Another complaint filed against McDonald's

A McDonald's branch in Seoul is unusually empty during lunch hours, Tuesday. / Yonhap

By Jung Min-ho

Another complaint has been filed against McDonald’s, which is already under investigation for allegedly making a four-year-old girl sick with its “undercooked” patty last year.

The parents of a two-year-old girl filed a complaint against McDonald’s Korea with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, Wednesday, after the child suffered hemorrhagic colitis a couple of hours after eating a McMorning burger in May.

Hwang Da-yeon, the lawyer for the family, claimed the fast food giant is responsible for the period of illness she suffered, urging the prosecution to look into the case immediately.

According to the lawyer, the girl ate a McMorning burger at the branch in southern Seoul at around 9 a.m. on May 17. In two hours, she started to experience stomach pain and later had diarrhea. Her symptoms continued the next day and her stool was bloody on the third day. They then went to a hospital emergency room, where she received treatment and recovered.

“Fortunately, she did not develop hemolytic-uremic syndrome (HUS), but her initial symptoms were almost the same,” Hwang said.

Last week, Choi Eun-joo, the mother of the four-year-old girl, claimed her daughter was diagnosed with HUS after eating a Happy Meal last year.

She said she believes an undercooked patty inside the burger was the cause of the disease, saying she lost 90 percent of her kidney function.

HUS, also known as “hamburger disease,” predominantly affects children. It is known to be caused by contaminated food containing E. coli bacteria.

After her story came into the media spotlight recently, the company denied the allegation that its burger caused the girl to contract the disease, saying it is not possible for only some of the patties come out undercooked in its factory-style system.

But current and former McDonald’s employees later told the media some patties do come out undercooked based on their working experiences.

Meanwhile, fears of HUS are spreading across Korea. Fast food companies are concerned the McDonald’s scandal will negatively affect the image of their products and damage their businesses altogether.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, fast food companies were penalized in 87 cases over violations of hygiene regulations between January and June.