Hyderabad: American fast food giant McDonald’s, which procures potatoes from Gujarat for its French fries and aloo patties, Arabica coffee beans from Chikmagalur in Karnataka, lettuce from Lahaul and Spiti, Nashik, and Ooty, and tomatoes from Western India, is now also looking at spicing up its menu with some famed Telangana agri-products.
A day after McDonald’s chairman & CEO Chris Kempczinski met chief minister A Revanth Reddy to firm up the quick service restaurant biggie’s global capability centre (GCC) plans, TOI learnt that some spicy agri-products from Telangana too may become part of its procurement plan.
“They will inform us what all they plan to procure from Telangana. One of the suggestions that came up was (procurement of) chillies, turmeric and sesame seeds from Telangana,” a Telangana govt official told TOI.
CM Revanth Reddy had made a strong pitch for local procurement from Telangana during his meeting with the McDonald’s top boss.
Telangana’s Armur turmeric, which is cultivated in Nizamabad, is famed for its longer fingers and high curcumin content and is also eyeing a geographical indication tag for its unique characteristics. On the other hand, Telangana is also famed for its chilli varieties such as Warangal Chapata chilli and Teja chilli from Khammam district.
The Warangal Chapata chilli, which is bright red in colour due to its high Oleoresin content but very low on the heat score, has already applied for a GI tag that is expected anytime soon. Procurement of these Telangana agri specialities by McDonald’s is expected to boost the state’s agri economy and augment the incomes of the local farming community.
