Asalaam all, Im sure you all recieved a text message or emailregarding McDonalds fries being haram, however, i looked further andthat message was from the canadian website and not the UK. So here ishow McDonald's stands in the UK. I have emailed them to find out aboutmore on the fillet o fish and will put this information up as soon as irecieve their response.
This is how they currently stand: (Taken from their website)
FRIES
McDonald'sis pleased to announce formal accreditation of its French fries fromthe Vegetarian Society. This comes after several years of working withthe Society to ensure that all restaurants across the meet theirstringent standards.
McDonald's fries are made from only thebest quality potatoes such as Russet Burbank, Shepody and PentlandDell. They are cooked in non-hydrogenated oil (a blend of sunflower andrapeseed), which has been carefully developed without increasingsaturated fat levels or changing the taste.
The Society accreditation gives vegetarians full confidence that there is no possibility of oil used to cook meat in the restaurant mixing with the fries.
Response from Jane O'Leary, Corporate Relations Manager, Vegetarian Society
"McDonald'sFrench fries now carry The Vegetarian Society Seedling SymbolTrademark. This means that not only are they vegetarian but they alsomeet our standards to ensure there is no cross contamination with nonvegetarian items."
FILLET O FISH
TheFilet-o-Fish is freshly cooked in a new non-hydrogenated blend ofsunflower and rapeseed oil in a separate fryer. When it comes tofiltering oil, McDonald's has two different types of filteringprocesses - although the company does not maintain a central record of the processes used in each restaurant.One process is self-filtering where oil will not be mixed from onefryer to another. The second filtering process uses the same unitacross all fryers but the fryers are filtered in a specific order. Sothe French Fries fryer is filtered first, followed by the Veggie Deluxefryer, the Apple Pies fryer, the chicken fryer and then theFilet-o-Fish fryer. The machine is thoroughly cleaned after everyfiltering session.
MILKSHAKES
Youwill be happy to know that the Strawberry Milkshakes are suitable forvegetarians. McDonald's apologises for the incorrect information on thewebsite. The ingredients list will be updated soon. (September 2007)
McDonald's does not classify any of their Menu items as Halal.However, all the Milkshakes are suitable for vegetarians. This isbecause McDonald's no longer uses E120 cochineal as a colouring in theStrawberry Milkshakes. The new colouring is a beetroot juiceconcentrate (E162) which is a natural extract of beetroot.
APPLE PIES
Yes,the Apple Pies are suitable for vegetarians. With regard to the cookingprocess, the Apple Pies are cooked in a new non-hydrogenated blend ofsunflower and rapeseed oil in separate cooking fryers. (August 2007)
Althoughi have done my reasearch i would still advise all people to take carein consuming foods from such places; they themselves clarify that theydo not class themselves as halal, merely suitable for vegetarians nordo they maintain central records of each branch of the filteringprocess - so please do ask your local individual stores, as theirinformation / ingredients can change at any given time. If you stillfeel in doubt then do refrain.
I hope this message has helped and clarified a few things.
Wasalaam
