A California man is definitely not loving McDonald's Corp. these days.
Chris Howe of Riverside, California, filed a lawsuit against the Oak Brook, Illinois-based fast food chain last month in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, Eastern Division in Riverside challenging the company's claim that its mozzarella sticks are made with 100% real cheese.
Mr. Howe said the sticks are actually partly composed of starch — used as “a cheap substitute and filler” to save on the costs of using real mozzarella cheese — in violation of federal standards for identifying mozzarella cheese. The claim was adamantly denied by a McDonald's spokesperson who said the sticks are made using 100% low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella cheese.
The lawsuit accuses McDonald's of violating California's unfair competition, false advertising and consumers legal remedies laws, seeks a cease-and-desist order to prevent the company from selling the sticks and asks for damages for consumers deceived into buying wannabe mozzarella sticks.
(Reuters) — McDonald's Corp. will pay $355,000 in civil penalties, undergo 20 months of monitoring and train its employees as part of a settlement of an immigration-related discrimination claim, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.