As of the beginning of this month, the packaging of this sauce has become chargeable in the brand's restaurants in Portugal, a measure through which the company hopes to combat “waste”.

“As of April 1st, each ketchup packet has a recommended retail price”, which is five cents per packet, according to a report by ECO. “We would like to emphasise, however, that McDonald’s franchisees are entrepreneurs free to set their own prices,” adds an official source.

This is the first time that McDonald’s has charged for ketchup in Portugal, a product that until now had been offered to customers. In fact, it was only two years ago that the North American fast food chain began to pay more attention to the “waste” of ketchup in its restaurants.

“Since April 2023, McDonald’s has only offered one ketchup packet in each McMenu with fries, at the customer’s request,” McDonald’s explains to ECO. Before that, it was not uncommon for a menu to come with one, two or even three ketchup packets, each containing 10 grams of product. Many ended up in the trash without even being opened.

“This measure aimed to avoid wasting ketchup and plastic packaging. Whenever more ketchup packaging was requested, it was provided at no additional cost to the customer,” the company confirmed.

However, McDonald’s has “found that, even with this measure, there is a large amount of ketchup wasted in restaurants”. And “any food delivered to the customer, even if not used, cannot, for food safety reasons, be supplied again”, notes the company.

So, with the introduction of this new ketchup tariff, the company hopes to “further reduce food waste and packaging use.”