The Indian arm of McDonald's has sought to dispel clams that is uses imported potatoes for its French fries, and states that it has remained true to its commitment to source local ingredients.
"McDonald's made a commitment to the government on local sourcing of its entire raw material requirement," Vikram Bakshi, the managing director of McDonald's India, said in a statement.
"We confidently and proudly state that ingredients used in our products are sourced locally, that includes the French fries," Bakshi said.
The declaration came after it was alleged in parliament that the company was importing potatoes, during a debate on India's topical foreign direct investment policy in the retail sector.
"Ask McDonald's about their fries. They never buy potatoes from Indian farmers, saying their potatoes are too small," Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, said.
McDonald's refuted the claim's however, saying, "When we began developing our business in India, there were no process-grade potato varieties available in India. Only table grade variety of potato was grown. We, along with our supplier, McCain, have worked closely with farmers in Gujarat to produce process-grade potato varieties," it said.
"These are mainly contract farmers in Deesa (North Gujarat) and Kheda (Central Gujarat). We continue to contribute in the growth of these farmers. McDonald's remains steadfast to its commitment of working with local suppliers and farmers to source all its requirements in India."
Meanwhile PepsiCo says that it will double the number of potatoes it purchases from Indian growers over the next five years.
“We are working with about 24,000 farmers and last year we had procured about 2.4 lakh tonnes of potatoes through contract farming. This programme would continue and we are now looking at expanding the programme in order to double the procurement over the next five years,” Vivek Bharati, PepsiCo India’s executive director, said.
Pepsico has contract farming arrangements in about seven states currently.
