Yoga mats in your meatball sub? Horses in your hamburger? Full-blown Szechuan riots?
These are the scandals that shook the fast food world to the core.
In 1998, McDonald's launched its modestly mediocre Szechuan Sauce.
This condiment would have disappeared into the history books as a footnote or less if
it wasn't for a surprise cameo on Rick and Morty.
"And it's delicious! And then they got rid of it,
and now it's gone! It's the only place we're gonna be able to get it, is in my memory."
"Rick, we're doing this bit while your brain is melting."
"Okay, alright, alright."
In 2017, the adult animated series revived Szechuan Sauce,
skyrocketing it to meteoric fame and prompting McDonald's to re-release it to fans hungry for
a slice of pop culture lore. Unfortunately for Mickey D's, that's not exactly what happened.
Rick and Morty fans mobbed several McDonald's locations,
creating massive queues and sauce shortages throughout the country. Some
people even called the cops over the whole debacle. The re-released Szechuan Sauce,
a companion item for the chain's buttermilk crispy tenders, wasn't even available at all locations,
and the whole botched promo infuriated hordes of people — but it didn't stop
McDonald's from doing it all again. The company re-re-released Szechuan Sauce in early 2022.
Burger King consumers across the pond faced an unexpected and frankly nasty surprise back in
2013 when it was revealed that the chain's British and Irish Whoppers had a different
meat profile than they expected. Specifically, these flame-grilled favorites contained horse
meat. While Burger King emphasized that the quality of the food wasn't an issue, public
outcry nevertheless followed since horses are not traditionally consumed in that part of the world.
The scandal eventually reached a fever pitch, forcing Burger King to respond and fess up to
the fact that customers may have been chowing down on Mr. Ed at their local
chain. While Burger King admitted that horse DNA was in some of its patties,
it downplayed the horsey flavor as only being present at "trace levels." Unfortunately,
the situation wasn't just limited to Britain and Ireland. Polish meat suppliers later came under
fire, as the faux full-beef burgers were traced back to a company in that country.
To be fair to Burger King, "Horsegate" affected more than just one fast food
chain. The meat also found its way to big-box grocery stores,
bringing to light a severe lack of transparency in the entire supply chain.
Back in the sepia-tinged days of yesteryear, McDonald's made its fries in tallow,
an economical and flavor-forward choice that lent them a nuanced, robust, and beefy flavor.
McDonald's stopped preparing its fries in animal fat in the 1980s. After that, they just didn't
have the zing and flavor of the originals, specifically when it came to texture. Plus,
there were no profound health benefits to swapping out the tallow for hydrogenated vegetable oil.
Although beef-flavored fries might sound delicious to some, they have courted
considerable controversy among vegetarians, who thought they were munching on the popular side
guilt and cruelty-free. While McDonald's doesn't go full-on tallow anymore, there's still a touch
of beefiness in the oil, perhaps to lend the fries that nuanced flavor of the past.
So, if you are a vegetarian in the United States and don't want to risk
consuming beef, you might have to leave the fries alone. Meanwhile,
vegetarians in regions like India can feast freely on totally meatless fries.
In 2015, Burger King customers got a spooky bathroom-related
scare after eating the chain's Halloween Whoppers.
"There haven't been many compliments, I'll say that."
According to Twitter users who posted under the somewhat revealing hashtag #greenpoop,
the burgers made your bowel movements bright green. This hilarious and surely unintentional
side-effect made the new menu item trend for all the wrong reasons. The side effect wasn't
inherently dangerous, however — it was more of a strange bodily reaction to the burger's
jet-black bun. The bread's inky color comes from several dyes, and the bathroom byproduct
might have been the result of blue coloring and bile or a combination of yellow and blue tints.
And while people might laugh in hindsight, this wasn't much of a laughing matter to the
first customers who ate the Halloween Whopper and wondered if they would have to spend the
night in the ER. Overall, it was an unexpected and bizarre trick tucked into this Halloween treat.
In 2011, law firm Beasley Allen took aim at Tex-Mex titan Taco Bell by demanding
to see the exact ingredients of the meats the company was using. Taco Bell emerged victorious
from the scandal, but not before it had to endure a class-action lawsuit at the hands
of Beasley Allen and prove that its beef was legitimately beefy. The whole or deal started
over YUM-brands' ground beef, the primary component of the chain's popular menu items,
with the law firm alleging that it was more filler than beef.
As it turned out, the meat only had a 35% beefy base, with the rest made up of preservatives,
oats, soy, and water. At the behest of Amanda Obney, a Californian who wanted Taco Bell to
fess up to the fillers, Beasley Allen sued the chain for false advertising. Unfortunately for
Obney and the law firm, the case didn't quite go their way. In fact, the lawsuit never saw the
inside of a courtroom and was quickly dropped. There is a bevy of possible reasons for this,
but it all seems more enigmatic than the beef in your Taco Bell burrito.
Starbucks consumers were shocked when they learned that their morning cups
of joe could contain something other than caffeine: namely,
a trace amount of feces. Obviously, this is pretty nasty, but it can also cause major
gastrointestinal qualms and diarrhea. Even worse, other debilitating germs could have
been floating around in the brew, such as salmonella, norovirus, or even Hepatitis A.
Global News illustrated a litany of terrible side effects at the time, including rashes,
ear problems, and angry bellies, and even quoted the levels of fecal particles present
in the coffee as "concerning." This trend isn't just limited to Starbucks, however,
as a 2016 study showed. As it turned out, the culprit was the ice used in the drinks,
and much of it goes back to lousy handling and unclean machines.
