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| KFC Grilled Chicken. Photo: Erk Pod, Flickr. |
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) has sued Kentucky Fried Chicken over a carcinogen, PhIP, which the nutrition advocacy group says is in KFC's new grilled chicken. PhIP is a compound on California's list of carcinogens that is created when meat is grilled.
The PCRM filed the suit in San Francisco Superior Court for violating California's Proposition 65. This proposition mandates that businesses must warn customers if there are carcinogens in their products.
"Grilled chicken can increase the risk of cancer, and KFC consumers deserve to know that this supposedly healthy product is actually just as bad for them as high-fat fried chicken," said Neal D. Barnard, M.D., the president of PCRM, on the group's Web site. "KFC should post warnings because its aggressively marketed new product harbors a chemical that increases the risk of breast cancer, prostate cancer and other forms of this lethal disease."
But KFC says the chemical poses no health risk.
"The chemical referenced by PCRM is a natural byproduct of grilling chicken and many other foods, and occurs whether such foods are grilled in any restaurant or even at home," KFC spokesman Rick Maynard said in a statement.
Maynard cited the California Attorney General, who said in 2006: "It is clear that PhIP created by cooking chicken would be deemed to pose no significant risk, and would not require a warning."
This isn't the first time PCRM has gone after fast food giants. The organization made the same PhIP claim last year in a suit against, among others, Burger King, Chick-Fil-A and McDonald's. Burger King ended up being the only chain that settled with PCRM -- it now posts warning signs in its California outposts about the dangers of PhIP. The lawsuit was later dismissed.
[Via Nation's Restaurant News]
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