Fast food giant McDonald’s recently issued an apology to several vegetarian customers who found chicken in their veggie wraps. Numerous U.K. citizens took to Twitter after they found chicken rather than vegetarian goujon (a veggie alternative to meat) in their spicy veggie wraps. Now, the fast food chain is saying sorry and hoping vegetarian customers can ba-da-ba-ba-ba love them again.
The spicy veggie wrap was added to European McDonald’s menus earlier this month. It’s supposed to be a tortilla filled with red pesto, vegetarian goujon, relish, tomato, lettuce, and red onion. But more and more customers are biting into chicken rather than goujon.
“I repeat, @McDonalds please explain why I found chicken in your vegetarian society approved VEGGIE wrap?” one customer posted to Twitter on January 19th.
Another upset customer wrote on January 22nd, “My colleague, a vegetarian, didn’t exactly expect chicken to be in her veggie wrap when she took a bite… nor did she expect the tomato and spicy relish she didn’t want. Meat in a veggie wrap… really?!”
McDonald’s responded to the outcry via a statement to The Guardian on January 25th. “We absolutely recognise that it is not acceptable to serve meat when our vegetarian product has been ordered, and we would like to apologise to any customer who has experienced this,” a McDonald’s U.K. spokesperson said.
They continued, “We would also like to reassure that we have a number of procedures in place to avoid inaccurate orders, and that, after we saw that mistakes were being made, we introduced a number of additional measures in our kitchens and communicated with all stores to reduce inaccuracies quickly and effectively.”
“This action has led to an increase in order accuracy and a reduction in contact from our customers, however we are disappointed that mistakes are still being made,” the spokesperson added. “We never want to disappoint customers, and any inaccuracy is not good enough. We would encourage anyone with any concerns to contact our customer services team.”
Hi, sorry to hear that. We'd like to look into this further, so please DM us with more details (including which restaurant this was, date and time of your visit) and we'll look into it.
— McDonald's UK (@McDonaldsUK) January 19, 2019
However, even after the statement was released, vegetarian McDonald’s customers have continued to find chicken in their wraps. This photo was posted to Twitter on January 28th:
@McDonalds well this is an interesting veggie wrap.... who knew chicken was vegetarian.... pic.twitter.com/CTh1OZnLWN
— Tuesday Branton (@TuesdayBranton) January 28, 2019
And this photo was posted just a day after the statement’s release on January 26th. Yet another unhappy vegetarian customer.
@McDonaldsUK My girlfriend ordered a vegetarian wrap from McDonald's Sydenham and was given chicken. She didn't realise until she bit into it before spitting it out. Pretty nasty shock! pic.twitter.com/MkuLXXDiR1
— Ed O'Meara (@edfomeara) January 26, 2019
Since people began posting about the chicken in the veggie wraps, the U.K.’s Vegetarian Society is currently looking into the matter. The Society had previously endorsed the McDonald’s spicy veggie wrap and the new McDonald’s vegetarian Happy Meal.
McDonald's launches vegetarian Happy Meal https://t.co/Ea7BtU8R2b pic.twitter.com/mObNTdz9Le
— Vegetarian Society (@vegsoc) January 5, 2019
But now, their endorsement may be threatened after so many have experienced a chicken faux pas. The Society has since put an advocacy officer on the case.
Hi Can you send the details to [email protected] as our advocacy officer is looking into these issues. Many thanks
— Vegetarian Society (@vegsoc) January 28, 2019
Because wow — people are not happy. And we can’t blame them.
One would think the vegetarian meals would be made separately from the non-vegetarian meals. But alas…
@McDonaldsUK are they prepared separately? I was considering eating this but seriously reconsidering. Hope @vegsoc looking into it and reconsidering their endorsement?
— lyndsay cecil (@TwinMummyL) January 25, 2019
And honestly, one would think it’s pretty hard to miss an entire chicken tender sitting dead center in a vegetarian wrap. But alas…!
and explain why it's one whole chicken tender?
— eDDY | DISEASE OUT NOW (@eddy_mp3) January 19, 2019
The fact that this has happened (and is still happening) to so many people begs the question, should McDonald’s U.K. just give up on this whole vegetarian thing? They’re not doing a good job at it.
Not going to lie but finding chicken in my Veggie Wrap was quite surprising @McDonalds But definitely not loving it #TheSpicyVeggieOne #VeganJanuary #Veganuary2019 pic.twitter.com/7RLVGG3cgs
— Seb (@Seb_PL94) January 21, 2019
Something as severe as mistakenly putting chicken into a veggie wrap will definitely turn veggie customers away. It’s a pretty startling offense.
“Please can you ensure your staff are fully trained and competent when issuing out food in future please,” one Twitter user commented on January 12th. “This is a really important issue and can easily offend many customers if mistakes like these are made often.”
Many people are questioning whether vegetarians should even choose to eat at McDonald’s knowing that it specializes in hamburgers and chicken nuggets. A fair point.
Whilst sympathetic, surely MacDonalds is one of the last places one would think of if vegetarian?
— Dominic Cotton (@DominicCotton1) January 25, 2019
But even so, if a fast food chain is going to offer a vegetarian meal, the least they can do is make sure it’s actually vegetarian. BUT ALAS…!!!
I am outraged too, ordered a chicken wrap the other day and got a veggie one instead. Totally unacceptable @McDonalds, please explain because I was literally in tears!!
— Adrian K (@AdrianK_) January 25, 2019
We hope McDonald’s U.K. cleans up their vegetarian act. It’s either that, or they should quit while they’re not so ahead.
