes a habit out of identifying the ingredients in purportedly vegetarian foods. He examined McDonald's french fries. Back in 1990, news reports appeared that stated, for example, "McDonald's, Wendy's and Burger King are switching to all-vegetable oil to cook their fries." The reason was to reduce the saturated fat content (bad for the heart), which, in McDonald's case, went from 42 grams to 23 grams for a two-ounce serving of fries. Previously, the fries were cooked with beef tallow. Our on-line dictionary appetizingly defines tallow as, "Hard fat obtained from parts of the bodies of cattle, sheep or horses, and used in foodstuffs or to make candles, leather dressing, soap and lubricants." Yum.The problem for McDonald's was that the veggie-oil cooked fries didn't taste like their popular tallow-cooked fries, which they solved by including a beef flavoring at the time of preprocessing for distribution (not while being cooked in the restaurant). Under the US government's food guidelines, they were allowed to label this beef flavoring as "natural flavor," which it is. But because of the hype over the switch to vegetable oil for frying, vegetarians assumed--and McDonald's did not try to dissuade--that the fries were now vegetarian.Bharti sued McDonald's in 2001, and that grew into a law suit involving a number of lawyers and organizations. Ultimately, Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, Muslims, vegetarians and vegans joined the fray--the Jews because the beef flavoring was not kosher and the Muslims because it wasn't halal.In March, 2002, the lawsuit was close to being settled. McDonald's agreed to issue a formal apology, better disclosure of ingredients, creation of an advisory board and payment of us$10,000,000 to organizations which promote vegetarianism and issues related to the fries.The apology reads, in part, "McDonald's sincerely apologizes to Hindus, vegetarians and others for failing to provide the kind of information they needed to make informed dietary decisions at our U.S. restaurants. We acknowledge that, upon our switch to vegetable oil in the early 1990s for the purpose of reducing cholesterol, mistakes were made in communicating to the public and customers about the ingredients in our french fries and hash browns. Those mistakes included instances in which french fries and hash browns sold at U.S. restaurants were improperly identified as "vegetarian.'" It is part of the settlement that the full apology be printed in Veggie Life, India Tribune and Hinduism Today.Bharti wrote at the time, "I am proud of obtaining the apology (with admission of wrongdoing), the enhanced disclosure from McDonald's and the advisory board. This means a lot to my clients and me, because this is very valuable for the consumer interest in the long run. In the last 100 years this is the first giant corporation to apologize, admit wrongdoing and also pay millions of dollars."McDonald's is indeed giant, and serves as a kind of magnet for all criticism of big business (see http://www.mcspotlight.org). For the year 2002, McDonald's worldwide income was $15.4 billion, which yielded a net profit of $893 million. More than 30,000 local McDonald's restaurants serve 46 million customers each day in more than 100 countries.Organizations were invited to submit specific proposals to Bharti and the other lawyers for a share in the settlement. The money was to go, according to McDonald's, "to Hindu, vegetarian and other groups whose charitable and educational activities are closely linked to the concerns of these consumers [having dietary restrictions]." The Hindu Heritage Endowment, founded by Hinduism Today's creator, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, was invited to submit a request. HHE proposed to put any settlement share in its Hinduism Today Distribution Fund to increase the magazine's free distribution in the US, on the basis that the magazine has consistently promoted vegetarianism among Hindus.Hindu vegetarians around the world may wish to take note of the little-publicized fact that McDonald's made no changes in their fries, which are still beef-flavoring saturated. Sure, the oil is vegetable. But make no mistake about it. There is meat in those luscious Golden Arches french fries.By:WWW Hinduism TodayHimalayan Academy Hindu Resources

a few days ago, Malaysia had an article about beef content in MAC Fries... however here is another Article that we had actualli Digged out!


From: ops@sg.mcd.com
To: ***********
Subject: RE: FoodDate: Mon, 1 Sep 2008 08:56:00 +0800
Dear ************,

Thank you for your email.

At McDonald’s, we take pride in serving our customers with a variety of quality, tasty menu choices at great value.

