Guest guest Posted May 3, 2001 Report Share Posted May 3, 2001 Vegetarian Sues McDonald's Over Meaty Fries SEATTLE (Reuters) - A vegetarian lawyer is claiming millions of dollars in damages from McDonald's Corp., accusing the fast food company in a lawsuit of ``secretly'' lacing its French fries with beef fat. Citing an e-mail in which the Oak Brook, Illinois company discloses its suppliers use tiny amounts of beef flavoring, the suit charges McDonald's with fraudulent claims for saying its fries have been cooked in pure vegetable oil. ``We will seek injunctive relief to stop this practice...and we are seeking damages, including punitive damages, that will easily be in the hundreds of millions of dollars,'' said Harish Bharti, who filed the class action suit in King County Superior Court on Tuesday. A McDonald's spokesperson said the restaurant chain had never claimed to offer vegetarian food and that it freely provides ingredient information to anyone who requests it. For the whole story: http://dailynews./h/nm/20010503/hl/vegetarian_1.html Auctions - buy the things you want at great prices http://auctions./ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 3, 2001 Report Share Posted May 3, 2001 Hi all! I just saw that story on CNN. The spokeperson for McDonalds said that they are not in the business of " lying " and have nothing to hide. He said that McDonalds has the highest respect for all other cultures and other peoples ethics! He said that it has never been a secret that they use beef fat to fry their fries. He also stated that " In fact, when McDonalds switched from lard to Vegetable Oil " ten years ago, they were hailed as " a leader in healthy eating " and lifestyle changes in the fast foods business. Isn't stating that McDonalds " switched from lard to vegetable oil " stating that they are vegetarian? He THEN went on to say that McDonalds has never claimed that their french fries were vegetarian. However, on the McDonalds website, ingredients for their French Fries are stated as such: French Fries: Potatoes, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural flavour, dextrose, sodium acid pyrophosphate (to preserve natural color). Cooked in partially hydrogenated soybean and corn oils, TBHQ (to protect flavour). The beef fat is the natural flavour, and we, the consumers are supposed to assume this somehow? There is no mention of beef fat or lard in the ingredients list and the use of the words 'natural flavours' are misleading. To state that they use 100% vegetable oil and then claim that it is not vegetarian, proves that they are in the business of lying- which I'm sure most of us know. The people who are sueing, definetly have a solid case against McDonalds. Good luck to them! This should be an interesting case that we can all cheer. For more details... see http://www.mcspotlight.org/media/press/mcds/indiawest090401.html Peace Bliss -- Free email services provided by http://www.goodkarmacafe.com Powered by Instant Portal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 4, 2001 Report Share Posted May 4, 2001 >>> " Bliss " wrote > French Fries: > Potatoes, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, natural flavour, dextrose, sodi um acid pyrophosphate (to preserve natural color). Cooked in partially hydrogen ated soybean and corn oils, TBHQ (to protect flavour). > > The beef fat is the natural flavour, and we, the consumers are supposed to as sume this somehow? There is no mention of beef fat or lard in the ingredients l ist and the use of the words 'natural flavours' are misleading. Anything listing " colours " or " flavours " without specifying what they are is suspect. We don't (with occasional exceptions) buy anything marked thus - chicken fat is a " natural flavour " too, you know. Personally, as much as I dislike McD's, I think they're in the right in this one - they've never claimed to be veggie (and I've always assumed they've used something akin to beef fat, since discovering that just about all pre-cooked chips are cooked in beef-based tallows prior to reaching whatever store is selling them). Best of luck to the claimants, but I don't like their chances. Would be nice if the cop-out of " colours " or " flavours " could be replaced with people actually listing what those colours and flavours are, tho. KevinL -- Internet techie Obsidian Consulting Group Specialising in proxy servers and traffic measuring/billing. http://www.obsidian.com.au/ darius Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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