• D.C.
  • BXL
  • Lagos
  • Riyadh
  • Beijing
  • SG
  • D.C.
  • BXL
  • Lagos
Semafor Logo
  • Riyadh
  • Beijing
  • SG


Flagship newsletter icon
From Semafor Flagship
In your inbox, every weekday
Sign up

McDonald’s releases protein-heavy burgers in India

Aug 26, 2025, 8:30am EDT
PostEmailWhatsapp
A Maharaja Mac vegetarian burger package with a Protein Plus sticker
Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters

McDonald’s released new protein-heavy burgers in India, where almost three-quarters of the country’s nearly 1.5 billion people have a protein-deficient diet.

Religious sensitivities mean that beef is banned in much of India — McDonald’s itself has neither beef nor pork on its menu there — while chicken remains too costly for many low-income households.

As part of the government-backed project, Bollywood superstar Ranveer Singh as well as several popular cricketers have joined the marketing blitz, which led to the sale of more than 30,000 of the protein-enriched burgers in the first 24 hours after launch. “To save our population, we need to put [protein] into something which is more edible,” a government food scientist told Reuters.

A chart showing daily per capita supply of proteins from animal products for several countries.
AD