From chicken nuggets, to sauces, and even Happy Meal toys, McDonald's isn't immune to the dreaded recall. And these financial blows surely didn't have the chain saying "I'm lovin' it."
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00:00From chicken nuggets to sauces and even Happy Meal toys, McDonald's isn't immune to the
00:05dreaded recall, and these financial blows surely didn't have the chain saying, I'm lovin'
00:11it.
00:12The Golden Arches may be recognizable across the globe, but not every restaurant serves
00:16the same menu.
00:17Chicken McBites, a crunchy, savory side, can be found in countries such as Cyprus, Pakistan,
00:22and New Zealand.
00:23Though popular, they were axed from New Zealand's menu for a time after a production issue meant
00:28the chicken did not cook properly in restaurants.
00:31The issue was discovered in 2022 after a customer in Timaru complained about the raw state of
00:36his meat.
00:37The customer took to Facebook to write,
00:38Hey McDonald's Timaru, didn't realize I had to cook my own chicken tonight, almost walked
00:43off my plate.
00:44The chain subsequently pulled the Chicken McBites from all restaurants in New Zealand,
00:48revealing that it was working with its supplier to clarify issues with their product size
00:52specification.
00:53This may seem pretty drastic, considering only one customer had complained.
00:57But with raw chicken posing a significant risk of food poisoning from the likes of salmonella,
01:02better to be safe than sorry.
01:05Robinson's Fruit Shoots are a staple childhood drink in the UK, and just as much of a staple
01:09at McDonald's up and down the country.
01:11Flavored with apple and blackcurrant, it's one of the four choices available with the
01:15chain's UK Happy Meals, which is why it once sparked a scare that it could pose a safety
01:20risk to young customers in 2019.
01:23According to the UK's Food Standards Agency, or FSA, a fault was discovered with a spout
01:28on 200 milliliter bottles, which meant that they could detach.
01:32This possible choking hazard was identified after multiple complaints, triggering a recall
01:36that affected Costco and Tesco, as well as McDonald's.
01:40Customers who'd already purchased the bottles were encouraged to return them for a refund.
01:44McDonald's issued its own cautionary statement, claiming,
01:46We were aware of packaging fault affecting the white drinking spout on a very small number
01:51of Fruit Shoot bottles, and we therefore decided to remove it from our premises, and are currently
01:56awaiting new stock.
01:57With the affected bottles sold at McDonald's between June 22nd and 28th, and the recall
02:02going out on July 1st, the majority of drinks purchased at McDonald's had probably already
02:06been long finished by customers.
02:08Regardless, it was still a necessary move to warn customers who may have been affected,
02:13just in case.
02:15Food poisoning outbreaks typically inspire some of the most frantic product recalls.
02:19In July 2018, it was McDonald's salads that sparked a panic after over 500 people contracted
02:25cyclosporiasis, a gastrointestinal illness caused by the parasite cyclospora, and suffered
02:31from its typical effects of intense diarrhea, nausea, stomach pain, and vomiting.
02:36The worst part?
02:37It's basically like food poisoning that could last for months.
02:41"...a sort of stomach bug on steroids."
02:44Of those affected, 24 were hospitalized.
02:47It was the Illinois and Iowa health departments that first identified McDonald's salads containing
02:52romaine lettuce and carrots as the most likely culprit.
02:55Not long after, McDonald's stopped selling salads at 3,000 restaurants in 14 states across
03:02the Midwest.
03:03This proved to be more than a temporary pause in salad service.
03:07McDonald's ultimately ditched the supplier that provided said salads, Fresh Express,
03:11to find a replacement.
03:13The company stressed in a statement,
03:15"...the health and safety of our customers, and the people who work in McDonald's restaurants,
03:19is always our top priority.
03:21We proactively decided to remove our lettuce blend in impacted restaurants and replace
03:26it through a different supplier."
03:29In the following years, McDonald's salads managed to glide by backlash-free.
03:33Of course, it helps that nobody seems to have been eating them.
03:36In 2020, McDonald's totally axed salads from its national menu due to a lack of demand.
03:41"...you've accidentally given me the food that my food eats."
03:44"...salad is traditionally the first course at a wedding."
03:46"...is a gerbil marrying a rabbit?"
03:48It seems like this had more to do with financial reasons than anything else, but removing salads
03:53also lowered the chain's risk of a repeat incident.
03:57McDonald's catches a lot of heat for the role it plays, or rather doesn't play, in public
04:01health.
04:02For just as long, the chain has tried to counter these critiques with efforts like introducing
04:06healthier options, which, as we now know, proved pretty futile.
04:10And boosting the visibility of its nutritional information, some efforts have been even more
04:15creative, such as including mini plastic fitness bands as the free toy in Happy Meals.
04:21Turns out McDonald's caught heat for this, too, and so did its customers, literally.
04:26Over 32 million of these fitness bands, known as Step-It Bands, had been sold in the U.S.