The news of Starbucks' contaminated iced lattes broke in 2017, and Live Science
quickly pointed out that you're not going to come across actual feces in your drink. The
fecal amount was bacteria-based, traced, and the contamination was limited. Still,
most people rightly stick by the rule that zero feces in your brew is optimal.
The ultimate fast food controversy dates back to 1994. In the years since it has been examined
in documentary films and is still the butt of a million jokes. Yet, despite popular belief,
Stella Liebeck, the woman who sued McDonald's for its scalding beverage, wasn't a litigious
monster. In fact, the chain's hot coffee debacle has since been massively misrepresented. Liebeck
didn't sue because she spilled an unpleasantly warm drink on herself; she got third-degree
burns from 190-degree liquid that McDonald's had already received hundreds of complaints about.
"I was not in it for the money, I was in it because I wanted them to bring
the temperature down so that other people would not go through the same thing I did."
Furthermore, Liebeck wasn't gunning for millions. She only wanted the franchise
to cover her hospital bills, but when the mega-chain offered her just shy of $1,000,
she took them to court and won. According to the Texas Trial Lawyers Association, her burns were
horrific, and McDonald's even admitted that the scalding drink was "not fit for consumption."
Interestingly, the chain later became embroiled in another coffee-related lawsuit,
this time for alleged chemicals in its caramel macchiato, after a woman
allegedly burned her throat and discovered a strange chemical-like film in her drink.
In the history of catastrophic marketing campaigns,
McDonald's McAfrika is in a whole class of its own: a tone-deaf,
bizarre promotion that was the perfect storm of absolute "nope." McDonald's rolled out its
creation smack dab in the middle of a famine in Africa, prompting immediate outrage.
The McAfrika suffered from various poor choices and factors. First,
the timing was completely off. Secondly, the menu item was never even launched in Africa;
it was rolled out in Norway instead. Still, while the menu item had many detractors,
some supported it, specifically the African Youth in Norway organization, who thought it
was a positive representation of Africa amid a news cycle reporting horror and suffering from
the continent. Either way, it's hard to imagine a more controversial food item, and there's no doubt
that the McAfrika will live on in botched fast food launch lore for decades to come.
The early 1990s were not the best years for McDonald's. In addition
to its scalding hot coffee lawsuit, the chain also launched the dud of duds:
the McLean Deluxe. Light on fat and taste, the menu item was a flavorless flop that emerged as
a logical but ultimately unsuccessful response to some serious McCriticism.
The McLean Deluxe came hot on the heels of claims that McDonald's was contributing to an unhealthy
eating culture. The company's food was even called "poison" by some and chastised for
its high fat and cholesterol content. Thus, the McLean Deluxe was born. It was a way for consumers
to get their burgers and stay relatively healthy, although ultimately, it failed on the taste front.
The McLean Deluxe was quickly launched after a brief testing campaign. Could the McTeam
have worked out some of the kinks if they had more time? Maybe, but then again… there
was the whole seaweed thing. The McLean Deluxe contained carrageenan, a fancy word for seaweed,
and once that information got out to the public, this low-fat fast food burger was totally doomed.
If you're like most people, the phrase "$5 Footlong" plays out
in a singsong jingle in your mind the moment you hear it.
"Five, five, five dollar footlong, any, any, any."
But while Subway might have enjoyed a stellar advertising campaign,
their actual product was a flop. The year was 2013, and $5 footlongs were
all the rage… but, as it turned out, the sammies came up short size-wise.
Although the word "footlong" is right there in the name, Subway's token $5 subs were actually
11 inches of overpromise and underdeliver, and the franchise only dumped napalm on the fire
with its response. According to the chain, the term "footlong" was just the sandwich's
name and was not meant to represent any true measurement in real life. Then, it blamed its
overseas franchises and the metric system. Fans were quick to point out the utter hypocrisy,
referencing a 2008 commercial in which the subs' lengths had been frequently referenced.
In 2006, Taco Bell became embroiled in a scary food poisoning scandal,
when it was found that franchise locations in the northeast United States had served up
E. coli-laced shredded lettuce. And while the lettuce was thought to be the primary culprit,
the chain's beef and cheese might have come into play, too.
According to the CDC, there was a crystal clear connection between E.
coli and Taco Bell across several states, infecting over 70 people,
some serious enough to require hospitalization. The franchise tried to put some daylight between
itself and the rampant E. coli nightmare by claiming that the bug didn't originate
from its stores. Blaming supplier Ready Pac Foods, Inc. for the tainted greens,
Taco Bell was able to save face, its reputation, and perhaps even the company itself.
What do your 8 a.m. yin yoga class and a meatball sub have in common? In 2014,
the answer could have been your yoga mat. Unfortunately, it turned out that Subway's
seemingly fresh bread included an unwelcome ingredient. Azodicarbonamide is known for
giving bread its texture and yoga mats their springy feel. Predictably, this scandal blew
up once people were confronted by the nauseating visual of chowing down on a workout accessory.
Although Subway was the only chain called out on this, the additive was found in a startling
amount of fast food. Companies such as Wendy's, Jack in the Box, McDonald's,
Chick-fil-A, Arby's, and Burger King all used azodicarbonamide in their bread products from
time to time. In fact, this ingredient is actually FDA-approved. More than anything,
the sneaky yoga mat additive is just one example of how we might just want
to enjoy our fast food rather than know exactly what goes into it.