McDonald’s Customer Discovers ‘Foreign Object’ Poking Out of Cheeseburger

A McDonald’s customer revealed how he recently discovered a “foreign object” sticking out of his cheeseburger.

Nathan Wickstrum, 32, from Ventura, California, told Newsweek he had just taken a bite out of the burger purchased from a McDonald’s off Harbor Boulevard on March 25 at around 5 p.m. when something stopped him in his tracks.

Wickstrum is one of the many millions of U.S. adults to eat at McDonald’s. Fast food consumption is common among the population with a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimating that about 1 in 3 U.S. adults eat fast food on any given day. The figure equates to about 85 million people.

Wickstrum manages communications for the nonprofit land trust Ojai Valley Land Conservancy and wouldn’t describe himself as a regular McDonald’s customer.

“I don’t eat at McDonald’s often, but every now and then, it hits the spot,” he said.

However, he may think twice after what happened on this particular Monday, when he decided to pop into the drive-thru on the way home because he wanted a milkshake.

“I’ve been getting over a cold and for some reason a milkshake sounded good and comforting,” Wickstrum said. “Anyways, I decided to add two cheeseburgers to the order.”

Wickstrum said when he rolled up to the window to collect his food, he noticed some of the staff were “joking around and laughing” inside but thought nothing of it.

“I figured they were having a good time at work, but I also hoped they’re doing their job,” he said.

However, soon after leaving the drive-thru, he spotted an issue with his order.

“I pulled up to a stoplight and took the burger out of the bag,” Wickstrum said. “I unwrapped it, took a bite, and when I looked down, something white caught my attention. That’s when I realized there was a foreign object in my burger. I was very close to taking a bite out of it.”

Newsweek has made multiple attempts to contact McDonald’s regarding the incident, which Wickstrum detailed in a series of pictures and videos.

Perturbed by what he discovered, Wickstrum said he drove home to “further investigate” the contents of the burger. Pictures provided to Newsweek show that the sticky label bears the words: “CHEESE TABLE Barra de Queso en Mesa. Use by 8:12pm 3/25/24”

“The sticker was mostly stuck to the cheese, so I peeled it off slowly to keep it intact,” Wickstrum said. While the other burger he ordered was, thankfully, stickerless, he said it was “poorly made” and “missing pickles.”

Wickstrum said he contacted the manager of the McDonald’s to make a complaint.

“She was very rude but offered to either have the burger remade or give me a refund,” he said. “I declined both and asked that she simply talk to her staff and tell them to do better. Her response was defensive and in a raised voice, she said, ‘My staff is doing a great job!’ I responded with, ‘I don’t know that they are. There’s a sticker in my burger.'”

He said that after about “15 seconds of silence” she told him: “If you don’t want a refund or a new burger, then bye” and ended the call.

Frustrated and confused at the experience, Wickstrum took to Reddit, sharing pictures of the discovery under the handle u/Actual-Addendum-6167. He said he’s no closer to knowing how the sticker got there, and he’s not happy.

“I live in one of the most expensive counties in the nation, and I’ve been working at a nonprofit for almost 10 years, barely making more than McDonald’s employees currently get paid, and I was just trying to get an affordable quick bite on my way home,” he said.

He’s now calling on McDonald’s to issue him a “sincere apology” over what happened.

“It’s important for them to acknowledge the mistake and take responsibility for it,” he said. “I hope they take steps to ensure that such incidents don’t happen again in the future, whether it involves improving their quality control processes or providing better training for their staff.”