Food fight! This time, over grilled chicken (with update)

There's jostling going on in the world of food!

The skirmish is between a group called Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine and seven national restaurant chains, including Burger King, McDonald's and TGI Fridays. PCRM, an animal-rights group with links to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, filed a lawsuit in L.A. against all seven for knowingly exposing customers to a cancer-causing chemical in ... nope, not fries.

                          Not cheeseburgers.

                                      Drumroll...

... grilled chicken sandwiches. You know, the healthy alternative.

Grilling chicken causes formation of a chemical called PhIP, of a class of chemicals called heterocyclic amines that form when meats are cooked at high heat. PCRM claims that warnings should be placed in eateries to warn consumers of this risk under Proposition 65. That's the law that's responsible for those often-quite-perplexing signs on the sides of buildings, etc., that say "This area contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, or birth defects or other reproductive harm."

(And then you look around and wonder what and where the risk lies. Or you just go, "Eh. Another of those signs.")

You might not think PCRM is going to win this one, since last week California Supervising Deputy Atty. Gen. Edward Weil argued -- as PCRM and Burger King tried to hash out a settlement -- that “provision of the warning would not be in the public interest” because the levels of the chemical in chicken weren't high enough to constitute risk and also because “warnings need not be provided where the chemical in question is created by a process [cooking] that actually has the net effect of making the food safer to eat, i.e., killing bacteria.”

In other words, it's actually quite a good idea to cook meat rather than eat it raw. (That is -- if you eat meat at all.)

Yet in an e-mail, PCRM says Burger King has settled and begun placing signs in its restaurants -- but Burger King hasn't returned our calls yet so we don't know if it's true. (Have you seen any?)

UPDATE: Burger King e-mailed a statement:

"A private plaintiff sued a large number of restaurants in California that serve grilled chicken, claiming that California law requires warnings because of the presence of PhIP, a natural by-product of cooking chicken. Although the California Attorney General concluded that this PhIP in grilled chicken poses no significant risk and would not require a warning, the plaintiff proceeded with the lawsuit. Rather than expend resources on litigation, Burger King Corp. settled the lawsuit in July of 2008, by including information on PhIP in its nutritional posters."

"Health-conscious Americans have long steered away from fried chicken, but they have no idea that grilled chicken may be as bad or worse," says PCRM President Neal Barnard in a news release. Meanwhile, David Martosko, director of research for the Center for Consumer Freedom, a restaurant trade group, had this to say in a statement: "The animal rights movement will stop at nothing to scare Americans into adopting a PETA-approved diet." And in an e-mail: "A cancer warning on chicken? That's practically the Holy Grail for the animal rights movement." 

It's exciting, isn't it? Stay tuned!

-- Rosie Mestel

Photo credit: Seth Perlman /AP

Comments

[Josh Harper]

Good Lord -- Is the Physicians Committee an animal rights group? There goes their credibility.

No wonder they wanted cancer warnings on chicken! What's next? Pulling hot dogs out of school lunches?

[Lauren G.]

I read that eating lots of tofu can raise your risk of breast cancer, because of the surplus of estrogen in all that soy protein. So if the vegetarian food police tell me beef will give me colon cancer (which I doubt), and grilled chicken will give me some other kind of cancer, what's the alternative?

Maybe one day we'll wake up and find out that EVERY food contributes to cancer somehow. And EVERY food contributes to good health too. So all this worry-wart nonsense was for naught.

In my book, that will be a good day. Hey -- maybe veal will wind up being the next "superfood." Wouldn't that be ironic?

[Laura Beth]

PCRM is NOT an animal rights group. They are doctors, researchers and nutritionists who use the OLDEST form of medicine, FOOD, to prevent and reduce disease!
Very misleading to call them that although in my book, that is not a negative as animal rights and human rights are inextricably linked.
They adhere to the first LAW in medicine that includes all living beings, "First, do NO harm," and they understand the huge consequences to our so called "health care" system from eating the way most Americans eat.
Our nation, quickly using trade pacts to expand the sale and promotion of meat and dairy around the world, IS the living result of this way of eating. And as we see from Dr. T. Colin Campbell's book, The China Study, we are what we eat.
To me, the real tragedy is how narrowly most people look at their food choices and ignore the larger issues of hideous cruelty to animals, www.meat.org www.butterballcruelty.com and the environmental catastrophe from raising tens of billions of farmed animals on a planet already in decline from livestock production and the inputs required.
It was so easy to give up meat and dairy. Finding out the health benefits besides sickening abuses inherent in the meat and dairy industry, opened the world of vegan. The best way to eat and live.
That human health, including children with arteries of 45 year olds(not from plant foods but from the ONLY foods that contain saturated fats and cholesterol animal based foods), are filling hospitals, ER's and operating rooms, should serve as a clue to the fact that something is terribly wrong.
Could it be that everything IS connected and clearly, our diets have come back to haunt us? What tragic poetic justice for the poor non-humans being eaten.
www.plantbasednutrition.org www.heartattackproof.com

[Nancy]

