Russian Nutritionist: McDonald’s Might Get Away With Fraud in US But Not Russia

Both Pravda and Moscow News agencies report the consumer rights watchdog group Consumer Rights Protection Society (CRPS), has filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s demanding disclose of all their [junk] food ingredients to customers.

“The McDonald’s restaurant chain deliberately violates the Russian consumer rights legislation, profiting twice from the privileged situation created by Moscow’s Arbitration Court decision,” an announcement on the organization’s website read. McDonald’s enjoys a lower tax rate applicable to stores and not the usual tax for restaurants.

Representatives of CRPS claim that by concealing the content of products, not only does McDonald’s mislead consumers, but the company violates the status of the retail outlet of finished products.

According to [Russian] experts in nutrition and health, the range of “milkshakes”, which the chain sells, can not be referred to as “milk” under the Russian law, Adindex.ru reports.

Experts determined “the fat of vegetable origin” in McDonald’s “milkshakes” is not dairy, and as a result, officials with the Institute of Laboratory of Nutrition claim McDonald’s “milkshakes” can be called “milk-containing” but not “milkshakes”.

In other words, McDonald’s milkshakes shouldn’t be allowed to list milk in their name, since a substantial amount of vegetable oil is contained in the product, a CRPS-backed investigation claimed.

“You might be able to get away with this type of fraud in America, but not Russia,” said Yogi Protovokov of Moscow.

“Misleading consumers may be allowable in the US, but not in Russia. We have a responsibility to protect people in our country”, said Marko Pertovich of Moscow, a nutritional expert.

CRPS notes that if the court finds their claims justified, the fast food chain will have to provide full information on ingredients, product weight and the standards it was made in accordance with. And the list of requirement should be the same as for regular store-bought food, since McDonald’s has been “recognized as a grocery chain”.

Because of the previous 2011 arbitration decision, some of McDonald’s products are being sold as regular food commodities, which allows the company to pay VAT at the rate of 10 percent. The regular VAT rate for restaurants is 18 percent.

McDonald’s claims the lower tax rate applies only to certain products listed in respective government documents. According to Yelena Perepelitsina, director general at consulting company Restcon, McDonald’s tax scheme is absolutely legal but not widely used only because smaller food chains don’t have the resources.

Pravda notes, however, that according to Russian legislation:

“A store that sells food products (in this case the store also acts as the manufacturer of the food), unlike the restaurant, is obliged to provide all required and accurate information, including the information about the ingredients, food supplements, biologically active supplements, the information about the presence of the GMO, food value, purpose, conditions of use and storage of food, weight (volume), date and place of manufacture and packaging of food. The information about contraindications and indications for use at certain diseases shall also be provided on the product packaging.”