Hindus throw cow dung at McDonald's

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Hindu Group Vandalizes McDonald's

 

By NIRMALA GEORGE, Associated Press Writer

 

NEW DELHI, India (AP) - A Hindu fundamentalist group on Friday

vandalized a McDonald's restaurant, (A corporation fundamentally

dedicated to massive cow slaughter,) in a Bombay suburb to protest

against the alleged use of beef flavoring in the chain's French fries

in the United States, police said.

 

Restaurant customers fled, as members of the Bajrang Dal charged into

the restaurant in Thane, a northeastern Bombay suburb, and smashed

furniture and ceiling lights.

 

There were no reports of injuries, police said.

 

McDonald's Corp. says it does not use any animal extracts in its

French fries in India, where the cow is considered sacred by most

Hindus.

 

In southern Bombay on Friday, a McDonald's store was surrounded by

demonstrators from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, who shouted

slogans and smeared cow dung on the restaurant's mascot.

 

The Shiv Sena, another Hindu group, had said it would protest outside

the corporate office of McDonald's in India on Saturday after front-

page newspaper reports of a lawsuit filed in the United States. An

Indian-American lawyer accused McDonald's of using beef fat in the

preparation of French fries more than a decade after it said it would

cook its fries in vegetable oil.

 

The lawsuit for unspecified damages was filed on behalf of two Hindus

who don't eat meat and one non-Hindu vegetarian Tuesday in King

County Superior Court, in Seattle.

 

Most of India's Hindus - 85 percent of the population - are

vegetarians, although with urbanization and migration more Indians

are becoming meat eaters.

 

After news reports about the court case, McDonald's India issued a

brief statement: ``McDonald's India categorically states that French

fries that we serve in India do not contain any beef or animal

extracts, of whatsoever kind.

 

``Right from the processing stage until it is cooked and served to

the customer, we only use 100 percent vegetable oil in India,'' the

statement said.

 

Jai Bhagwan Goyal, the local head of Shiv Sena, was skeptical of the

McDonald's assurance, saying the company had made similar promises in

the United States 10 years ago, but continued to use beef flavoring

in French fries.

 

``How do we know what they are serving in India? We can't take them

at their word,'' said Goyal.

 

The Oak Brook, Ill.-based McDonald's Corp. announced in 1990 that its

restaurants would no longer use beef fat in making French fries and

that only pure vegetable oil would be used.

 

The fast-food chain released a statement Wednesday saying it has

never claimed the fries it sells in the United States are vegetarian.

The statement said the recipe for the fries uses a ``a minuscule

trace of beef flavoring, not tallow.''

 

Tallow is essentially shortening made from beef fat. McDonald's adds

a small amount of beef extract while the potatoes are being cooked,

it said.

 

McDonald's India, which opened its first restaurant in India in

October 1996, now has 28 outlets in New Delhi, Bombay, Pune, Jaipur

and on the Delhi-Agra highway.