The public outcry over McDonald's restaurants selling hollow mozzarella cheese sticks has escalated to the courts. Chris Howe, a Riverside County, California resident, slapped the eatery with a class-action lawsuit accusing it of false advertising.

The popular mozzarella cheese sticks are advertised as made with "pure mozzarella," "real mozzarella," and "100% real cheese," according to the class-action lawsuit filed with the United States District Court for the Central District of California on Jan. 29.

But the sticks are actually filled with "a substance that is composed (in part) of starch, in violation of the federal standards of identity for 'mozzarella' cheese, and contrary to reasonable consumers' expectations regarding the meaning of the term 'mozzarella,'" according to the complaint.

In other words, it's not real cheese.

Howe bought and ate an order of mozzarella sticks from a McDonald’s on Monterey Avenue in Rancho Mirage, California on Dec. 24. But "he would not have purchased the Sticks if he had known they were misbranded and adulterated," according to the complaint.

Howe bought and ate an order of mozzarella sticks from a McDonald’s on Monterey Avenue in Rancho Mirage, California on Dec. 24. But "he would not have purchased the Sticks if he had known they were misbranded and adulterated," according to the complaint.

Via youtube.com

Howe accuses the company of false and deceptive advertising which misled cheese-lovers into believing that these sticks in fact contained "real" cheese. He points to two advertisements by the company that allege the sticks are "100% real cheese."

Howe accuses the company of false and deceptive advertising which misled cheese-lovers into believing that these sticks in fact contained "real" cheese. He points to two advertisements by the company that allege the sticks are "100% real cheese."