New Delhi:
Refuting Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj's claim that McDonald's imports potatoes for its use, Vikram Bakshi, Managing Director of McDonald's India has issued this statement.
Here is the statement:Before setting up its business in India, McDonald's had made a commitment to Government on local sourcing of its entire raw material requirement. We confidently and proudly state that ingredients used in our products are sourced locally that includes the French Fries.
We import only on rare occasions when local supplies run out.
Being committed to quality, we have stringent standards for the kind of potatoes we use for French Fries; they have to be of a certain length, have high solids content and low moisture content. 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 India to produce process-grade potato varieties.. 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.