MOSCOW, August 21 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s consumer watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, is not planning a “total inspection” of McDonald’s restaurants throughout the country, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets said Thursday.
“There’s no ‘total plan,’” Golodets said.
Inspections of the burger chain’s restaurants throughout central Russia are ongoing due to sanitary issues that have been discovered, the deputy prime minister added.
On Wednesday, four McDonald’s restaurants were shut down in Moscow over administrative violations. Rospotrebnadzor said that numerous breaches of sanitary regulations had been found at the popular fast food outlets. The watchdog also stated that McDonald’s products contain more fat, protein and carbohydrates than allowed by the country’s “technological norms."
Inspections are currently underway in 16 other Russian regions besides Moscow and the Moscow Region.
In the past, health and consumer groups have criticized McDonald’s for its menu and business practices. Earlier this year, the food chain had to remove several products from its Chinese menu when the company found out that its supplier was using rotten meat.
The McDonald’s Corporation, founded in 1940, is the world’s largest fast-food chain. It has more than 35,000 outlets in 119 countries. The annual revenue of McDonald’s exceeded $28 billion in 2013.
As of 2014, 424 of the chain’s branches operate in Russia. A poll conducted by the SuperJob research center showed 62 percent of Russian respondents would support the closure of all McDonald’s restaurants in Russia.
