Israel – Fast food chain McDonald’s will introduce the McFalafel product in all of its restaurants in Israel starting this Tuesday.
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The falafel will be sold either inside Iraqi pita bread with tahini and chopped salad, in a box containing three to five pieces with tahini, or as a meal with fries or green salad and a drink.
According to McDonald’s, the new product meets the health standards set by the chain: The falafel is fried in canola oil and served with tahini and chopped vegetables, and the product’s nutrition information is detailed on the package.
Consumers will pay NIS 10 (about $2.8) for three pieces of falafel with tahini, NIS 16.90 ($4.75) for five pieces with tahini or for Iraqi pita bread with three pieces of falafel, tahini and chopped salad, and NIS 34.90 ($9.8) for two types of meals – with or without Iraqi pita bread.
According to McDonald’s Israel CEO Omri Padan, “The McFalafel is another one of our products which has been adjusted to the Israeli taste, joining the Iraqi pita bread series which also include McKebab. In addition, McFalafel meets the standards of wise nutrition which have been promoted by McDonald’s since 2003. McFalafel has 499 calories and only 6.7% fat.
“Today,” Padan added, “we have 36 kosher restaurants and 124 non-kosher ones. In the first quarter of 2011 we plan to open three more kosher restaurants. In four years from today, Israel will have 200 McDonald’s restaurants, 30% of them kosher, and 25 of them with a McCafé corner – mostly the non-kosher ones.
“I’m not anti-religious, I’m against religious coercion,” says Padan. “I’m in favor of separating state and religion, and there are some rabbis who share the same view. We conducted a survey and reached the conclusion that the majority of the secular public, 70%, wants kosher meat, 15% says it doesn’t matter, and only 5% want non-kosher meat.
“Our first decision was that there will be no bacon in the entire chain. We still sell the cheeseburger, but the public has voted against it, so we’ve slowly lowered its profile. Why should we openly display the cheeseburger if no child asks for it? Only 0.25% of adults ask for it, and get it.”
According to Padan, “Our sales figures show that we’ve recorded a growth despite the competition. If people would free themselves of the feelings of guilt and be aware of the true facts, they would eat more. If someone wants to go on a diet at McDonald’s, they can. But they have to watch what they eat outside the chain as well.”
Too bad none of the kosher ones in Israel are glatt kosher / mehadrin
I can never get over the fact that treife food is sold by hebrew speaking jews. Its truly mind boggling. The schechina is crying out that in its own house this is taking place.
it should come up a non profit org. to compete with them and open a better store next to each non kosher store
As if McD’s uses real meat anyway.
my problem with Padan is that he refuses to open any branches of his Mccrap garbage over the Green Line! He clearly is discriminating against the Arabs
thats so sad that 5% dafka want treif meat if they have a choice….
What is “Iraqi pita bread”? Any different than the pita that is common in Brooklyn?
It’s just a name but no diff then kosher delight or any other regular kosher fast food restaurant. None of the ‘exotic’ non kosher sandwiches u see in mcdonalds, burger king, or any of the other name restaurants. It’s just a plain burger and fries with the name mcdonalds attached to it. If they used soy bacon or soy meat or soy cheese ( there are some really good ones) Then it wud be diffrent. So bottom line who cares what’s the big deal
does the frum girl with the long skirt knows she is buying food that is not kosher? and the hemeishe girl on the left maybe she needs to stay away from junk food…
the one in the airport is sort of kosher and surely not up to the standards of frum yidden it maybe has some 3rd rate sefardi hechsher with no real control over the place like most places in the airport