McDonald's customer's 'disgusting' find in hash brown: 'Less than ideal'

A young woman on a road trip from New South Wales to Queensland was left with a disgusting taste in her mouth after biting into a McDonald’s hash brown, only to discover something was seriously wrong.

Tori Dent and her friend were on a six-hour drive home to Brisbane when they stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast along the Mid-North Coast at about 6.40am on Tuesday.

“I was in the passenger seat so I ordered online with the MyMaccas app for drive-thru pick up in Taree,” the 29-year-old told Yahoo News Australia. “I handed my friend her food while she drove and by the time I had my first bite we were back on the highway.”

But it wasn’t until she had chewed off a bit of her hash brown that she realised something was wrong. “When I took my bite I noticed it was black. It was just black and mushy looking and looked disgusting," the woman said.

“Without chewing, I spate out my bite. My friend’s hash brown looked normal and she offered me half of hers, but I was off it and said no.”

• McDonald's responds after customers rage at subtle menu change

• McDonald's worker calls out 'rude' customer habits in angry tirade

• Aldi mocks McDonald's and Domino's in one day leaving shoppers in stitches

Describing the situation as “less than ideal”, the customer said she had no idea what was wrong with her meal.

“I know that a potato can have a spot or two and it’s fine to eat, but this wasn't a crunchy speck," she said. "I didn’t inspect it too closely because it looked gross. All I did was spit it out, take some photos and put it back in the bag for the bin at our next stop.”

She added that she didn’t contact McDonald’s because “it seemed like a single bad hash brown”.

McDonald's investigating

McDonald’s has since confirmed to Yahoo News Australia that it is looking into the incident.

”We are investigating this and encourage the customer to contact our Customer Service team so we can look into it in more detail,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

“McDonald’s takes food and drink safety very seriously. We follow strict processes and procedures to ensure the quality of our food.”

Social media 'confused’

After sharing an image of her black hash brown on Facebook, the woman has received hundreds of comments from fellow customers. “Not what you want to see when you take your first bite,” she wrote alongside the photo.

“Who shat in the hash brown?” one person joked, responding to the post. “I thought this was a deep-fried Oreo,” said another.

“Is it mould or burnt, I’m so confused as to what it is,” commented someone else. While another pointed out that “you’d be more nervous if it was the second to last bite so at least they put it in the right way”.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.