KFC Sued Over Trans Fats in Recipes
June 15 (foodconsumer.org) - A class-action lawsuit filed against KFC yesterday could ban the fast-food giant's use of partially-hydrogenated oil, the main cooking medium in the chain's fried chicken, biscuits and potato wedges.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and the Washington, DC, law firm of Heideman Nudelman & Kalik, P.C., filed suit against the franchise claiming it is using chemically altered, trans-fat-laden oil, an ingredient that kills roughly 50,000 Americans per year.
CSPI says Colonel Sanders' secret recipe is extremely unhealthy, high in trans-fat and calories and artery-clogging. And CSPI said the menu comes without significant nutritional labeling to educate the consumer.
"Coated in breading and fried in partially hydrogenated oil, this otherwise healthy food becomes something that can quite literally take years off your life," CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson said. "KFC knows this, yet it recklessly puts its customers at risk of a Kentucky Fried Coronary."
KFC officials released a statement blasting the lawsuit.
"This is a frivolous lawsuit completely without merit and we intend to vigorously defend our position," read the statement. "All KFC products are safe to eat and meet or exceed all government regulations, and we take health and safety issues very seriously."
The lawsuit, 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," said the CSPI in a prepared statement.
The consumer watchdog group said one meal - the 3-piece Extra Crispy combo meal - will provide more than a week's worth of trans fat.
KFC said in a statement that the menu has a variety of choices, and that nutrition information, including trans fat values, are available at the company's Web site and in its restaurants.
It's a matter of taste, too, said the company, as switching oils must consider a number of factors. That includes "maintaining KFC's unique taste and flavor of Colonel Sanders' Original Recipe, supply availability and transportation, among others," read the KFC statement.
At issue is the deep-fried food, which CSPI says is made unhealthier with trans fat frying.
"Grilled, baked, or roasted chicken is a healthy food-and even fried chicken can be trans-fat-free," said Jacobsen. The group is pushing other fast-food chains and sit-down restaurants to switch to other oils, such as soybean.
This is not the first lawsuit CSPI has filed against a food manufacturer. It advocated, through litigation, banning soda from schools and for better labeling of other foods' claims of "all-natural."
But the suit against Yum! Brands, which owns the Louisville-based KFC, has a retired physician taking issue with Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The plaintiff is Arthur Hoyte, of Rockville, Maryland. The retired physician purchased fried chicken at KFC outlets in Washington, DC, but said he did not know 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," Hoyte told CSPI. "I am bringing this suit because I want KFC to change the way it does business.
Reacting to the lawsuit against KFC, Meanwhile, J. Justin Wilson, a research analyst at the Center for Consumer Freedom, told ABC News that the answer isn't legal action.
"[CSPI] should start reaching out to consumers and asking what consumers really want. CSPI acts as if they know what consumers want, but there aren't people marching in the streets having KFC remove trans fat from their food," said Wilson to ABC News. His group is composed of food companies, restaurants and consumers.
CSPI maintains it's all about health.
"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 ... CSPI would far prefer the trans-fat problem be solved through voluntary action ... but neither industry nor government has acted."
Scientists concluded in recent years that trans fat was worse than saturated fat. Trans fat simultaneously raises one's LDL cholesterol, which promotes heart disease, and lowers one's HDL cholesterol, which protects against it. It may appears naturally in small amounts in beef and milk, but fat is becoming a staple food in the American diet, said CSPI.
According to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, more than 12.5 million Americans have coronary heart disease, and more than 500,000 die each year.
The Food and Drug Administration said that makes CHD one of the leading causes of death in the United States.
The FDA suggests consumers choose alternative fats, replacing saturated and trans fats in your diet with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, such as olive and canola oils.
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