A complaint has been filed against a McDonald’s restaurant in Massachusetts for allegedly stuffing a fish sandwich with bacon while serving a Muslim woman.
The Massachusetts body of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MA) said in a statement on Wednesday that a complaint had been filed against the McDonald’s with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD).
The complaint stated that employees at a McDonald’s restaurant in Chicopee added three to four strips of bacon to a fish sandwich ordered by Ghadir Alahmar for her 7-year-old twin sons when she visited the outlet on 29 June.
The statement added that Ms Alahmar, who is “visibly Muslim as she wears a hijab” had made an explicit request for a plain sandwich. Muslims are strictly prohibited from eating pork in Islam.
The complaint stated that Ms Alahmar informed the McDonald’s employee of her preference and asked her sons to communicate the order again in English as her grasp over the language was not good.
Ms Alahmar’s son then repeated the order for a plain sandwich to the employee, with a second mention on Ms Alahmar’s insistence.
The complaint also included a photograph of the bacon that had been added to Ms Alahmar’s son’s sandwich.
“McDonald’s employees willfully added bacon to the Complainant’s food in an effort to offend, humiliate, and cause distress to Complainant and her young children,” the complaint said.
“McDonald’s made my children and me feel unwanted and worthless by intentionally stuffing a fish sandwich full of bacon for no other reason than to punish us for our faith and religious convictions,” said Ms Alahmar.
“This really hurt us. My children now wonder if they are welcome in their own country. They ask me, ‘Do they hate us?’ How is a mother supposed to answer that question?”
The CAIR-MA has said that incident is a new low as it tampers with the food of a young child.
“Anti-Muslim bias takes many forms,” said CAIR-MA Legal Director Barbara J Dougan, who represents the family.
“But you can’t go much lower than tampering with the food of a young child. We hope that McDonald’s will find these actions as appalling as we do, and take all needed measures to ensure that something like this never happens again at the Chicopee store or any other location. Religious discrimination at a place of public accommodation is not only illegal, but also morally reprehensible.”
