Westlife Foodworld shares jump as FSSAI says McDonald’s India uses real cheese

Westlife Foodworld, which operates McDonald's restaurants in West and South India, said that the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has verified the cheese used by the fast food chain as '100% real cheese'.

In a regulatory filing, the company said that the confirmation from the FSSAI states that "Articles in question contain cheese or cheese product as a part of the composition and does not contain analogue in the dairy context in any form."

"This clean chit is a testament to McDonald's India's commitment to upholding stringent food quality standards across all its restaurants, at all times," it added.

Additionally, Westlife Foodworld stated that the results of the tests conducted by an National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accredited lab confirmed the use of ‘100% real cheese’ across McDonald's India (West and South) products.

Last month, Maharashtra's Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) suspended the licence of a McDonald's outlet for using cheese substitutes like vegetable oil in burgers and nuggets instead of actual cheese. Westlife Foodworld had later removed the term "cheese" from various products at the location to get the suspension revoked.

Shares of Westlife Foodworld hit an intraday low of ₹722.55 (the lowest in last six months) on Tuesday. However, following the announcement, the stock jumped 6.9% to end at ₹787.