Home > Plasmid: Science and bio-tech research blog > Archives > 2006 > June > 13 > Entry
Fast Food Fight
If you can’t eat them…sue them?
The war against trans fats is moving to the courts after the Center for Science in the Public Interest filed suit today (6/13) against KFC for using partially hydrogenated oils in its pot pies, fried chicken, biscuits and other menu items.
The center claims that partially hydrogenated oils, laden with trans fats, are responsible for the deaths of 50,000 Americans a year.
According to CSPI:
“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.”
Items in your grocery store now have nutrition labels that show trans fat content. That policy change prompted many food makers to change their ingredients for the better. But restaurants continue to stick to the artery-clogging trans fats.
KFC is owned by YUM, which also owns Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. They haven’t commented on their web site.
But my laugh of the day came in the form of a blistering press release from a group concocted by the PR industry which calls itself the Center for Consumer Freedom.
Here’s what they have to say about the KFC lawsuit:
“Throughout the 1980’s CSPI demanded that restaurants end their use of beef fat and palm oil to fry foods.
Instead, CSPI endorsed the idea that restaurants switch to partially hydrogenated oils, which naturally contain higher trans fat levels. CSPI defended trans fats in its newsletter saying, “all told, the charges against trans fat just don’t stand up.�
Now, incredibly, CSPI has completely reversed course.
Center for Consumer Freedom research analyst J. Justin Wilson said: “It’s galling that the group largely responsible for harassing restaurants into switching to trans fats, would now sue those companies for bowing to its demands, especially when the science is still largely out on the subject. It’s just further evidence that CSPI has gone completely lawsuit happy.�
…Wilson continued, “This is a press conference lawsuit. CSPI and its trial lawyer partners want a big splash in the media for a case that likely won’t ever see the inside of a courtroom. Any judge unfortunate enough to be burdened with this court-clogging sham should have the good sense to throw CSPI out of court.â€? “
So where CAN we eat fast food without trans fats?
Ruby Tuesday’s
And what about McDonald’s? This from CSPI: “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.”
So what do you think? Should KFC change its oil choice, or should the folks at CSPI stop picking on them?
Comments
By Glad to be out of WPB
June 14, 2006 9:57 AM | Link to this
Yes, I think KFC should change thier oil choice. Because so many people eat KFC and in the long run it is unhealthy for them. It would be a smart move on KFC’s part because the consumers that do eat the food would be getting a meal that is less fattening and healthy.
By Mike C.
June 14, 2006 4:14 PM | Link to this
Hello Stacey; I thought it might be useful for any readers to understand exactly what “Hydrogenated Oils” are.
What is it? Well, some kind of vegetable fat that’s been treated somehow for some reason, probably nothing to worry about, right?
No, it’s an artifical fat that’s more unhealthy than any other.
The calorific value of fat is the same whatever form it comes in, but the kind of fat makes a huge difference to what it does in your body.
Saturated fat (most animal fats) are more unhealthy as they fuzz up the arteries, causing heart disease. Mono-unsaturates and polyunsaturates are the healthier ones.
‘Saturated fat’ means fat where the molecule cannot fit any more hydrogen atoms on.
‘Mono-unsaturate’ means the fat molecule has room for one more hydrogen atom, ‘polyunsaturate’ means it has room for more than one.
Hydrogenated fat isn’t technically a saturated fat, so it looks OK on the label. But it is actually vegetable oil blasted with hydrogen so that it behaves like saturated fat.
The hydrogen makes the fat harder, which is why it sticks to your arteries. It’s also why it’s solid at room temperature (mono and polyunsaturated fats are usually oils). This solidity is desirable for food manufacturers as it adds substance and body to the product, whereas the healthier oils make things too squidgy and oily to the touch.
Many foods sold as ‘low fat’ are loaded with hydrogenated stuff, plus extra sugar (which you then make into fat).
Hydrogenation is a chemical process whereby ordinary vegetable oils are chemically altered to make them so hard that they won’t melt in your hand. Basically a complete adulteration of the original (healthy) oil occurs. In the effort to make foods last longer in the supermarket, all traces of essential fatty acids are obliterated from processed foods, and hydrogenated fats take their place. A brief look at how hydrogenated oil is made will show that it cannot be conducive to health:
1 Vegetable oil is mixed thoroughly with fine particles of nickel or copper.
It is then heated to a very high temperature (about 200 degrees celsius) and held at that heat for 6 hours.
Meanwhile, hydrogen gas is pumped through the mixture at high pressure, and then the excited hydrogen atoms penetrate the vegetable oil molecules and chemically change them into ‘transfats’ (‘trans fatty acids’). These are new, complex substances that are not found in nature, except at low levels in some animal fats.
The mixture is then cooled down to form tiny hard plastic-like beads. These hard beads are known as ‘hydrogenated oil’.
The beads of hydrogenated oil are mixed with liquid vegetable oil and heated up again to a high temperature. when this mixture cools you have margarine. Margarine made like this can contain ‘trans-fats’ at levels up to 40%.
Many people thought that the great health debate between butter and margarine had been resolved long ago: butter had too much saturated fat and encouraged heart disease and obesity.
Margarine received a clean bill of health, because it was high in polyunsaturated fats and low in the heavier saturated fats. Nobody took much account of the fact that margarine is high in hydrogenated fat, the chemically transformed fat rich in unusual trans-fats.
I do have a problem with the word “squidgy”. Is this a technical term? ;-)
out:)
By d.walker
June 14, 2006 4:55 PM | Link to this
no,that’s why it’s called fast food,it’s no secerate that this type of food is not the most healthy you can eat,so you take the chance!!!!!!!!!!
By B.B
June 14, 2006 6:27 PM | Link to this
Everyone knows fast food is unhealthy. Especially food that is deep fried. I agree with making a fast food place post the nutrition facts, but filing a lawsuit is just a way for someone to make a quick buck. I think it’s stupid myself. Let people cook and eat what they want and deal with the decisions they made. We are adults!
By Ecacofonix
June 18, 2006 4:25 PM | Link to this
Yes, the center’s claim is absolutely correct…
Trans fatty acids tend to raise the level of low density lipoproteins (LDLs = bad) and lower the level of high density lipoproteins (HDLs = good). These changes in blood lipids (cholesterol levels) may increase the risk of heart disease (atherosclerosis) in some people. Dieticians generally recommend the use of mono-unsaturated, unhydrogenated oils and the avoidance of trans fatty acids found in french fries, cookies and crackers.
Some thots…
Ec @ Plant Oils Database - http://www.plantoils.in