Today’s frivolous lawsuit: McDonald’s
Three seperate lawsuits are now facing the McDonald’s corporation. And all three of them are going to get thrown out, if I’m understanding them correctly. All three center around McDonald’s french fries, which McDonald’s publicly acknowledged last week contain milk and wheat ingredients. One child allergic to gluten became ill after eating the fries, and a woman in Illinois with celiac disease also became ill. Finally, one women in California who has sworn off animal products sued and claimed she wouldn’t have eaten the fries if she had known they contained animal products.
I’ll start with the last, since it’s the easiest: You’re in a McDonald’s, and you expect something to not contain animal products? The air in McDonald’s probably contains animal products. The fries are cooked in the same oil as the Chicken McNuggets. Put two and two together lady. Same goes for the folks with gluten problems. Why are you at McDonald’s? Celiac disease requires a specific (gluten-free) diet that fits your need. McDonald’s isn’t part of that diet. And there are plenty of bread products in the vicinity that I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near McDonald’s if I was allergic to wheat.
Don’t sue a company because their food made you fat or because you’re allergic to gluten and you thought “the fries are safe”. Save lawsuits for real issues that matter. Like their coffee being too hot.
Edit: We’re going down the rabbit hole, Alice! Last week, McDonalds claimed their fries contained allergen products. Today they issued a press release saying the opposite. Curiouser and Curiouser. Apparently, I’m not alone in the confusion over this.
Technorati Tags: McDonalds, legal, lawsuit
Tags: News
February 19th, 2006 at 9:23 pm
This is a little more reasonable than you think. Celiac disease isn’t a “typical” food-allergy response like shellfish or peanuts — “allergic to wheat” doesn’t mean “can’t breathe the air”; it’s a reaction to gluten in the intestine and you have to actually ingest things to respond to them. IIRC the effects aren’t as acute or dangerous, either.
But it’s not like having celiac disease makes you a second-class citizen — McDonalds has salads, etc. — and it’s not like it’s obvious that french fries would have wheat ingredients. It would be an easy mistake to make.
February 19th, 2006 at 10:53 pm
Yet, as a lactose intollerant person, I’ve known for awhile (2+ years) that McDonalds fries contain milk ingredients…all you have to do is read the ingredients list that they are required to post.
February 21st, 2006 at 2:21 am
McDonald’s assured the celiac community for years that its fries were gluten free. They claimed that the fries were cooked in separate oil from products such as McNuggets. We trusted them. Apparently they decided to lie to us. That is deeply disturbing given the nature of celiac disease.
February 21st, 2006 at 8:32 am
Fair point, Meddy. That changes the scope of the lawsuit entirely if McDonald’s insisted its products were gluten free, but knew they weren’t. That opens up a whole slew of potential liability. It will be interesting to see why McDonald’s claimed its fries were gluten free.
I still think the “McDonald’s fries contain animal products” lawsuit is total garbage. I’m willing to reconsider on the gluten cases.
February 21st, 2006 at 3:10 pm
There’s some gray areas in McDonalds fries with regards to Celiac. SOME McDonalds use dedicated fryers for their fries and in those places we’ve always been told that the fries are GF. However, in this new issue, McDonalds claims that the wheat has been processed in such a way that the protein that we are intolerant to is pulled out. It is entirely possible that this is accurate. (Vinegar is processed from wheat but the processing that makes vinegar removes the protein gliadin making vinegar acceptable for some celiacs, others still have problems with it…) There is some disagreement in the celiac community about this lawsuit actually. Some of us feel that it is not the best tack to take because McDonalds (unlike many restaurants) is actually willing to work with us on celiac issues. A lawsuit like this is what helps keep restaurants from being celiac friendly. Plenty of celiacs have been eating at McDonalds for years without issue, which lends some credibility to the theory that the protein is pulled out and the fries are not a problem. While not every celiac has an immediate reaction, there are still plenty that do and I haven’t heard a rumbling from my celiac listserv about these in the past.
February 22nd, 2006 at 4:38 pm
Joanne said it right. The problem with McDonalds is that they’ve had a list on their website of gluten-free foods, with french fries being one of those designated GF foods. My daughter loves to go to McD’s and have a happy meal, minus the bun (granted not the healthiest lunch, but she’s on the skinny side…). McD’s just released a statement saying that they’ve had the fries tested and they are indeed gluten-free. The rub is that they didn’t disclose the possibility upfront.
For example, Stonyfield Farms yogurt is flavored with natural flavorings, some of which might which be derived from wheat. However, the flavorings are distilled, like vinegar, so that there are no gluten proteins left. When you call Stonyfield Farms, they tell you all this upfront so you can make your own decision. For my family, we happily eat lots of Stonyfield Farms and don’t have a reaction. Others though might be ultrasensitive and not feel comfortable eating that brand. The point is we are able to make an educated decision based on what is best for our own family.
McDonald’s KNEW their oil contained wheat and dairy ingredients, although since the proteins had been removed, they didn’t feel the need to disclose that information, and took it a step further to list the fries as GF without having them tested (taking the word of their supplier). Frankly, they should have given the consumers the facts and let us decide. Personally, even though they’re unhealthy, I’ll still eat them and feed them to my kids, being convinced that they are indeed gluten-free (esp. based on the latest testing they’ve had done).
But back to the lawsuit…I think it is a bad idea. I’m not a fan of lawsuits anyway (I agree 100% with the hot coffee and food making you fat suits as pure hogwash). What makes these lawsuits even worse is that companies willing to put out gluten-free menus won’t do it anymore in fear of a future lawsuit. I depend on these restaurants and would hate to see them scared off.
The only area I disagree with Joanne on is the use of dedicated fryers. Almost all McD’s have GF fryers, the exceptions being ones at the airport, stadium, etc. Those places don’t have large enough spaces for separate fryers. A quick question to the manager clears the issue up right away. For the most part though, every McD’s I’ve been to around the US uses a separate fryer.
As for the vegan thing, I think I’d be more upset since I wouldn’t care whether it is the protein or not, but I also agree that if you are a vegan, then you shouldn’t support McDonalds in the first place.