Complaint issued after Massachusetts McDonald’s allegedly added bacon to Muslim family’s sandwich

(BOSTON, MA, 6/1/2022) – The Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations today announced that it has filed a complaint against McDonald’s with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination on behalf of a Muslim woman after employees stuffed her fish sandwich full of bacon.

According to the complaint, employees at a McDonald’s restaurant in Chicopee, Mass. added three to four strips of bacon to a fish sandwich ordered by Ghadir Alahmar for her 7-year-old child, despite her explicit request for a plain sandwich. The complaint stated that Alahmar is visibly Muslim, as she wears a hijab, or Islamic headscarf, and abaya, a long Islamic dress. It is commonly known that Islam forbids Muslims from eating pork.

Photo from complaint

“Anti-Muslim bias takes many forms,” said CAIR-MA Legal Director Barbara J. Dougan, who represents the family. “But you can’t go much lower than tampering with the food of a young child. We hope that McDonald’s will find these actions as appalling as we do, and take all needed measures to ensure that something like this never happens again at the Chicopee store or any other location. Religious discrimination at a place of public accommodation is not only illegal, but also morally reprehensible.”

Ghadir Alahmar issued this statement:

“McDonald’s made my children and me feel unwanted and worthless by intentionally stuffing a fish sandwich full of bacon for no other reason than to punish us for our faith and religious convictions. This really hurt us. My children now wonder if they are welcome in their own country. They ask me, ‘Do they hate us?’ How is a mother supposed to answer that question?”