Suit seeks ban on Oreo cookies Tuesday, May 13, 2003 Posted: 5:57 AM EDT (0957 GMT)
SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) -- A lawyer who has spent much of his life enjoying Oreo cookies has sued Kraft Foods Inc. seeking to ban the much-loved cookies in California because they contain trans fat, an ingredient he calls inedible.
Kraft boasts that people have eaten 450 billion Oreo cookies since they introduced the chocolate wafer sandwich cookies with a creamy filling in 1912.
But if British-born attorney Stephen Joseph has his way, that culinary love affair will come to an end, at least until Kraft stops using hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils to make the cookies.
Kraft calls the suit filed in Marin County Superior Court just north of San Francisco baseless but Joseph says he is taking advantage of a provision of the California civil code that holds manufacturers liable for common products if not "known to be unsafe by the ordinary consumer."
The ingredient is used in thousands and thousands of products. In an interview on Monday, Joseph said, "I am probably full of hydrogenated fat because until two years ago I didn't know about it. I resent the fact that I have been eating that stuff all my life."
Hydrogenation adds hydrogen gas to vegetable oil, helping to solidify it into products such as margarine. Health experts say the process makes them as unhealthy as real butter, if not more so, as the hydrogenated fats act like cholesterol in the body. Trans fats are common in cookies and crackers and part of both the cookie and filling in Oreos.
'Shocking' case "That's what's so shocking; that it has been so well hidden," said Joseph, who has set up an advocacy group called BanTransFats.com Inc. "I hope if nothing else comes of this lawsuit that more people know about trans fat than before."
Kraft says it is already testing alternatives to trans fats but said they will vigorously fight the lawsuit.
Its parent company Altria Group Inc. is also the owner of cigarette maker Philip Morris USA, itself no stranger to legal battles over product safety.
"We know the importance of good nutrition and we are committed to helping people lead a healthy lifestyle, but we have no choice than to draw the line against baseless lawsuits like this," Michael Mudd, Kraft's senior vice president for corporate affairs, said in an interview.
"We've been ... exploring ways to reduce trans fat in Oreos and those efforts are continuing," he continued. "You can make a cookie without trans fat but what you're trading off is the unique taste and texture that people have come to expect."
U.S. companies, the world masters in processed foods, are showing an awareness of trans fats. Frito-Lay, part of PepsiCo Inc., announced last year it would eliminate trans fats from snacks such as Doritos. McDonald's Corp. also said it would make French fries with less trans fat.
In February, a federal court threw out a lawsuit against McDonald's that claimed its burgers and fries cause obesity.
The commissioner for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said the agency will soon require labeling information about trans fats in foods.
11 billion Oreo cookies are eaten each year, according to the company's Web site.
Posts: 7198 | From: Near Portland, Oregon, USA | Registered: Feb 2000
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Geez, another f***ing lawyer from La La Land, who would'a guessed. And a Brit on top of it. We all know what a FREE and wonderful society they have. I'm supprised he hasn't sued becuase of the dreaded dihydrogen oxide that in so much of what we eat??? It must be a government conspiracy.
Posts: 376 | From: Friendswood, TX | Registered: Jun 2002
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Next we will have the lawyers after the "OOPS" Oreo (just saw the comercial) saying that it's not right to have an Oreo thats white on the outside and chocolat filling Posts: 3091 | From: Canton Mi. | Registered: Oct 2002
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MMMM oreos I still have to try the new coffee and cremes Posts: 1632 | From: Rindge NH, formerly Boylston MA | Registered: Feb 2000
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Doesn't that guy have anything else better to do with the taxpayers money. All he has to do is stop eating the darn cookies sheesh.
Typical typical typical. Complete udder nonsense.
Pass me an OREO with MILK !!!!!!!!!!! Make that a DOUBLE OREO !!!!!!!!!!!
Posts: 2841 | From: Westland, MI | Registered: Apr 2003
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Joey Red
You want me to take care of these guys for you?
Member # 550
posted
Two words "Get Laid" The guy is obviously not getting enough in his life. So, what does he have to do? Take it out on "America's favorite Sandwich Cookie". That just cost me 50 hairs and I don't have any more. Great! Fine! Ban it in Cali- more for the rest of us. Next thing you know they'll be smuggling Oreo's into the State with illegal aliens. Next come the Oreo bongs! Then you're shooting up with Oreo's. Then THEN!!!.....Out come the pink Cow robes!
And here I was thinking that Trans Fat is what clogs up your valve body and keeps you from shifting.
Oh and GINO!! I smell Unemployment checks! Can you buy chicken with that? Posts: 1413 | From: Wappingers Falls,NY | Registered: Jun 2000
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Fbodfather
They don't make songs about Volvos.
Member # 1119
posted
ya know....this just puts me
---up the wall
----past the pictures
---and on to the ceiling.
Someone ought to take that man (I use the word loosely) and his attorney and ship them off to points unknown. (or make them eat lots of transfatty whatever 'til they croak.) (OK, that wasn't very nice...I'm sorry. I'll go stand in the corner, now.
This is just ridiculous. I've had it with our legal system. You can't believe the lawsuits that I see coming in every day for stuff that is just so off-the-wall.
Can you say "Tort Reform?"
(by the way, my Grandmother is 101 years old and has been eating Oreos for as long as they've been around................)
[ 13. May 2003, 10:23 PM: Message edited by: Fbodfather ]
Posts: 749 | From: Detroit | Registered: Aug 2001
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I think they add enough preservatives to make up for it! ie...Scott's 101 year old grandmother...
Posts: 191 | From: Hudson Valley New York | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote: I've had it with our legal system. You can't believe the lawsuits that I see coming in every day for stuff that is just so off-the-wall.
Can you say "Tort Reform?" [/QB]
It is called the criminal justice system for a reason.... It is for[/B]the criminals not the innocent people. (just had to vent)
Posts: 204 | From: Mechanicsville, VA | Registered: Jan 2002
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THE CASE IS OVER............The evil lawyers have been defeated .
Heard on the way in that the case has been thrown out . Jeoy Red can live again and Gino had nothing to do with the case except that he started it in the 1st place
LONG LIVE THE OREO Posts: 3091 | From: Canton Mi. | Registered: Oct 2002
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Woooooohoooooooooooo..............Gotta love it. OREO 1 - Lawyer 0. Shutout Baby and a no hitter. Posts: 2841 | From: Westland, MI | Registered: Apr 2003
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