McDonald’s is finding itself under attack in Venezuela both for not selling french fries — and for selling them.
Hours after reports emerged on Tuesday that McDonald’s had run out of fries at Venezuelan franchises, state-sponsored television network Telesur posted a story headlined “McDonald’s joins economic war against Venezuela.”
Industry experts say McDonald’s has had to turn to local alternatives like fried yuca root and arepa flatbreads because of the economic chaos wracking the South American country.
The restaurant’s franchise operator had actually avoided blaming the deep-fried potato famine on the government, saying a US labor dispute was the reason.
However, officials of the Venezuelan government and its supporters are taking a combative attitude.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro retweeted a story about a tooth being found in an order of McDonald’s french fries in Japan.
The Aporrea Web site covered its home page in articles critical of the restaurant chain.
One post cautioned readers to consider what kind of toxins might be lurking in the ingredient list of fries. Another warned that plastic shards had been found amid the chain’s chicken nuggets.
Venezuela’s socialist administration has never sat easily with the fast-food giant, a symbol of US capitalism.
Last year, the government, which has imposed price caps on everything from milk to children’s toys, successfully pressured McDonald’s to cut the cost of a Big Mac combo meal.
Dante Rivas, the government official in charge of Venezuela’s permitting process, posted a photograph to Twitter that showed a man becoming fat and unhealthy from eating McDonald’s burgers. He said he was glad the chain had run out of fries.
“I welcome the turbulence. Now we will eat fried yuca, 100 percent made in Venezuela,” he wrote.
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