Image: @pigdog237 / Twitter
Vegans across the UK have been left disgusted after McDonald’s repeatedly served veggie wraps containing chicken nuggets.
The new meal was rolled out in UK chains in January, and should contain vegan red pesto goujons.
But customers have reported a series of blunders in which they were served wraps stuffed with chicken.
The launch of the wrap was hailed as a victory for veganism as more plant-based options appear in large chain restaurants.
However, mishaps from large companies relatively new to the vegan market seem bound to happen.
Vegetarians and vegans from Liverpool, Birmingham, Kent, Lincoln, Yorkshire, London and Bristol were served meat by McDonald’s, while this month vegans were served dairy products by both Frankie and Benny’s and Pizza Hut.
Repeated errors
Despite taking to Twitter to tell McDonald’s of the error throughout January, chicken was found in veggie wraps as recently as last week.
Rebecca Butcher, a 21-year-old Yorkshire-based YouTuber and social media manager, told Newsbeat she was aware of the problem before buying a vegetarian wrap on 22 January.
“I wanted to wait a little while because I saw people I knew posting that they’d had chicken in their veggie wrap,” she said.
Her waiting was in vain as unfortunately her wrap also had chicken in it.
“I gave it a bit of time so it hopefully wouldn’t happen to me. I was kind of shocked that weeks later, they’re still getting wrong,” she explained.
“I just felt kind of disgusted.”
Apology
McDonald’s have since issued an apology. “We have a number of procedures in place to avoid inaccurate orders,” the company said in a statement.
“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.
“We are disappointed that mistakes are still being made. We never want to disappoint customers, and any inaccuracy is not good enough.”
‘Cool and trendy’
Becca said that after reporting the mistake to a manager, she was told it wasn’t the first time staff had ‘accidentally’ put chicken in a vegetarian option.
She said she thought big companies are providing meat-free options because it’s “cool and trendy” – without understanding the importance for people who live by veganism.
“I think companies are now catering to vegetarians and vegans more because they’re worried about the backlash if they don’t,” she added.
Some Twitter users weren’t surprised by the blunder and questioned why vegans would want to eat there, while others argued that accessibility is vital for anyone transitioning.
What do you think of the mistakes made by McDonald’s? Tell us in the comments below!
