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Lawyers scream about ice
cream
By Marguerite
Higgins
THE WASHINGTON
TIMES
Trial lawyers and a consumer health
group are teaming up to go after America's ice cream, sending out
legal notices to six major chains this week as the group released a
study criticizing ice cream's nutritional value.
They sent letters to Baskin-Robbins
Inc., Ben & Jerry's Homemade Holdings Inc., Cold Stone Creamery,
the Haagen-Dazs Shoppes Inc., TCBY and Friendly Ice Cream Corp.,
telling the chains to add healthier alternatives and put nutritional
facts on their store menu boards or face potential litigation.
"Your failure to disclose such obviously
material information as unusually large calorie and saturated-fat
loads may violate state consumer-protection laws and/or your
common-law duty to disclose material facts, and may invite lawsuits
from concerned consumers, legal-action organizations, or even state
officials," read one letter addressed to Haagen-Dazs President David
Keil.
The letter was signed by George
Washington University law professor John Banzhaf III, a leader in
the obesity-lawsuit movement, and Michael F. Jacobson, executive
director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
It's the third type of notice Mr.
Banzhaf has sent in the last month since organizing a conference on
obesity lawsuits.
The warning highlights
a report released Wednesday — National Ice Cream Day — by the CSPI,
a Washington nonprofit, health-advocacy group that has been
criticizing a range of snacks and fatty foods for the last 30 years.
The center, which has reported health
problems with pizza, movie theater popcorn and Chinese food, among
others, in the past, said a number of sundaes, waffle cones and
milkshakes often have more than a entire day's worth of fat and
calories in one serving.
"We know
consumers don't assume that ice cream is a diet food, but most
probably aren't aware how much stuff is in one portion," Mr. Banzhaf
said.
For example, a Haagen-Dazs
Mint-Chip Dazzler has 1,270 calories and 38 grams of saturated fat,
about the same as eating a steak, salad and baked potato, the report
said.
But ice cream lovers and
manufacturers in the $20 billion industry argue the dairy food is an
"indulgence" that consumers understand is naturally high in fat.
The United States leads the world in
annual production of ice cream and related frozen desserts, with
more than 1.6 billion gallons in 2001, according to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
"We are
making products available that are low in fat, but most people know
that ice cream is an indulgent product to be enjoyed in moderation,"
Ben & Jerry's spokeswoman Chrystie Heimert said.
Kevin Donnellan, spokesman for Cold
Stone Creamery, said the company had not received the letter. The
company sells lower-calorie options, such as yogurt, sorbet and
low-fat mix-ins.
Susan Ruland,
spokeswoman of the international Ice Cream Association, part of a
Washington trade group, said the task of putting out nutritional
content would be "too cumbersome" for most restaurants.
"Ice cream shops thrive on creativity,
and it would be extremely difficult for them to write out on the
menu the calorie and fat count of each and every item," Ms. Ruland
said.
While Baskin-Robbins' Canadian
stores have displayed some nutritional content above ice cream tubs
for the past 15 years, the world's largest ice cream chain has no
immediate plans to make a similar change in U.S. stores, Senior
Marketing Director Joe Adney said.
Mr.
Jacobson, CSPI's co-founder, said he hoped the letters, which he
signed to support Mr. Banzhaf, put enough legal pressure on the
chains to force such a change on a wider scale.
Mr. Jacobson said food manufacturers are
pushing consumers to eat cheaply priced foods in larger portions,
"which ends up influencing consumer waistlines."
Mr. Banzhaf said he expects ice cream
restaurants to make changes next year. "They're going to be just
watching what happens this summer, but there is a real possibility
for changes to take place next spring," he said, citing recent
nutrition-policy changes by Kraft Foods Inc. and McDonald's Corp.
More than 100 lawyers and health
lobbyists met in Boston June 20-22 to map out a strategy of filing
obesity-liability lawsuits, particularly against the food industry.
The goal of the conference was not to
put fast-food companies out of business, but to move them to offer
healthier alternatives, Mr. Banzhaf said, adding that lawyers can
win hefty settlements like the $246 billion one against four major
tobacco companies.
Mr. Banzhaf has sent
notices to five fast-food chains about the legal danger of the
purportedly addictive properties in their food and to the Seattle
Public School Board on the ramifications of its soda contract with
Coca-Cola Co. Inc.
The duo is undeterred
by a recent Gallup Poll indicating that nine of 10 Americans oppose
holding the fast-food industry legally responsible for rising
obesity rates in the country, now killing 300,000 people every year.
"There is less support out there for
litigation, but people love nutritional fact labels and are
frustrated they can't get that same information when they go in a
restaurant," Mr. Jacobson said.
He
helped D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson, at-large Democrat, draft
a bill mandating restaurant chains in the District put nutritional
information on menus or menu boards.
The
council is expected to hold hearings after returning from its summer
recess.
Mr. Banzhaf noted that even
though only a small group of people was outraged over McDonald's
failure to disclose the use of beef fat in french fries, the
fast-food giant shelled out $10 million in a settlement.
He said ice cream chains, which offer
some nutrition facts about products on their Web sites, should have
the information readily available to customers who want to count
their calories.
"Customers are entitled
to get nutrition information at the counter when they make their
order, not buried on some Web site," he said.
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