Broadcast 10th November 2000

	Hear an interview with Alessandra di Montezemolo, Head of European Communications at Mcdonald's

Is there a moral dimension to selling hamburgers? Apparently there is in Italy.

The theologian Massimo Salani has condemned burgers in the Italian bishops' daily Avvenire, saying they were "not Catholic".

Eating burgers and fries reflected an "individualistic relationship between man and God which goes back to Martin Luther", the Protestant leader who started the German Reformation, Mister Salani argued.

Mcdonald's has reacted with disbelief. Alessandra di Montezemolo, head of European communications at the company, told our reporter Richard Edgar that Mcdonald's is in the business of feeding people, not religion.


Ms di Montezemolo said there were two sides to the story. On the one side, the theologian was expressing his views and on the other, a company serving millions of customers from different religions and cultures.

Whoever - they chose to enter into our restaurants. You had to put that into perspective and look at what the company does. "We only want to serve products to those who choose to eat the products."

She added: "Certainly we do need to show respect for any kind of religion and especially my religion which is the Catholic religion.

" We always show respect for the religions in the countries we operate in, and we do that by offering products that respect those religions. For instance, in India we have hamburgers made out of lamb because we respect the fact that Hindus do not eat beef".

We always show respect for the religions in the countries we operate in, for instance, in India we have hamburgers made out of lamb because we do respect the fact that Hindus do not eat beef. Alessandra di Montezemolo

Lliving in a democracy, everyone was allowed to have their opinions. But then people were also allowed to choose and people could choose whether they wanted to eat at Mcdonald’s or not.

"Forty million customers everyday choose to enter a Mcdonald’s restaurant in a local community and we need to respect those people who enter as well as the others who do not enter into a Mcdonald’s.

Whoever serves food must be responsible for what they serve and respect customers they serve; but that had really nothing to do with religion. Alessandra di Montezemolo