Lawsuits target chicken and its veggie substitutes

 Chicken, fake and real, looks to be a target of several consumer and nutrition groups.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is acting as co-counsel on a lawsuit filed today by an Arizona woman accusing Quorn Foods Inc. of not disclosing on labels the fact that some people have serious allergic reactions to the main ingredient in its Quorn line of meat substitutes.

The lawsuit seeks to have Quorn disclose that some people have allergic reactions to the main ingredient in its products on its package labels.

Quorn is derived from a protein rich fungus, which the company grows in large vats. The fungus, Fusarium venenatum, was discovered growing in a field in Buckinghamshire, England, in the late 1960s and developed as a food product.

"In the 1960s, people were concerned that we would run out of protein and started a search for new protein sources that could feed the world and discovered this fungus that grows naturally in soil. It makes a delicious and nutritious meat alternative. It has as much protein as eggs and as much fiber as broccoli on an ounce per ounce basis," said David Wilson, managing director of Quorn, which is a division Marlow Foods, a British company.

He said the lawsuit was frivolous and unwarranted.

"Quorn has been in the U.S. market since 2002 and has been enjoyed by millions of Americans. We have developed our labeling with the Food and Drug Administration and it is accurate and fair," Wilson said.

But the center, a Washington-based nonprofit food safety and nutrition watchdog group and a vocal critic of restaurant chains that offer salt- and fat-laden foods, disagrees. It said that more than 1,000 people have reported suffering from nausea, vomiting and diarrhea after eating Quorn's products, which include Chik’n Nuggets, Patties, Garlic & Herb Cutlets, Naked Cutlets, Recipe Tenders and Gruyere Cutlets.

According to the lawsuit, Kathy Cardinale, a 43-year-old advertising executive, ate Quorn’s Chik’n Patties on three separate occasions in 2008 and became "became violently ill" each time.

The lawsuit, which seeks class-action status, was filed in Superior Court in the Judicial District of Stamford-Norwalk in Connecticut, the state in which the U.S. offices of the British company are located.

Meanwhile, the vegan-oriented Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says it is readying a lawsuit against the giant KFC fast-food chain under California law for failing to warn consumers that the chain’s new grilled chicken product contains a dangerous carcinogen.

The anti-meat advocacy group said that it commissioned independent laboratory tests that show that KFC’s grilled chicken contains PhIP, a chemical that it said can increase a person’s risk of developing cancer even if consumed in small amounts.

Not disclosing the presence of the chemical violates California’s public health law, known as Proposition 65, the group contends. It plans to file the lawsuit next week in the Superior Court of the State of California, County of San Francisco.

Earlier this year, the group sued hot dog makers, claiming that their products increase cancer risk and should carry a warning label similar to what comes on tobacco products.

-- Jerry Hirsch

twitter.com/latimesjerry

Comments

[Lara]

Oh, good grief. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? If you eat something and it makes you sick...DON'T EAT IT!

A whopping 1,000 people have been made nauseous by the Quorn products? The liquid butter stuff that goes on movie popcorn makes me sick, but am I screaming for warnings on the dispenser? No...I just don't eat it!

My mom gets blisters on her mouth when she eats tomatoes -- a very common problem for millions of people. Should we sue someone to have warning labels put on tomatoes? No. People just don't eat them.

We have turned into a sue-happy society of whiners who take no personal responsibility for anything. It's sad.

[Natalie DeJohn]

Goodness. I swear there's nothing left to eat these days. It's always something.

[Louie]

Chicken in this country for the most part is just plain nasty. Unless you're eating free range, non corn fed chicken (which is a very small percentage of the chicken on the market), you're basically filling up on water and additives. I guess to each their own, but personally chicken products of any kind disgust me.

[Mary]

I had no idea that stuff was made from a fungus. It sure tastes good. I don't eat it any more because I finally read all the ingredients. It's not Vegan. There is some milk and egg in it. It was in the Vegan section of the market. Now I know to always read the labels.

Anyone else see the five major spelling, typographical errors in the article? I know the Times fired most of the proof readers but can't they at least get interns or something?

[Peter Harris]

The guy ate it 3 times and was violently ill each time. It must be some kind of tasty - I'm going to get me some.

