McDonald’s Sued Over Fat in Cooking Oil

A San Francisco area talk show host has filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s Corp. accusing the world’s largest fast-food restaurant company of failing to switch to healthier lower-fat cooking oil as it had pledged.

A San Francisco area talk show host has filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s Corp. accusing the world’s largest fast-food restaurant company of failing to switch to healthier lower-fat cooking oil as it had pledged.McDonald’s said it had not yet seen of a copy of the lawsuit, filed on Thursday in federal district court in San Francisco.The lawsuit was filed on behalf of radio talk show host Katherine Fettke by attorney Stephen Joseph, who also has sued to stop Kraft Foods Inc. from selling its popular Oreo cookies in California to children because the cookies contain trans fatty acids.Trans fatty acids have been linked to increased levels of bad cholesterol and associated with clogged arteries.The lawsuit filed on Thursday, which is seeking class action status, alleges McDonald’s was not fully using a cooking oil with reduced levels of trans fatty acids and has yet to publicly disclose that in an effective manner.The company had said in September 2002 it would switch cooking oil for use in its fried foods in a step toward eliminating trans fatty acids from its menu.In the suit, Fettke claims that she would not have bought McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish and French fries for herself and Happy Meals, Chicken McNuggets and crispy chicken sandwiches for her children several times last year had she known the oil switch had not taken place.”If they had a solution, what’s the problem here?” Fettke told Reuters. “I thought I was getting a better choice as far as fast food goes.”McDonald’s spokeswoman Lisa Howard said the company’s oil switch was progressing, though at a slower-than-expected pace.”In February of 2003, we made a broad public statement that the change in our cooking oil was taking longer than anticipated and would be delayed,” she said in a statement.Since then, McDonald’s has reduced levels of trans fatty acids in its McNuggets and other chicken foods and the company is “committed to getting it right for our customers,” Howard said.(Source: Reuters, July 2004)