Burger King Removes Tomatoes From Indian Menu After McDonald's Dropped the Ingredient in July

Burger King is taking out tomatoes from its Whopper burgers and other menus in its restaurant outlets in India. The move comes almost a month after McDonald’s in the country dropped the edible fruit widely used for cooking and meal preparations worldwide.

Burger King India is cutting out tomatoes from its food items as prices of this edible greatly surged in the country. Apparently, the sharp rise in prices is turning companies away from tomatoes, and they have decided to avoid using them altogether.

Likewise, BBC News reported that Burger King explained it was forced to get rid of tomatoes in Indian stores due to "unpredictable conditions on the quality and supply of tomato crops." Consequently, the low supply of the said fruit is the main cause of the price increase.

It was noted that Burger King is the second major fast-food chain to remove tomatoes from its menu. McDonald's was the first to do so in July, and at that time, experts said that the tomato shortage was caused by the current bad weather conditions in India.

The restaurant’s move to drop tomatoes also comes after the region's central bank lifted its inflation prediction for the current financial year to 5.4% from earlier 5.1%. The bank said this is because of the rising prices of some foods in the country, which is also the most populated in the world, CNN Business reported.

“Going forward, the spike in vegetable prices, led by tomatoes, would exert sizeable upside pressures on the near-term headline inflation trajectory,” the central bank said in a statement.

The price of tomatoes in India surged by over 400% in recent months as heavy rains and fiery heat waves heavily damage crops. A kilogram of tomatoes is being sold in New Delhi for 107 rupees or $1.29 this week.

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