[Marine Duhamel]

I think at this point in time, most people know that eating fast food is bad for them.
Why would you trust a huge corporation to care for your well-being? Good healthy products cost more and they're just following the basic"capitalist" business model and cutting costs by trimming expenses in an effort to increase their bottom line.
If this company can get a piece of the market by recreating 'chicken" products and selling those at a lower cost than real chicken to large multinational fast food corporations, who can blame them?
In an ideal world, corporation and company managers would care what happens to their customers and would try to sell the best possible product that would not endanger anyone. Unfortunately, if they can make money of (poor and uneducated and/or gullible) people, they will.
Rule #1: if you don't arm yourself with information about what you eat, chances are you're being played.
Rule #2: WHOLE foods (i.e unprocessed) have a lot more chance of being good for you.
Rule #3: Anything fried is pretty much poison.
Rule #4: And if it tastes great, it's probably has too much fat/sugar/salt for your own good.

[john]

but what about quorn fed chicken?

[Sandy]

"According to the lawsuit, Kathy Cardinale, a 43-year-old advertising executive, ate Quorn’s Chik’n Patties on three separate occasions in 2008 and became "became violently ill" each time."

Helloo-ooo. Getting violently ill the first time wasn't exciting enough for her, so she had to go back two more times?

[summerteeth]

it would behoove everyone to do what my mom has always touted: eat close to the earth, and try to cook all your own meals. period.

[amy lynn]

Trader Joes has VEGAN chicken (and vegan beef). Another great product called "Wheat of Meat" is also vegan (try Whole Foods). Forget Quorn and find a vegan chicken product.

[MotherLodeBeth]

I read labels in order to avoid peanuts and I notice that labels are careful to note that an item may have been produced on equipment that also produced products with peanuts. As well as other known food allegery items. So people with fungus sensitivities need to know if fungus is in an item. For some of us its a life and death issue. Have an allergic reaction and one can end up in the hospital!

[Peter]

First, it was genetically engineered chicken. Now it's a fungus?

[Tim Burke]

PhIP is not limited to grilled chicken, it comes from cooking any meat,fried, broiled or baked(even fish), the more well done the more PhIP. You can lower the levels by cooking with certain spices like rosemary,thyme,sage and garlic which can reduce the carcinogens by as much as 60%.

[Anaheim Mom]

If the item consumed was called CHICKEN it had better be chicken ...if it's something else then LABEL it correctly! I personally DON'T want preservatives nor color enhancers in my food...YUCK! BTW what's a veggie substitute?? ooooooooh YUCK! LOL... listen everyone...check it out...think about what YOU are eating and what YOU get from it ok?

[Matthew Weaver]

Fungus grown in a vat is not food for real people!

So, how many pieces of KFC grilled chicken would I have to eat to receive a dose comparable to that which presumably caused cancer in some lab animals?

I like KFC grilled chicken but I guess I could settle for a nice rare beef steak tomorrow. Oh well...

[Phil]

To: Louie,

""Unless you're eating free range, non corn fed chicken"".

Free range means the farmer leaves the door open, not that the chickens go out in the feild, they only do that if they want to go out.
Chickens eat grain and bugs, corn is a grain!

[Laura]

This issue may have gone unaddressed if not for this woman speaking up. It's not always easy to pinpoint throughout the course of a day or several days what it was that you ate that caused you to be ill. It's a shame that it took 3 ingestions to determine this product was the cause. Any product that is being sold as a "healthy alternative" on our trusted grocery shelves but causes food poisoning, (unrelated to an allergy or sensitivity) - simply because of it's content being harmful to HUMANS - should be removed immediately and the manufacturers held accountable. I applaud the bravery of this woman to come forward and stand up for the masses of people who choose to "not get involved" because it's easier. Given that this lawsuit is not seeking monetary reward, this selfless act can only be attributed to protecting future consumers from suffering as she did. One small step in holding our food suppliers accountable for manufacturing products that when consumed DO NOT cause violent illness - what a concept .

[Tom Thumb]

I ate a peanut the other day, and there was a little sticker on the side of the shell that said, "Warning this product contains peanuts"

[greg]

Anyone who eats something even once and becomes "violently ill" should not eat it again, that is just common sense. Why did she eat it twice more, just so she could sue over it? I have an allergy to corn, and expect there are tens of thousands of people who have a similar problem, but I don't expect a label on every corn based product saying it might make people sick. Many people have a negative reaction to one food or more and some seem to ignore the problem and continue eating them because they like the taste.

[Sara]

Quorn is not the stuff sold at KFC--it's two different lawsuits, two different issues. If you read the Quorn packaging, it tells you it's a chicken substitute, taste/texture like chicken, but made of a fungus that is naturally grown. Think mushroom.
I happen to love Quorn products--best chicken nugget substitute I've had...but probably wouldn't continue to eat it if it made me violently ill!