To the poster who asked..what's next, removing hotdogs from school lunches?...too late, they already tried THAT one before coming up with this one on chicken. What vegans and vegetarians fail to take into account is that there is not enough viable crop ground in the country, or in the world, to sustain feeding the people of the world on the diet they think we should all be eating. They totally ignore facts that plants do not provide all the nutrition required for the human body and the brain to develop as they should. They ignore facts like grilled chicken does not contaim enough PhlP to put humans at risk eating it.
Laura Beth...did it ever occur to you that maybe..just MAYBE..the reason you see kids with bad arteries is not due to having meat in their diets, but having chips, candy, cookies, etc. in their diets? That maybe it's in part due to possibly a mother who smoked during pregnancy, or genetic heritablitlity, chemicals used to grow food?
Vegans and vegetarians want to blame all the ills of the human race on eating meat when there are many factors, both in diet and environment that contribute to health problems. One in particular for ME is trying to avoid ulcers from people trying to shove their beliefs down the throats of everyone else. They can't be happy with just eating what makes them happy and allowing the rest of us to do the same.
This garbage with the lawsuit over grilled chicken is totally riduculous and I hope the rest of the resturants involved will go ahead and fight it in court. When the trial is concluded, I hope they turn around and sue the PCRM for damages of a frivilous lawsuit.
Anyone who doesn't think this is linked to animal rights interests is sadly mistaken. Where you see PETA and HSUS causing trouble, you also see groups like the PCRM.
Maybe if vegans and vegetarians ate animal proteins PROVEN to stimulate brain function, they would understand that animals, while wonderful companions for many people, and in many cases treated like family members, they are still animals. Animals who don't have the cognizance to understand what rights are, do not understand the difference between right and wrong, and do not need to be granted human rights. The only 'right' they have is to be treated kindly and humanely, whether raised for pets or for food.

[Nancy]

An excerpt from an artilcle by consumerfreedom.com
"PCRM has well-documented ties to the animal rights movement, including
over $1.3 million in financing from People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals (PETA). More than two-thirds of PCRM's budget now comes directly
from Nanci Alexander, the wealthy founder of the Animal Rights
Foundation of Florida.

PCRM's leader, a non-practicing psychiatrist, is also a past president
of The PETA Foundation. Less than four percent of PCRM's members are
actually physicians."

Anyone else want to claim this group has no ties to the animal rights agenda?

[Catherine A.]

If in order to make a food "safe" to eat, a restaurant has to cook it at such a high temperature that it then forms a cancer-causing substance, maybe they shouldn't be serving that food in the first place…

[Susanne W.]

As a consumer, I'm thankful that Burger King has decided to step up and inform its customers of this serious health risk. Cancer risk is not something to be taken lightly. Unfortunately, most consumers, myself included, were convinced that grilled chicken was actually one of the healthiest options on many menus. I hope the other restaurants in this lawsuit will follow Burger King's lead and alert their customers to this hazard before it's too late. As more people realize the health risks associated with grilled and processed meats, they can move away from these foods and fill up on healthier foods. Lately, I've been eating lots of fruits and vegetables to try to boost my immune system and fight disease (and to make up for all those years I turned to grilled chicken for a "healthy" meal).

[Gabrielle]

Laura Beth, most animals raised for food are treated well contrary to what PETA says. Yes, there is animal abuse on farms, but these incidents are few and far between. The videos you see on PETA's site are pretty old, some of them being twenty years old. Most animals are treated far better than they were twenty years ago, thanks to the Animal Welfare Act. Abusing an animal actually ruins the quality of the meat, milk, and eggs. Plus, it isn't good production value for the farmers. Antibiotics are used only when an animal is sick or has an infection. The leader of PCRM, Dr. Neal Bernard, is a non-practicing psychiatrist, not a medical doctor. However, since he is for animal rights, he must know more than any doctor or nutritionist. Of course, that is ridiculous. PETA members and supporters don't have any concept of what nature is really like. It isn't Disney fare at all, though it has shown how cruel nature can be. Animals don't hang out together and sing songs, but some do cooperate to accomplish a task. Just like humans, they are capable of being cruel, even if they don't understand the concept. Examples include chimpanzees torturing the animals they hunt for sport and killing infants to make females fertile. Lions, leopards, and orcas have been known to hunt their prey for sport. Wolves will start to eat their prey when it's still alive. Last but not least, animals may feel pain, but the majority of their emotions run on instinct alone, and this is for most species. Very few species actually have lifelong bonds with their offspring. Others leave their offspring once they can fend for themselves or before they are born, if they lay eggs. An example of a species severing bonds with its offspring is the tiger. Tigresses nurture their cubs for three years before leaving them. After that, her emotional bond with them is permanently severed. She won't protect them from danger as adults. This is how nature works. It's not pretty, and most animals never make it to adulthood. This is something the PCRM will never get. Neither will PETA.

[Dr. J]

Whether you agree with of disagree with Dr. Bernard. I believe he has an MD and completed a medical residency.

[Frank]

A medical residency? Yes. In Psychiatry. True story.