04:31and Canada when McDonald's started receiving some concerning reports.
04:35While they were designed to encourage children to walk more and stay active, the bands were
04:39instead found to be irritating, even burning the skin of their wearers.
04:43After more than 70 complaints, McDonald's recalled all the bands, and the Consumer Product
04:48Safety Commission, or CPSC, warned customers to take the wristbands away from children.
04:54Anyone with a band at home was encouraged to return it to their local McDonald's, where
04:58they would be offered a replacement toy and yogurt tube or apple slices.
05:02In a press release, McDonald's spokesperson Terry Hickey said,
05:05Nothing is more important to us than the safety and well-being of our customers, which is
05:09why upon learning about concerns with these bands, we acted swiftly to stop distribution
05:14of these products.
05:15We apologize to our customers who were impacted, and for the inconvenience this recall has
05:20caused.
05:21There's a lot of misinformation out there about what goes into your chicken nuggets,
05:25especially those from McDonald's.
05:26As lifelong nugget loyalists, we'd like to take this opportunity to clear a few things
05:31up.
05:32Chicken nuggets may have been specifically engineered to be as addictive as possible.
05:36No McDonald's Chicken McNuggets don't contain any pink slime, despite what that viral social
05:41media poster grandmother saw.
05:43Would have you believe.
05:44They may be packed with fillers and additives, but they also contain real white meat chicken,
05:49plus a decent-ish dose of protein.
05:52But one thing they shouldn't contain is plastic.
05:54That's why McDonald's recalled nearly one million nuggets from a Thai factory in 2015.
05:58A customer in Japan had previously found tiny plastic fragments in their meal.
06:03And during the recall, another customer was served up McNuggets containing a flavorful
06:07piece of vinyl.
06:08The restaurant issued a statement apologizing to its customers, promising that it was, quote,
06:12taking quick measures to analyze the cause of the contamination.
06:16After the factory concluded its own multi-step investigation, it insisted that the plastic
06:21definitely did not stem from any of its facilities.
06:24That was the final word on the matter, and it was never fully established where or how
06:28the plastic made its way into the nugget.
06:30It remains a real-life McMystery to this day.
06:34They may be quite literally designed to evoke joy, but some Happy Meal toys have proven
06:39problematic for McDonald's.
06:41Kids are unpredictable with toys, which is why anything marketed to children needs to
06:44be up to scratch in all areas of health and safety.
06:48In 2014, it was Hello Kitty whistles that were recalled, en masse, over a perceived
06:53choking hazard.
06:54The whistles were released as part of a 40th anniversary collection for the character.
06:59The three-inch-tall Hello Kitty Clutching-a-Birthday Lollipop was found to contain detachable pieces
07:04that posed a safety issue for any young child tearing into their free toy.
07:09CPSC was alerted by reports of two children inhaling and coughing out this detachable
07:14piece.
07:15One of the children subsequently needed medical attention.
07:18The CPSC, which exists purely to protect consumers from potential product-induced injury, quickly
07:23issued a recall notice for 2.3 million products in the U.S. and 200,000 in Canada.
07:30McDonald's managed to recover approximately 1.6 million whistles, including those that
07:34never made it to stores or customers.
07:36And the company encouraged patrons to confiscate any whistles from their children and return
07:41them to a restaurant in exchange for another toy, plus a yogurt tube or apple slices.
07:47Sometimes the things we love most in life are capable of inflicting the most pain.
07:52Not to be dramatic, but that's kind of how we felt when McDonald's pulled back its collectible
07:56Shrek Forever After glasses in 2010.
07:59Launched to celebrate the release of the fourth film in the franchise, the glasses featured
08:03paintings of one of four fan-favorite characters â Shrek, Fiona, Puss in Boots, and Donkey.
08:08You're gonna get me in trouble, and I need this job.
08:11I am not going back to work for Old McDonald's."
08:13Sadly, all four glasses were pulled from circulation after it was discovered that the Puss in Boots
08:18glass contained concerning levels of a toxic heavy metal known as cadmium.
08:23While the amount of cadmium wasn't particularly high, the biggest concern was that long-term
08:28exposure caused by drinking from the glasses could damage the liver, kidneys, lungs, or
08:33brain.
08:34Cheers!
08:35There were also worries that young children could unknowingly consume cadmium by holding
08:41the glasses then putting their unwashed hands in their mouth, with federal regulators finding
08:45that it only took eight touches to expose a six-year-old to hazardous levels.
08:50The CPSC warned anyone who'd bought one of the $2 glasses to stop using them.
08:55About nine million had already been sold by the time of the recall, with three million
08:59more awaiting sale.
09:00Fortunately, there were no reports of any illness, although some fans remain oddly enthusiastic
09:06about collecting and using the cadmium-ridden glasses to this day.
09:10Suffice it to say, depending on who you ask, these Puss in Boots collectibles are the cads
09:15meow.