An advocacy group is crying foul after pieces of bacon were apparently discovered in a Muslim family's order of McDonald's McChicken sandwiches.
The Alabama chapter of the national Council on American-Islamic Relations is claiming that the bacon was intentionally inserted into the family's food at a restaurant in Decatur, Alabama, on Monday.
CAIR-Alabama's executive director, Khaula Hadeed, is calling on McDonald's to investigate further and fire any employees found responsible.
"Based on the evidence in this incident, as well as the unprecedented spike in anti-Muslim bigotry nationwide, we believe this was an intentional act of religious and ethnic bigotry," Hadeed said in a statement. "McDonald's should investigate this incident, identify and terminate the employees responsible, and take proactive steps to satisfy this American family's concerns, starting with an apology."
The family of seven consisted of three women, all wearing Islamic headscarves, and four children under ten. After visiting a nearby water park, they stopped by a McDonald's on Point Mallard Parkway and ordered 14 McChicken sandwiches. As they were eating, they started noticing a strange, "smoky" taste that was unfamiliar to them.
"One of the kids opened one of the sandwiches and it had bacon it ― like a very small, chunk of bacon in there. They were really surprised and kind of horrified," Hadeed told HuffPost. "They opened all of them and, lo and behold, all of them had a small of chunk of crudely torn bacon piece in them ― either underneath the patty or on top of it in a way where you wouldn't see it."
Islamic dietary laws discourage Muslims from eating pork, or pork by-products. A similar prohibition also exists in Judaism.
The family went up to the counter and asked the staff at the restaurant for an explanation. Hadeed said that one employee suggested that the bacon had fallen into the sandwiches. She found that unconvincing, since the bacon was apparently torn up.
"The employee in the restaurant initially explained that the bacon ended up on all those sandwiches because the bacon somehow fell off the shelves, which is silly and beyond the pale. Even without that comment, the fact that tiny pieces of bacon, just small enough to avoid easy detection, ended up in all 14 sandwiches that would not normally have bacon is evidence enough of purposeful intent," she said.
One adult in the family apparently vomited twice after eating the bacon.
CAIR uploaded a video of the sandwiches to its YouTube channel. It appears to be shot by a member of the Muslim family using Snapchat.