In Singapore, McDonald’s French Fries are cooked in 100% vegetable oil and contain no beef extract, and are hence suitable for vegetarians.

We hope this information is useful, and look forward to serving you soon again in our restaurants.

Yours sincerely,
Adora Sarah
on behalf of Linda Ming
Senior Communications Manager
McDonald's Restaurants


From: *********@hotmail.com [mailto:*******]
Sent: Friday, August 29, 2008 11:26 PMTo: ops@sg.mcd.comSubject: Food
Name :*******
Email :******
Address: *******
Phone Number: *******


Subject:Food
Message


Hi, I'm *******. I'm a Vegetarian myself and like all other Vegetarians out there, we are concerned about the ingredients in the French Fries. I myself is a great lover of your French Fries and would always at least eat out at your outlet once per week. However, there has been news circulating around that McDonald's fries are still flavored with beef extract before they are being send to fry.This has startled me. I was telling me friends "How can this be? I have always enjoy the tenderness of the fries dipped in the chilli sauce which makes me go "YUMMY"From what I have found out, the news are mostly targeted in the European area. As far as I know, French Fries in India do not contain beef extract. I for one, on behalf of Vegetarianism, sincerely hope that you can give us a honest and honorable answer about the beef extract flavoring in the French Fries in Singapore.This has strike fear in us and I hope that you can concisely assure us of the ingredients in the Fries as it passed down the supply chain to the doorstep of Singapore's outlet.In addition, I hope that we can have more vegetarian meals like what India are doing; catering meals for vegetarians. Hope that you can take consideration of what I have suggested as we would like to dine routinely in McDonald as well. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter. I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,
*********

here! okay due to privacy contraint, i cant blogg out who sent this mail.. yupx.. those who wanna know can actually PM mi. Hmm.. this is a 2 way email send via the person who ask and the Senior Communications Manager of McDonald's Restaurants in Singapore!

Here is annother proof that MAc Fries IN SG can be consume by vegetarian...
http://www.mcdonalds.com.sg/faq.htm
In This Forum, it stated that MAC Fries in SG can be eaten....

hm... So anyy point of views that u would like to share?! to let mi Consider... as well as for reference...

In my point of View, i Guess it's jus how we Look at things and how we actually interpret it... it is definitely kind of a very own thing.. if we feel that it is not suitable for consumtion as u feel that Dishonest act may occur than just dont eat. and i'm taking into the consideration that all the news paper articles are not Singapore's version.. while the letter come from Singapore macdonald management. One sour Grapes just cant say the whole bunch of grapes are sour. in another point of view, one sour grapes doesnt mean whole bunch is not sour..!

It's not about wheather it's us who is Tan Ci or wad.. but.. it's a Facts to allow all to know the FACTS. i believe no one would like to be blame for something that they had not done! but.. ya, i guess we cant Comfirm smth with parts and pieces.. we must be Systematics and get to the bottom of the Facts... oh my.. i'm like siding mac?! anyone wanna hired mi as their Stuff... asking for nothing much.. jus 10k salary. haha!

Any opinion, pls tell mi k?!(not open for Argue.. Jus point of Views) open to all... haha!

I guess i'm too bored... anyway..

Happy 4th month dar!!

It jus feel weird without u by my side during the monthly anniversary! haa.. thanks for everything u had done through E-technology jus now.. realli appreciate it.! love it.. Simply powerful.. cause it touches my heart.... Looking forward for 35 days later!


hmmm it's jus another boring day... and yupx.. i realise politics did happen everywhere.. including... blabla and blabla.. jus.. From now on... photos will be lesser in my Andy OIP blog.. and will be posted here.. updates there will be.. jus.. follow by templates.. Standard types.. haha! :D!

Bluess.... everyone is bluess today.. thanks for ur Effort.. in making Such a sutff despite of thousand of miles that we are being seperated... thats the reason why i'm not blue today! Thanks... u made my day!

bye World....
"u took my heart away, when my whole world was greeyyy"

andy!

Shoutout!