Dead lizard found in McDonald's cold drink. Ahmedabad outlet fined Rs 1 lakh

The McDonald's outlet was penalised two weeks after a photo of the drink went viral on social media. (Image credit: @Bhargav21001250/Twitter)

A McDonald outlet in Ahmedabad has been fined Rs 1 lakh after a dead lizard was found in one of its cold drinks served to a customer. This comes two weeks after a photo of the drink went viral on social media.

The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) imposed the penalty and said that surprise checks would be conducted at the restaurant for three months.

Speaking to The Indian Express, additional medical officer of health at AMC Dr Bhavin Joshi said, “The restaurant has been penalised with Rs 1 lakh today (Monday) after the said complaint and inspection of the unit by AMC health officials.”

Commenting on when the outlet will be allowed to reopen, he added, “After paying the fine, the restaurant will be given two days for cleaning up. Following this, an inspection will be held and the unit it will be allowed to reopen if the team finds it satisfactory.”

On May 21, the civic body had taken cognisance of a complaint by Bhargav Joshi who had tweeted photos of the dead lizard in the cold drink served by McDonald’s outlet.

pic.twitter.com/BKuCd11J9H

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— Bhargav joshi (@Bhargav21001250) May 23, 2022

Here is video of this incidents happens with me...@McDonalds pic.twitter.com/UiUsaqjVn0

— Bhargav joshi (@Bhargav21001250) May 21, 2022

Joshi told news agency ANI that the area manager had laughed when he had complained about the drink.

"A lizard was found in my soft drink at a McDonald's outlet. Area manager laughed over complaint and told us that he'll check (CCTV)cameras. He didn't return, meanwhile, order continues. When we pressed them to take action, they offered to return bill amount," Joshi said.

He added that the manager threatened to call the police if Joshi didn't leave the outlet. And threatened us to call police if we didn't leave the outlet. "We then lodged a complaint with the food and drugs department," Joshi said.

Following it, an AMC food safety officer had collected cold drink samples from the outlet to get it tested at the public health laboratory in Ahmedabad, The New Indian Express reported. The officer had also sealed the restaurant with immediate effect for “larger public health safety”.

At the time, the McDonald's outlet was told that it was not allowed to reopen without prior permission from the civic body.

Read more: Mcdonald's will have a 15-year option to buy its restaurants in Russia back