McDonald's Szechuan sauce to return after fans' riots

US fast food chain McDonald's announced Thursday it will distribute 20 million packets of limited Szechuan sauce next week and apologized for last year's promotion that arose fans riots.

Last October, fans lined up when several locations in the US participated in a one-day limited release of the sauce and people became so rowdy in many restaurants that police had to intervene. At the time, McDonald's released a statement saying that it had underestimated demand.

As for this release, McDonald's said it would be given out "with a qualifying purchase, while supplies last (which this time around, we hope is a while)."

"Last October, we truly meant well when we brought back a super-limited batch of Szechuan Sauce, but it quickly became apparent we did not make enough to meet the expectations of our fans," the statement on Thursday said, "We disappointed fans and we are sorry."

McDonald's created "Szechuan Teriyaki Dipping Sauce" to promote the 1998 film Mulan. It hasn't been available since the film came out in 1998. Fans lobbied to bring the sauce back after it appeared in a recent episode of the animated series Rick and Morty, in which a character became obsessed with finding the discontinued chicken nugget dipping sauce.

The condiment is so popular among fans that someone last year on eBay placed a bid worth US$14,700 for a pair of 19-year-old sauces that the seller claimed it was found in "an old car."