Muslim woman left in tears after Kettering McDonald's wrongly puts bacon in burger

She took two bites before gagging when she realised what was inside
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

A Muslim woman was left feeling sick after eating bacon which a Kettering McDonald’s had wrongly put in her food.

Mariam Ali, 29, tucked into a double cheeseburger on Tuesday night (August 9) after her husband Thomas Hall picked up the snack from the town’s Orion Way restaurant.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But after taking two bites she noticed rashers of bacon had mistakenly been put inside – leaving her crying because the Quran says eating pork is strictly forbidden.

Mariam and Thomas, the receipt showing their order and the Orion Way McDonald'sMariam and Thomas, the receipt showing their order and the Orion Way McDonald's
Mariam and Thomas, the receipt showing their order and the Orion Way McDonald's

McDonald’s has since apologised and said they are ‘extremely disappointed’ by the incident, which they put down to human error.

Husband Thomas said: "She was in tears and felt ill. She was gagging to the point of being sick – it was very distressing for her.

"She felt like her religious beliefs had been violated.”

Thomas, who is in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, visited the drive-thru at 8.15pm to pick up food for his wife, who had been working at Next in Carina Road.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He ordered a chicken and bacon wrap for himself and the double cheeseburger for Mariam, who is from India.

After seeing how upset his wife was the 33-year-old went back to the restaurant to complain.

But he said he felt staff did not fully understand how serious the error was and that he was instead given an email address to contact.

He said: "It was like they had no idea about how important the mistake was. Giving bacon to a Muslim is very serious.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"If they did that where she is from they would be going to prison.”

And he added: "If they can’t make sure food they sell has the right ingredients in, what’s to say they won’t make a similar mistake with allergies?

"What I want them to do is go away, find out what happened and make sure it’s not going to happen again.”

When Thomas contacted the email address provided McDonald’s assured him that they take religious beliefs seriously and offered a refund and two complimentary meals to ‘right their wrongs’.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But the couple, who met in Bahrain and now live in Burton Latimer, felt the offer was ‘insulting’.

Thomas said: "Our issue was with the food and their response is to try and give us more food – it just makes no sense whatsoever.

"We’re never eating there again.”

A McDonald’s spokesman said: “We’d like to apologise to the customer in question for their experience. We take order accuracy very seriously and have a number of procedures in place to avoid inaccurate orders.

"We are extremely disappointed that we fell short of these on this occasion. As soon as the issue was bought to the manager’s attention the customer was offered an apology and both a refund and a replacement meal.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"Following an investigation the restaurant confirmed this was a case of human error and all staff were reminded of the importance of order accuracy and of the correct procedures when serving a customer with specific requirements.”

Related topics: