McDonald's urban legends
There are multiple urban legends centering around the fast-food chain McDonald's. These legends include claims about the food and allegations of discrimination by the company. Funding terrorism. In the late 1980s, rumors persisted in the United Kingdom that McDonald's was covertly funding the Provisional IRA, which was designated as a terror organization, via NORAID. The source of these rumors was eventually traced to a CNN talk show in which the company was praised for its generosity in providing funding for employees via Individual Retirement Accounts, or IRAs. Unusual ingredients. Large companies have been  the subject of rumors that they substitute unusual or unethical substances in their products, usually to decrease costs. McDonald's is not immune to such claims. Earthworms. Dating back to at least 1978, this rumor claims that McDonald's restaurants use earthworms in their hamburgers. This "worm-in-the-burger" rumor was originally attached to Wendy's burgers. Cow eyeballs. One belief is that McDonald's uses cow eyeballs in its products, permitting it to brand them as "100% beef". However, the USDA mandates that all beef by-products, including cow eyeballs, be appropriately labeled. McDonald's has asserted that  its products contain "100% pure USDA-inspected beef; no additives, no fillers, no extenders." In addition, cow eyeballs are actually more expensive than the more commonly eaten cow parts, due to demand from scientific institutions for experiments. A related claim is that McDonald's buys its meat from a company called "100% beef", making it possible for McDonald's to call beef by-products and soy products "100% beef". During the McLibel case it was found that once imported beef was cleared by the authorities it lost its country of origin identity and gained the status of "U.S. graded beef , so this claim may have emerged from the lack of effective country of origin labelling in the U.S. Mutant laboratory meat. Around March–April 2000, an Internet rumor spread via e-mail in Brazil claimed that McDonald's meat was actually made from a genetically modified animal maintained in a laboratory. The e-mail stated that the few who saw it assure it is a very unpleasant sight: they have no limbs or horns, no bones (undeveloped cartilage instead), no eyes, no tail and no fur; its head is about the size of a baseball; they are fed through tubes  connected directly into their stomach". The e-mail carries on saying that "some irreversible health damage can be done by eating this meat, resulting in diseases who manifest themselves in a way similar to AIDS, and have symptoms related to Alzheimer's disease" and ends encouraging the reader to boycott McDonald's until it sells actual beef. The urban legend has also been attributed to other fast-food chains and animal products, such as KFC and mutant chickens. This rumor is a plot point of the science fiction novel "The Space Merchants", by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth. Pig  fat. This rumor is that McDonald's uses pig fat in its milkshakes, ice cream, and fried potatoes. McDonald's provides complete ingredient lists for all of its products on each of its regional websites: this includes unidentified fats within the ice cream used to make soft serve cones and sundaes. McDonald's Australia, however, specifically mentions that "there is definitely no lard or pig fat in the McDonald's Soft Serve." This rumor should not be confused with the fact that McDonald's has in the past used beef tallow as its frying oil. Choko pie. There is a  rumor in Australia that McDonald's Apple Pies were made of choko, not apples. This eventually led them to emphasize the fact that real Granny Smith apples are used in McDonald's pies. Racism. Rumors in 2011 proclaimed an image shows a McDonald's sign announcing a $1.50 surcharge for African-American customers. This was proven to be a hoax. Drugs. Fake news websites since 2015 have purported that McDonald's restaurants in Colorado are converting children's playgrounds to lounges for on-premises cannabis consumption. The story has been disavowed by a McDonald's spokesperson. McDonald's urban