Where's the cheese? Suit says McDonald's '100% real' mozzarella sticks contain starch
Already on the defensive about claims on social media that some of its new mozzarella sticks are missing the cheese with which they are supposed to be filled, Mcdonald’s Corp. is now facing another cheese complaint from a different group of disgruntled customers.
A California man is seeking at least $5 million in damages on behalf of consumers in more than 40 states, contending that the fast-food chain has falsely advertised its new product by claiming that the sticks are “100 percent mozzarella,” Courthouse News reports.
In fact, says lead plaintiff Chris Howe in the suit, “the sticks are filled with a substance that is composed (in part) of starch, in violation of the federal standards of identity for ‘mozzarella’ cheese, and contrary to reasonable consumers’ expectations regarding the meaning of the term ‘mozzarella.’”
The suit says tests showed starch accounted for 3.76 percent of the cheese portion of the sticks, measured by weight, inside a breaded coating, the article explains.
It doesn’t include any comment from McDonald’s about the Riverside, California, case, which seeks class action certification.
However, McDonald’s has said reports of some cheeseless mozzarella sticks were simply a rollout glitch. The cheese apparently melted out of the sticks as they were cooked, which should have prevented them from being served to customers, the Kansas City Star reports.
