McDonald's in west and south India, which is operated by Westlife Foodworld Limited, recently introduced a multi-millet bun in its 403 outlets./1
The multi-millet bun includes 22% millets in total, including these five - pearl millet, finger millet, sorghum, proso millet, and kodo millet - sourced from about 5000 farmers. The bun was developed in collaboration with India's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) − Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI)./2 A promotional video for the multi-millet bun features Sanjeev Kapoor, a celebrity chef and TV personality in India, known for promoting millets./3: McDonald's is familiar to most of us as a US-based multinational fast-food corporation. Its national affiliates around the world often introduce local ingredients to appeal to their respective markets. There are two McDonald's operations in India, with the other focusing on the east and north of the country. While this bun a positive development for use of millets, effort has been characterized by Nutrition Advocacy in Public Interest–India (NAPi) as a kind of "greenwashing" of fast-food and ultra processed foods./4 In any event, it will be interesting to see if other food companies (or other branches of McDonald's?) will follow suit to make prominent use of millets in their products. Don Osborn, PhD (East Lansing, MI, US) North American Millets Alliance - co-founder Notes: 1. "McDonald's India to offer burgers with multi-millet bun co-created with CSIR-CFTRI," The Times of India, 4 Sep. 2024 https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/mcdonalds-india-to-offer-burgers-with-multi-millet-bun-co-created-with-csir-cftri/articleshow/113058609.cms 2. "McDonald's India Unveils Multi-Millet Bun Burgers in Collaboration with CSIR-CFTRI Mysuru," Millets News, (n.d.) https://millets.news/updates/McDonalds-India-Unveils-Multi-Millet-Bun-Burgers-in-Collaboration-with-CSIR-CFTRI-Mysuru 3. "McDonald’s New Multi-Millet Bun ft. @SanjeevKapoor," YouTube (McDonald's India channel), 4 Sep. 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuuZ6Vt8D_Y 4. "Why is NAPi accusing McDonald’s of greenwashing, condemning CSIR-CFTRI collaboration?" by Sumit Jha, South First, 8 Sep. 2024 https://thesouthfirst.com/health/why-is-napi-accusing-mcdonalds-of-greenwashing-condemning-csir-cftri-collaboration/
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