In 2016, the USA lab, Clear Labs, conducted a study on the composition of burgers from 76 different chains.
It came to the startling conclusion that out of 258 burgers examined, 3 contained human DNA and rat DNA.
The lab did not investigate this DNA further but concluded that the " most likely the cause of human DNA in burgers " is due to dander, hair or fingernails accidentally mixed with the meat during the manufacturing process."
What many consumers do not know is that some amounts of human and rat DNA may fall within an acceptable regulatory range," the report added. It also found that there are "gaps" in food safety and quality standards ".
Another common finding was that meat burgers had chicken or turkey added unexpectedly.
Yet another identified problem was that 4.3 per cent of the burgers contained pathogenic DNA, which can cause food born outbreaks and food poisoning. Certain pathogens found in the products can cause tuberculosis-like symptoms, gastroenteritis, food-borne illnesses and E. coli.
The report also described a problem with substitution and missing ingredients. "Our tests showed that 16 products, or 6.6% of all samples, had been substituted. We found beef in 5 samples, chicken in 4 samples, turkey in 3 samples, pork in 2 samples, rye in 2 samples and sauerkraut in 1 sample that was not allowed to contain these ingredients." Sauerkraut contains the carbohydrate inulin, which can cause severe gas and bloating.
Clear Labs calls missing ingredients a food quality issue, and an indication that a brand may have serious gaps in its supply chain.
Apart from swapped meat, possible diseases and rats, it is worth noting for those watching their weight that 12 burgers in the study contained at least 100 calories more than what was on the label.
Meanwhile Clear Lab removed its report from its website.
Two out of three burgers in which human DNA was found were from Mac Donalds.
In 2018, it again came under scandal when human tooth fragments were found bu a customer in a Mac Muffin at one of its branches in Japan.
Mac Donalds publicly apologized, promised an investigation and that was the end of it.
The investigation extended to the USA, where the "meat " in the Mac Muffin is processed. Since then, there has been deafening silence along the Mac Donalds side. It has not disclosed the results of its investigation.
In April 2018, a teenager claimed he was disgusted when he found a huge dead insect in his fried McDonald's burger.
Mac Donalds is far from the only one to be the subject of criticism. Hair and safety pin have also already been found in KFC chicken and Burger King burgers that were crawling with maggots even though the managers insisted that the burgers were properly cooked on the grill.
On 3 April 2023, it was announced by the BBC in the UK that Mac Donalds was temporarily closing all its offices in the USA in view of collectively laying off corporate staff. This is strange since Mac Donalds had declared not long before that its sales had increased by 10.9% in 2022.
Whether there is any link between the detection of human and rat DNA in Mac Donalds' burgers and the temporary closure with collective redundancies cannot be assessed at this stage.
McDonald's employs about 200,000 people in corporate functions and its own restaurants, 75% of whom are outside the US. The Chicago-based company operates in more than 160 countries around the world.
Most peculiar is the observation that neither the US FDA nor any other country or health organization of that country intervened when the Clear Labs report was published in 2016 although the news has been picked up by quite a few media outlets at the time. The other scandals that occurred after 2016 were apparently no reason either to close the hamburger sale points or at least subject them to a thorough investigation by public health authorities.
On a side note, it should be mentioned that some human rights organizations claim that Mac Donalds, is a cannibal barrack of the elite, along which they dispose of child corpses and adults who get in the way.
This is reportedly the reason why the hundreds of thousands of children who disappear and/or are reported missing every year are never found. According to these activists, their corpses are put through the meat grinder and served to the plebs. Absurd conspiracy theory or sad reality ? Who will say ?