Lawyers to ice cream sellers: fuck you

[Guest I'm That Damn Zzzzz]

http://www.washtimes.com/business/20030724...02533-1344r.htm

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.

   

 

Thank you, gentle folks at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. I thought gorging myself with a gallon of Haagen-Dazs every morning was the best thing for my health, and it was a coincindence my ass doubles in size every month.

Anyhoo, I'm using my share of the settlement money to by yet more ice cream. [/lame sarcasm]

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

This reminds me of the fuckers trying to make the "Surgeon General's WARNING" portion of cigarette packs bigger than the brand name.

 

WE KNOW IT'S BAD FOR US, WE LIKE IT ANYWAY. FUCK OFF.

[Guest Slapnuts00]

Seriously. I work at a grocery store and if customers want ciggarettes they have to ask us (the cashiers) to leave the line, unlock a case and get them and then ID them. Its a tremendous waste of time. If kids want to buy cigarettes fuck em let them! Who fucking cares. If they're stupid enough to start smoking than the consequences will be their own damn fault. (rant over, and sorry if I offended any smokers)

[Rendclaw 0]

of course the smoking lawsuit is to blame for this latest round of lawsuits....

 

We are turning into a country of sue-crazy, money-grubbing sheep.

[Guest Bannable Offense]

*sues Rendclaw for indirectly calling him a sue-crazy, money-grubbing sheep*

 

How dare you slander my good name? I'LL SUE! I'LL SUE! I'LL SUE!

 

*does everybody else a favor and kills himself like any other sue-happy sheep should*

[Guest Cancer Marney]

(rant over, and sorry if I offended any smokers)

Fuck no. I smoke like a chimney and I wish your attitude were more prevalent.

[Guest EricMM]

Uh, I worked in a Baskin Robbins and let me tell you, there is a nutrition facts list right there on the wall. Ice cream isn't a meal, it's a dessert. Ice cream is not supposed to be nutritious, it's supposed to be delicious. And it IS.

 

It's like, lawyers are complaining that people who ate too much dessert got fat? It's insanity! Kids all learn to eat as few sweets and fats since the first grade, how anyone can honestly claim that Ice cream is dairy and not sugar is beyond me...

 

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.

I gotta say tho, this is pretty amazing how they cram all those calories into one little uh milkshake? what is a dazzler? Everyone knows H-D icecream is bad for you anyways. The only thing I get from B-R is the Peach Passion fruit Smoothie, made from fruit, yogurt, ice and juice. It's got a couple hundred calories, like 300 or so, but it's not rediculous. I don't get it because it's more healthful, I just prefer sucking my desserts through straws

[Guest Lil Naitch]

Seriously. I work at a grocery store and if customers want ciggarettes they have to ask us (the cashiers) to leave the line, unlock a case and get them and then ID them. Its a tremendous waste of time. If kids want to buy cigarettes fuck em let them! Who fucking cares. If they're stupid enough to start smoking than the consequences will be their own damn fault. (rant over, and sorry if I offended any smokers)

good lord, I totaly didn't recognize Jarrett in that pic.

 

And will these idiots please STOP witht he FRIVILOUS LAWSUITS!

[Guest La Parka Es Mi Papa]

Hey, I say keep the lawsuits up. They're providing me with a great deal of entertainment.

[Guest Choken One]

Seriously. I work at a grocery store and if customers want ciggarettes they have to ask us (the cashiers) to leave the line, unlock a case and get them and then ID them. Its a tremendous waste of time. If kids want to buy cigarettes fuck em let them! Who fucking cares. If they're stupid enough to start smoking than the consequences will be their own damn fault. (rant over, and sorry if I offended any smokers)

Why not just ID them in the first place?

[Guest Vyce]

Christ, this just gets more ridiculous every goddamn week.

 

Look, America is one of the few nations wealthy enough to actually have too much damn food to eat. Enough with this bullshit - just be thankful you have that food. There are hundreds of millions of people right now who spend their days in starvation that would shank you like a fucking prison inmate for that pint of Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey.

 

I must paraphrase Cal Thomas here: We're all going to die, I'm going to have an ice cream cone on the way.

[Guest Prime Time Andrew Doyle]

What dumbfucks think of this shit. Why the hell give fat fuckers ideas to get rich quick. This is another example of lawyers trying to get a big name by saying something totally outrageous. How long before some fatty fuck decides to sue a ice cream company saying they got them fat or didnt tell them it was bad for their health if they got fat. Lets just pray to God that the frivilous (sp?) McDonalds lawsuit gets thrown out and sends a message loud and clear to the money thirsty lawyers not to take up such cases. If the fat lazy fucks would get off their asses and exercised more often or had more of a balanced diet, they wouldn't wouldn't be so fat, instead trying to cash in on a big corparation.

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

Its ashame we need the government to tell us the Ice Cream isn't healthy.

 

Of course I suppose there are people that think along the lines of:

 

Ice cream is made with milk, milk does a body good, so Ice cream must be as well.

 

So in a way, the Got Milk ads from the Milk industry are to blame.

[Guest BDC]

These lawsuits have got to be the best example of outright idiocy I've ever seen. These people, by not taking responsibility for what they actually did themselves, are basically saying "I'm incompetent! I can't look out for my own health! Gimme some money!" I mean, if the nutritional facts were actually listed on the side of the carton/quart/whatever, how many of the people in question would have read them?

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Seriously. I work at a grocery store and if customers want ciggarettes they have to ask us (the cashiers) to leave the line, unlock a case and get them and then ID them. Its a tremendous waste of time. If kids want to buy cigarettes fuck em let them! Who fucking cares. If they're stupid enough to start smoking than the consequences will be their own damn fault. (rant over, and sorry if I offended any smokers)

I know, and they always buy them when I'm in the express lane -- I swear it takes at least 5 freakin' minutes to buy these cancer sticks. You'd think the tobacco in these things were gold chips or something.

 

Oh, I have nothing new to add to the I-hate-lawyers talk that has already come before me...

[Swift Terror 0]

The only good thing about this lawsuit is that they are going after the socially-conscious, environmentally-conscious, ACLU-friendly, tree-hugging hippies Ben & Jerry!! Oh the sugary-sweet, delicious irony.

[Guest EricMM]

Be careful, irony that delicious is probably bad for you.