http://www.forbes.com/markets/curre...3markets18.html

On Tuesday, the Center for Science in the Public Interest sued fast-food chain KFC's parent company, YUM! Brands in an attempt to have a court force KFC to stop using partially hydrogenated oils in its cooking.

The class action lawsuit, on behalf of all consumers in the District of Columbia, was filed in the Superior Court there because of the district's "particularly hospitable" consumer laws, according to Jeff Cronin, a spokesperson for CSPI.

This litigation is part of the consumer group's multi-pronged strategy to get KFC and the entire restaurant industry to stop using the cooking oil, he said.

The complaint seeks damages and asks the court to stop the company from using partially hydrogenated oil in its cooking. Alternatively, CSPI asks the court to order the restaurants to place warnings about the oil in stores.

The CSPI hopes the lawsuit will be a catalyst for KFC to move away from partially hydrogenated oils, a leading category of trans fats, which the weight of medical evidence has linked to heart disease, says Cronin.

He says that a typical three-piece chicken combo meal at KFC contains more trans fat than should be eaten in a week.

In an e-mail statement, KFC said, "this is a frivolous lawsuit completely without merit and we intend to vigorously defend our position. All KFC products are safe to eat and meet or exceed all government regulations, and we take health and safety issues very seriously."

The company added that it has been reviewing options for alternative cooking oil.

The CSPI has asked the Food and Drug Administration in the past to take regulatory action against the use of partially hydrogenated oils in the restaurant industry. The FDA hasn't acted, so litigation and threatened litigation have become part of the CSPI's strategy to force companies to practice honest labeling and marketing.

Recently, the CSPI's threatened litigation against soda companies was a major impetus for the industry to pull carbonated beverages from schools, according to Cronin.

The FDA has, however, acted with respect to packaged foods. As of January 1, packaged food labels must disclose the amount of trans fat contained in the product. Restaurants don't have the same incentive, he said.

This is the first time the CSPI has targeted KFC with a lawsuit. The group filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission in 2003 after KFC began an ad campaign touting its food as healthy and even a way to lose weight. KFC settled FTC's charges in 2004.

Why target KFC? Cronin says chicken is often thought of as more healthy than burgers. In 2005, McDonald's settled a lawsuit filed in 2003 alleging it misled customers when it promised to lower the trans fat in cooking oil. Wendy's and Ruby Tuesdays have committed to lower the use of partially hydrogenated oil. CSPI hopes this lawsuit will be a catalyst for the entire industry, but the high amount of fat in KFC's food makes it CSPI's current target.

Jeepers, I wish "the industry", or better still, KFC, would just stand up to these guys and say "F*&- you. We're going back to using beef tallow". I would go running into their store, and buy, er, I dunno what, but there must be something I can eat. Of course, this is the problem with fried food and low carbing. A deep fried spinach leaf just doesn't taste as good without the thick layer of bread on the outside.

I use egg wash and crushed pork rinds. It tastes great.

That is funny. They meet or exceed all government regulations, but by the way we are looking into alternative cooking oils.

I couldn't believe how much trans fat was in their food when I seen the report on bbc news website... I think the highest i seen was 27g of trans fat

Luckily I could never afford to buy meals from these places...