McDonald’s Japan begins investigation after human tooth found in fries

A human tooth has been found in fries, with plastics also discovered in chicken nuggets and sundaes at a McDonald’s Japan outlet.

The Japanese unit of the fast-food chain apologised for the incident, admitting that there had been several cases in the past few months where customers had found objects such as bits of vinyl or plastic in a Chicken McNuggets and other products sold at outlets in different parts of the country.

One case was reported last week when McDonald’s Japan pulled all 956,925 nuggets made by a Cargill unit in Thailand in the same factory.

ABS-CBN quoted senior vice-president of the company Takehiko Aoki as saying: "We deeply apologise for having caused considerable inconvenience and concern. These cases will not cause serious health problems."

According to spokesman Takashi Hasegawa, supplied by Cargill’s Thai unit, the affected nuggets were sold at two outlets in Japan, reported Bloomberg. The company is now seeking new nugget suppliers, including in Brazil.

Bloomberg further reported that an investigation into the matter has already been launched by the company.

In a previous incident that occurred in December 2014, a child suffered a slight cut in the mouth caused by a 2cm piece of plastic in a chocolate sundae sold at an outlet in Fukushima Prefecture. The company said that the problem was due to a faulty dessert machine, which the restaurant stopped using after the incident.

Fox8 reported that sales at McDonald’s Japan had dropped more than 10% every month compared with the same period last year as a result of the food scandals, which had led the company to switch to suppliers in Thailand.

---

Image: Customers found a human tooth in their fries in a McDonald’s Japan outlet. Photo: courtesy of phasinphoto/freedigitalphotos.net.