KFC Sued for Fouling Chicken with Partially Hydrogenated Oil

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KFC Sued for Fouling Chicken with Partially Hydrogenated Oil

JoAnn Guest

Jul 30, 2006 15:06 PDT

 

KFC Sued for Fouling Chicken with Partially Hydrogenated Oil

Lawsuit Aimed at Eliminating, or Disclosing Use of Artery-Clogging

Frying Oil

June 12, 2006

http://www.transfreeamerica.org/press/200606121.html

 

WASHINGTON--See you in court, Colonel Sanders.

That's the message delivered today to KFC, a unit of Louisville,

KY-based Yum! Brands, by the nonprofit Center for Science in the

Public

Interest (CSPI). Today that group and the Washington, DC, law firm

of

Heideman Nudelman & Kalik, P.C., filed suit against the fast-food

giant

over its use of partially hydrogenated oil--the chemically altered,

trans-fat-laden oil that kills roughly 50,000 Americans per year.

The

class action suit, filed in Superior Court of the District of

Columbia,

asks that the court prohibit KFC from using partially hydrogenated

oil,

or that at the very least, signs be posted in KFC outlets notifying

customers that many KFC foods are high in trans fat.

 

" Grilled, baked, or roasted chicken is a healthy food-and even fried

chicken can be trans-fat-free, " said CSPI executive director Michael

F.

Jacobson. " But coated in breading and fried in partially

hydrogenated

oil, this otherwise healthy food becomes something that can quite

literally take years off your life. KFC knows this, yet it

recklessly

puts its customers at risk of a Kentucky Fried Coronary. "

 

Meals at KFC can be startlingly high in trans fat. Besides chicken,

KFC's biscuits, potato wedges, pot pie, and several desserts all

contain

hefty amounts of trans fat from partially hydrogenated oil. Just one

Extra Crispy breast has 4.5 grams of trans fat. A large order of

Popcorn

Chicken has 7 grams of trans fat, and KFC's Pot Pie contains 14

grams of

trans. A typical 3-piece Extra Crispy combo meal, with a drumstick,

two

thighs, potato wedges, and a biscuit has a staggering 15 grams of

trans

fat-more trans fat than an individual should consume in a week.

 

The plaintiff in the case is retired physician Arthur Hoyte, of

Rockville, Maryland. He had purchased fried chicken at KFC outlets

in

Washington, DC, and elsewhere, not knowing that KFC fries in

partially

hydrogenated oil.

 

" If I had known that KFC uses an unnatural frying oil, and that

their

food was so high in trans fat, I would have reconsidered my

choices, "

said Dr. Hoyte. " I am bringing this suit because I want KFC to

change

the way it does business. And I'm doing it for my son and others'

kids-so that they may have a healthier, happier, trans-fat-free

future. "

 

 

Once thought to be innocuous, trans fat is now known to be more

harmful

than saturated fat, since it simultaneously raises one's LDL

cholesterol, which promotes heart disease, and lowers one's HDL

cholesterol, which protects against it. Small amounts of trans fat

occur

naturally in beef and milk, but almost 80 percent of Americans'

trans

fat comes from partially hydrogenated oils. The new trans-fat

labeling

requirement for packaged foods, has encouraged numerous

manufacturers to

switch to non-hydrogenated vegetable oil.

 

Restaurants have been much slower to act. McDonald's famously

promised

to reduce trans fat in cooking oil in 2002, though it quietly

reneged on

that promise in 2003. In 2004, California trial attorney Stephen

Joseph

filed a lawsuit against McDonald's over its broken promise, which

the

company settled in 2005 by agreeing to pay $7 million to the

American

Heart Association. McDonald's still has not changed its oil.

 

Just last week, the Wendy's fast-food chain announced it was

switching

to a non-hydrogenated mixture of corn and soybean oil in its

deep-fryers, making its fried foods virtually trans-fat-free. Among

major table-service chain restaurants, the 700-outlet Ruby Tuesday

chain

has dumped partially hydrogenated oil (in favor of canola oil).

While

many fast-food chains have added more healthful items to their

menus,

KFC's highest profile nutrition gambit was an ill-conceived and

widely

ridiculed ad campaign designed to portray KFC fried chicken as a

weight-loss aid and health food. Those ads-which Jacobson said " took

the

truth, dipped it in batter, and deep-fried it " --were pulled after

CSPI

filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

 

" District of Columbia law allows consumers to seek relief from the

courts when companies fail to disclose essential facts about their

products, " said CSPI litigation director Stephen Gardner. " That KFC

uses

the worst frying oil imaginable to prepare its chicken is something

that

KFC should absolutely be required to disclose at the point of

purchase. "

 

 

The lawsuit asks the court to require KFC to switch to a less

harmful

frying oil. If the court declines to do that, it could require signs

in

restaurants that say " KFC's fried chicken and certain other foods

contain trans fat, which promotes heart disease. " Although a

decision

against KFC in the lawsuit would only be binding in the District of

Columbia, CSPI hopes it would encourage the chain to change its

practices nationwide. "

 

This lawsuit is meant to serve as wake-up call to the food industry

that

changes must be made to protect the consumer from known dangers to

his

or her health, " said Richard D. Heideman, senior counsel of Heideman

Nudelman & Kalik, P.C.

 

Trans-fat levels at KFC vary widely around the world. According to

research published in the New England Journal of Medicine, KFC

chicken

and potato products in Spain, Portugal, and Denmark have far less

trans

fat than they do in the United States, Peru, or Poland, for

instance.

(Hungary had the most). Denmark restricts the use of trans fat from

hydrogenated oils to 2 percent of the fat in foods.

 

In recent months, CSPI has turned to litigation to get food

companies to

market their products more honestly. It has negotiated out-of-court

settlements with Tropicana, Quaker, Frito-Lay, and Pinnacle Foods

and

was credited (along with Heideman Nudelman & Kalik) with being the

catalyst for an agreement to get soda out of schools that the

industry

reached with former President Clinton and others. CSPI will likely

soon

sue Cadbury-Schweppes for rebranding 7UP as " all-natural " (it's not)

and

is currently suing the maker of a fungus-based meat substitute

called

Quorn. for failing to inform consumers that the product can cause

severe

vomiting, diarrhea, and breathing difficulties. Also, CSPI and the

Campaign for Commercial-Free Childhood are having discussions with

Kellogg about marketing junk food to young children and may

ultimately

sue that company and Viacom/Nickelodeon.

 

" It's harder to avoid trans fat at KFC than at any other fast-food

chain

in America, " Jacobson said. " You can't tell by tasting or by looking

at

the food, but trans fat is almost everywhere on this menu. By frying

in

such a dangerous oil, KFC is making its unsuspecting consumers'

arteries

Extra Crispy. CSPI would far prefer the trans-fat problem be solved

through voluntary action by restaurants or regulatory action by the

FDA,

but neither industry nor government has acted. Hence this

litigation. "

 

 

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Diets