Tyson Drops Misleading Ads Claiming Chicken Is Healthy
Tyson Foods has pulled a series of misleading ads that claim its
chicken is “heart-healthy,” “natural,” and
“naturally wholesome,” in the face of a lawsuit by PCRM
charging the poultry giant with fraudulent advertising. Tyson is
the world’s largest producer of chicken products.
PCRM filed its complaint against Tyson Foods, Inc., in the Superior
Court of California, San Francisco, last year, noting that Tyson
had engaged in deceptive advertising practices by falsely representing
the health and safety of its chicken products.
“The sad truth is that our growing appetite for chicken is
a major contributor to the epidemic of heart disease, obesity, diabetes,
and other diet-related diseases sweeping this country,” says
PCRM senior counsel Daniel Kinburn. Americans currently eat more
than 1 million chickens per hour.
Kinburn noted that people eating chicken are at risk of heart disease,
stroke, and even death because of high levels of cholesterol and
saturated fat found in all chicken products—hardly a “heart-healthy”
set of outcomes.
Claims that commercially raised chickens are “natural”
or “naturally wholesome” are similarly inaccurate. Like
most major poultry concerns, Tyson raises chickens specifically
bred for abnormally fast growth. “Broiler-fryer” chickens
go from egg to market in only six weeks, during which time they
are treated with antibiotics and kept in crowded, filthy, and inhumane
conditions.
PCRM agreed to settle its suit this fall after a Tyson representative
advised the court that it had decided to discontinue the ads in
question and had no intention of running them in the future. In
response, PCRM agreed to dismiss its suit voluntarily, while retaining
the right to file a new action should Tyson renege on its agreement.
PCRM Online,
December 2004
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