Burger King stops using tomato in food preparations

New Delhi: Fast food chain Burger King has stopped using tomatoes in its food preparations, joining the list of other quick service restaurant (QSR) chains like McDonald’s and Subway, amid soaring prices of the staple kitchen item.

Burger King, operated by Restaurant Brands Asia in the country with 400 stores, in a message on the support page of its website cited “quality” and “supply” issues as reasons for removing tomatoes from its food servings.

“We, at Restaurant Brands Asia Ltd, have very high standards of quality as we believe in serving real and authentic food. Due to unpredictable conditions on the quality & supply of tomato crops, we are unable to add tomatoes to our food. Rest assured, our tomatoes will be back soon,” the message read.

It has requested customers to have “patience and understanding” for the situation.

Some Burger King India outlets have reportedly placed a notice with some humour, saying, “Even tomatoes need a vacation… we are unable to add tomatoes to our food.”

The retail price of tomato in some parts of the country is up to Rs 200 per kilogramme amid supply disruptions caused by heavy rains. This has forced the government to import tomatoes for the first time.

India is currently importing tomatoes from Nepal. Last week, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Parliament that India has started importing tomatoes from Nepal amid a record-high spike in the prices in the domestic market.

In July, fast food chain McDonald’s had said it has stopped using tomatoes in its food preparations at most of the stores in northern and eastern parts of the country citing the non-availability of quality products.

PTI