McDonald's Faces Legal Action in Russia for High Calories in Food

The Russian Food Regulatory body said Friday that it is suing McDonald's Corp for selling food not meeting national food safety standards.

The agency, Rospotrebnadzor, filed the suit in Moscow's Tverskoi District Court, seeking to ban the sale of some of McDonald's products, alleging they "do not satisfy the demands of the existing legislation," reports the Wall Street Journal

Rospotrebnadzor said in a statement on its website that the fast food chain was selling products that contained more fats and carbohydrates than allowed. Microbial contamination was found in food in two of the company's restaurants in Novgorod, reports the USA Today.

The products found carrying high calories were cheeseburgers, royal cheeseburgers, fish sandwiches and several milkshake varieties. The two restaurants in Novgorod face a fine of $2,100.

"Infringements have been found that call into question the quality and safety of products of the whole chain of McDonald's restaurants," said Anna Popova, head of  Rospotrebnadzor, according to state news agencies, reports the Wall Street Journal.

The move comes amid restrictions imposed by the European Union and the United States on Russia over the crisis in Ukraine.

But the regulatory body, however, denied that it was a retaliatory move and said that the case "was purely one of alleged violations of consumer-safety regulations," reports the WSJ.

A spokeswoman for McDonald's confirmed that an inspection of its restaurants had resulted in  "certain indicators of micro-organisms" but that the problem was "corrected right away". But refused to comment on what the lawsuit meant for the company's future in the country.