‘Lizard in a cold drink,’ AMC closes McDonald’s outlet

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has sealed a McDonald’s outlet in Sola on Saturday after a photo of a dead lizard in a cold drink served by the restaurant surfaced on social media.

Taking cognisance of the complaint by one Bhargav Joshi, AMC Food Safety Officer Devang Patel collected cold drink samples from the outlet for testing at the public health laboratory in Ahmedabad and sealed the restaurant with immediate effect for “larger public health safety”.

AMC directed that the outlet is not permitted to reopen its premises without its prior permission.

Meanwhile, McDonald’s said in a press statement, “At McDonald’s, we are committed to ensuring the safety and hygiene of all our customers. Quality, service, cleanliness and value are at the core of our business operations. Furthermore, as part of our Golden Guarantee programme, we have implemented 42 strict safety and hygiene protocols across all our McDonald’s restaurants, which include strict processes for regular kitchen and restaurant cleaning and sanitisation, among others. We are looking into this incident that is alleged to have taken place at the Ahmedabad outlet. While we have checked repeatedly and found nothing wrong, we are cooperating with the authorities, being a good corporate citizen.”