The Sad Story Of McDonald's Disappointing Mozzarella Sticks

When you step into a McDonald's, you know what to expect. You're going to get burgers in cardboard boxes, fries that can be wonderfully fresh or chewy and stale, and any number of sodas from the fountain — the same menu items that have been there since the beginning. But McDonald's wouldn't be the globe-conquering behemoth it is without changing a few things up. McNuggets, as ubiquitous as they are, were only introduced in the 1980s (and they were almost made of onion), while the McFlurry was invented by a Canadian franchisee in 1995. 

It's not like McDonald's' mozzarella sticks had no chance of succeeding just because you don't usually think of mozzarella sticks when you think of McDonald's. (No one thought McDonald's pizza would work, either, and...well, they were right about that, actually.) But thanks to a couple of fatal flaws and a class action lawsuit, they're now banished (that is, except for in Australia.)

McDonald's mozzarella sticks were officially launched in 2015, but they had been gestating for a good long while, being tested as far back as the '90s. You'd think the rollout would be easy and polished, right? Not quite. As soon as the menu item was released, customers began to complain about the lack of mozzarella in their mozzarella sticks. Pictures began to crop up all over social media, showing sad, hollowed-out breading shells with only a suggestion of cheese. McDonald's explained that the cheese had a habit of leaking out during the frying process, but before they could fix it, the situation got worse.

Just a couple of months after the launch of their new menu item, McDonald's was hit by a class action lawsuit alleging that their mozzarella sticks weren't made with real mozzarella. The lead plaintiff, Chris Howe of California, claimed that the cheese was fortified with starch, compromising its legal status as mozzarella. Howe, as well as the other plaintiffs, sought $5 million in damages. While they didn't get any of the money — McDonald's fought the claim in court, and it was dismissed without either party receiving a reward — the bloom had come off the rose by this point. The mozzarella sticks were quietly discontinued, and at least in America, that was the end of it.

In the Land Down Under, however, McDonald's mozzarella sticks are alive and well, at least every now and then. Reintroduced in 2020, they're seen as a fan-favorite in Australia, popping up on their winter menu. And what do you know? They even get praise for their cheese pull these days. That said, we likely won't see the return of them in the U.S. anytime soon.