The settlement was intended to make amends to customers who unwittingly ate the fries cooked in beef-flavored oil during the 1990s, when the burger chain had said it used only pure vegetable oil. Lawsuits filed in Illinois and other states charged the restaurant chain deceived people who do not eat meat for personal or religious reasons.

McDonald´s offered 60 percent of the settlement to vegetarian groups, 20 percent to Hindu and Sikh groups, 10 percent to children's nutrition and hunger-relief efforts and 10 percent to promoting understanding of kosher practices.

The list of organization receiving funds along with the dollar amount and percentage of the total is as follows:

Vegetarian Organizations, total: US$6,000,000.00
Vegetarian Resource Group $1,400,000 [14.0%]
ADAF Vegetarian Nutrition Dietetic Practice Group $600,000 [6.0%]
Preventive Medicine Research Institute $550,000 [5.5%]
North American Vegetarian Society $1,000,000 [10.0%]
Vegetarian Vision, Inc. $250,000 [2.5%]
The American Vegan Society $500,000 [5.0%]
Loma Linda University $300,000 [3.0%]
Tufts University $850,000 [8.5%]
Muslim Consumer Group For Food Products $100,000 [1.0%]
Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA) $450,000 [4.5%]

Hindu/Sikh Organization, total: $2,000,000
International / American Gita Society $50,000 [0.5%]
Hindu Heritage Endowment $250,000 [2.5%]
SEED (Supporting Excellence in Education) $900,000 [9.0%]
Council of Hindu Temples of North America $200,000 [2.0%]
SSV Temple $50,000 [0.5%]
Guru Harkrishan Institute of Sikh Studies $50,000 [0.5%]
Hindu Students Council $500,000 [5.0%]

Kosher Groups, total: $1,000,000
Jewish Community Centers Association $200,000 [2.0%]
Orthodox Union $150,000 [1.5%]
Star_K/Torah.Org $300,000 [3.0%]
CLAL $50,000 [0.5%]
The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life (Hillel) $300,000 [3.0%]

Children´s Groups, total: $1,000,000
Produce for Better Health Foundation $500,000 [5.0%]
CDC´s Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity $500,000 [5.0%]

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