Fast Food Restaurants That Were Accused Of Selling Mystery Meat

As much as America loves fast food, there has been no shortage of controversies surrounding these restaurants over the past century. From severed fingers in chili to fried rats showing up in buckets of fried chicken and scalding hot coffee, disturbing events seem to unravel at fast-food chains like clockwork.

It's no secret many chains have been known to cut corners when it comes to the quality of their ingredients. Whether it's fair or not, this has led to several conspiracies, hoaxes, and downright lies about what goes on behind the scenes in the kitchens of our favorite fast-food spots. Although a lot of these stories ended up being nothing more than myths and pranks, several accusations turned out to be totally true.

But chances are you've forgotten a lot of the fast-food controversies that have occurred over the years — like restaurants being accused of selling mystery meat to their customers. Luckily (or unluckily) for you, we've compiled a list of the accusations as well as the truths behind them so you can be informed. Keep reading to take a walk through fast-food meat history ... and don't blame us if it ruins your dining experience.

Subway has been through its share of controversial events over the years — does anyone remember the "yoga mat chemical" in its bread? But one of the nastiest stories might be regarding one specific ingredient: tuna. Several lawsuits accused the sandwich franchise of using tuna that was far from being actual tuna. According to NPR, a marine biologist analyzed 20 samples from 20 different Subway franchises and found "no detectable tuna DNA sequences whatsoever" in 19 of them. Here's the kicker — other types of animal DNA, like chicken and pork, were found instead.

Despite the bombshell accusation, Subway fired back and asserted its tuna was the real deal. In an email to The New York Times, a spokesperson wrote, "Subway delivers 100 percent cooked tuna to its restaurants, which is mixed with mayonnaise and used in freshly made sandwiches, wraps, and salads that are served to and enjoyed by our guests." 

In response to the allegations, Subway even put together a dedicated website page debunking the myths about its tuna. For starters, the company states that it always uses FDA-approved wild-caught skipjack tuna. The website addresses several points of the argument, like why it's sometimes normal not to find tuna DNA in cooked tuna, the food quality measures its ingredients uphold, as well as expert opinions on the matter. 

The lawsuit has been ongoing for years. Whether the tuna is real or not, it probably isn't doing any favors for the company's PR team.

Back in the day, McDonald's was quite open about cooking its french fries in 93% beef fat tallow. The aim was to cut costs, but the result was delicious fries that became famous around the world. Just about everyone loved them (including famous foodies like Julia Child and James Beard) until a prominent businessman named Phil Sokolof had a heart attack, which led to the founding of the National Heart Savers Association. This led to a decades-long fight against McDonald's fries until the company finally relented and swapped beef tallow for 100% vegetable oil. 

With the change, many vegetarians and vegans thought they would now be able to enjoy the famous fries — but they were wrong. To mimic the world-famous taste the beef tallow gave the fries, McDonald's used natural beef flavors. The problem? McDonald's didn't publicly announce this ingredient change. This brought on a wave of outrage, especially from vegetarians, vegans, and people from religious backgrounds that don't allow the consumption of beef tallow. 

In 2001, two Hindu vegetarians from Seattle sued McDonald's for deceiving its customers with its fries. The fast-food giant fired back and said it never claimed its fries were vegetarian. In the end, McDonald's settled and agreed to donate $10 million to various groups for mislabeling its fries.

When you put the words "Wendy's Chili" and "controversy" together, the first thing that likely comes to mind is the infamous "chili finger" case that happened way back in 2005. As the story goes, a woman was eating at a San Jose branch of the restaurant when she "found" part of a human finger in her chili. It was later discovered that her husband got the severed finger from a co-worker. She cooked and planted the finger in the chili, leading the fast-food chain to lose around $21 million in business from the incident.

However, Wendy's "famous" chili doesn't stop the controversy party there. Employees have revealed on online platforms that the bulk of the chili is recycled (and sometimes older) hamburger meat. Redditor u/sweetshiznity said she would never order the chili: "The meat comes from the left over meat on the grill that dries out. It's then cut up, frozen, and bagged for later use in the chili. It's not unhealthy and it won't make you sick or anything, it just doesn't quite sit right with me."

Unfortunately, it's not just gross, it isn't really healthy either. One doctor who spoke to SheFinds says combining already unhealthy patties that have been kept at room temperature for hours is just food poisoning waiting to happen. Is Wendy's being extra sustainable by reducing, reusing, and recycling? Or is it just plain nasty? You be the judge.

In 2013, a very mysterious meat made its way into Burger King burgers, and not the kind customers wanted — horse meat. For weeks, the burger giant completely denied any allegations that horse meat was being served in its burgers, assuring consumers that its meat hadn't been affected by the European-wide horse meat scandal at the time. But after new tests showed its burgers did indeed contain trace amounts of horse meat, Burger King was forced to admit to the controversy.

It turned out the meat could be traced back to an Irish-based meat processing company called Silvercrest, which in turn imported off-cuts of meat (including horse) from Poland. Burger King wasn't the only company involved in "horsegate" — Tesco, Aldi, and other brands also sold contaminated meat from the supplier. Although food safety experts say that eating horsemeat doesn't have any health risks, people became concerned at the fast-food company's ability to trace ingredients used in its kitchens (via Reuters). 

Burger King's vice president, Diego Beamonte, passed the blame back to the supplier and promised consumers that this issue would never occur again. The company promptly replaced all Silvercrest products with a different supplier. Despite the admission, people weren't happy. Several organizations condemned the chain's terrible handling of the situation and lack of transparency. It's hard to blame them for it — especially if they had unknowingly eaten a horse burger.

When people head to their favorite fast-food restaurants for a quick, convenient, and delicious burger, chances are they aren't really putting much thought into where the meat came from, how it's stored, or how it's prepared. Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver decided McDonald's customers needed to know anyway.

On his show "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution," the chef revealed that a pink slime used as filler in the burger meat was made with fatty beef offcuts covered in ammonium hydroxide. Pink slime wasn't actually a novel occurrence in the industry. It was originally coined in 2002 by a microbiologist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to label lean, finely-textured beef used in the meat processing industry. However, Oliver publically denounced its use on his show and presented its unappetizing raw state on the air. "Basically, we're taking a product that would be sold at the cheapest form for dogs and after this process, we can give it to humans," he said on his show (via Daily Mail).

After months of campaigning, McDonald's announced it would stop using the beef filler in its burgers. It was a win for burger lovers everywhere — nobody wants pink slime mixed in with their food.