McDonald's to pay Rs 70,000 to man who found insect in burger five years ago

The Delhi consumer redressal commission has asked McDonald's to pay a Delhi resident Rs 70,000 for finding a an insect inside a burger he ate five years ago. The man ate the burger and fell sick, after which he slammed the company with a case. The Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission upheld the order of a district forum.

Apart from the compensation, the state commission also took note that the American giant filed the appeal in April, whereas the expiry of limitation period ended on March 1. They had also not mentioned the reason for the delay in their appeal.

In its response, McDonald's said that they had not received the order copy from the forum.

The incident took place in July 10, 2014, when East Delhi resident Sandeep Saxena went to the McDonald's outlet in GIP Mall in Noida. He had ordered a McAloo Tikki burger along with other items. After he took a bite, Saxena realised that his burger had an insect in it. His fears were confirmed when he removed the bun.

Saxena fell violently sick after the bite. When he could not stop vomiting, he approached the outlet's manager. A report in Times of India mentions that he called the police and then the district magistrate office who gave him the contact details of the food inspector.

Following this, the inspector visited the mall and took the burger for testing. A lab report from the Food Safety and Medicine Administration office concluded that the sample was unsafe.

"No complaint or FIR was lodged though the complainant made a PCR call, no notice had been received by the company from the food inspector... it required a detailed cross examination of the witness," said McDonald's through its counsel, as mentioned in the daily.

McDonald's was asked to pay Saxena Rs 895 for the amount he had spent on treatment along with Rs 50,000 for mental agony and Rs 20,000 for cost of litigation. McDonald's has been asked to pay the amount within 60 days from the date of receipt of the order copy. In case of non-compliance, the food chain has been asked to pay 9 per cent interest on the compensation amount.  

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