McDONALD'S

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Elizabeth Bliss took a bite of her Big Mac, and saw a BEETLE crawl out. Elizabeth said, “I was horrified. I could easily have eaten it and the thought made me sick. I’m really shocked and I’ll never eat another McDonald’s.” Elizabeth, of Barking, East London, got a refund from staff in Hornchurch, Essex. The inch-long bug was sent for tests, presumably to determine if the burger had harmed it!

A woman claimed a hypodermic needle became stuck in her jaw after she ate some chicken nuggets. She said she was eating at a McDonald's in Tennessee when she bit into the needle. The woman was taken to hospital where she was tested for infections such as hepatitis and HIV. McDonald's launched an investigation. Tom Cochran, owner and operator of the McDonald's, said in a written statement, "The safety of my customers and crew is my highest priority. I take this matter very seriously. We are currently investigating." Police were also investigating how the needle got into the nugget.

A commercial artist who claimed he created a new look for McDonald's promotional characters such as Ronald McDonald and Hamburglar sued the fast food chain. Designer and cartoonist Donald Evans did freelance work for the fast food giant from 1986 to 2000. According to a writ filed in London, he redesigned many characters and created several new ones. He claimed McDonald's Restaurants Ltd, the UK subsidiary of the global company, reproduced or authorised the reproduction of some images without his permission, infringing his copyright.

Amanda Pierce, media relations manager for McDonald's Restaurants Ltd, said, "We will be contesting the claim. The matter is subject to court proceedings and we are not able to discuss it further at this stage." Intellectual property partner Robert Barry at the law firm Allen & Overy, representing Evans, said in a statement his client had a "long relationship" with McDonald's. "This is a very interesting case as it concerns ownership in images of characters which have become worldwide corporate icons of McDonald's," Mr Barry said. According to the writ, Mr Evans began working for the company in early 1986, "developed and redrew" each of the McDonald's characters and created "substantially altered and improved drawings and designs."

These characters were used on murals, wallpaper, decorated roller blinds and special tables designed, manufactured and installed by Mr Evans, the writ said. However it alleged the drawings were also included in a compendium of McDonald's cartoon characters in the US without his permission. The company then allegedly authorised further reproduction of the drawings at restaurants in the UK without his permission and without paying him. The writ did say how much money Mr Evans would sue for, but that during the course of the case he would try to determine how much money he was owed.

McDonald's agreed to pay £6.85 million to Hindu and vegetarian groups following claims that it mislabelled french fries and hash browns as vegetarian. The company faced lawsuits after it was revealed that the vegetable oil used to prepare the fries and hash browns contained essence of beef for flavouring purposes. McDonald's posted an apology on its website over the flavourings used in its vegetable oil. It stated: "We regret we did not provide these customers with complete information, and we sincerely apologise for any hardship that these miscommunications have caused among Hindus, vegetarians and others. We should have done a better job in these areas, and we're committed to doing a better job in the future."

McDonald's said it had created a Dietary Practice/Vegetarian Advisory Panel, consisting of experts in consumer dietary practices, that would advise the company on dietary restrictions and guidelines. The company was first sued over the fries in Seattle the previous year by three vegetarians, including two Hindus, who don't eat meat for religious reasons. Lawsuits were subsequently filed in Illinois, California, New Jersey and Texas. The lawsuits were filed on behalf of any vegetarian who ate McDonald's fries after 1990, the year the company announced its restaurants would no longer use beef fat to cook fries and that only pure vegetable oil would be used. McDonald's responded to the lawsuits by saying it never claimed the fries it sold in the US were vegetarian, but apologised for any confusion surrounding the use of beef flavouring in the production of fries.