Doctors' suit: KFC grilled chicken a danger (dangerous levels of a cancer-causing chemical)

[Kadie]

Doctors' suit: KFC grilled chicken a danger
Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

(09-23) 14:29 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- After losing its first battle against fast-food restaurants, a doctors group went back to court Wednesday and accused the KFC chain of selling grilled chicken with dangerous levels of a cancer-causing chemical.

In a lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine accused KFC of violating California's Proposition 65, which requires businesses to warn customers if they are being exposed to substances that cause cancer or birth defects.

The chemical cited in the lawsuit, known as PhIP, was added to the state's list of carcinogens in 1994. The doctors group said an independent laboratory found the substance in every one of 12 grilled chicken samples bought from six East Bay KFC restaurants in May.

The suit seeks an order requiring customer warnings in all KFC restaurants in California and penalties to the state of as much as $2,500 a day for violations.

The organization, which has 7,000 physician members, made the same arguments last year in a suit against other restaurants that sell grilled chicken. Burger King agreed to warn customers of the presence of PhIP, but other defendants, led by McDonald's, held their ground and won a ruling from a Los Angeles judge dismissing the case.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/09/23/BACP19R4MA.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0RyPcqaSw

[Fridays Child]

1. Dammit. That stuff is good.

:(

[donco6]

2. I really like it, too.

Crap.

[virgogal]

7. Me too, I'll still eat it,I still smoke,and life is too short to worry about it.IMHO.

[BlooInBloo]

3. That's why I stick to original recipe.

No, that's not why, but I do. :P

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Quacks and scheisters.

PhIP's a natural consequence of cooking meat. It's a possible carcinogen, but no conclusive evidence it's a carcinogen in humans.

Lawyers are attempting to extort cash in a settlement.

The PCRM's an anti-science group linked to PETA. They advocate veganism and bans on animal testing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physicians_Committee_for_Responsible_Medicine

Former spokesman has also advocated killing scientists.

[nc4bo]

6. Whoops, you beat me to it.

Fear mongering and money train chasing.....

[nc4bo]

5. Not easy finding info on PhIP but from what I have found, this is a common

occurrence when cooking meat (any meat) at high temperatures.

Found this as an interesting read from '02:

http://www.springerlink.com/content/ce6j9bg5gr9lqyny/

PhIP (2-amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo<4,5-b>-pyridine, CAS no: 105650-23-5) is one heterocyclic amine that is found at high levels in cooked chicken. Chicken breast was cooked to a centre temperature of 72 °C using the following cooking methods: boiling, oven roasting, oven roasting in a special roasting-bag or in a clay pot, broiling, deep-frying and pan-frying. The temperature on the surface and at the centre was monitored by thermocouples during cooking, and these data, together with drip loss determined by means of weight reduction, were used to create temperature profiles and to calculate cook-values and rate of drip loss. The samples were analysed for PhIP using solid-phase extraction and HPLC. PhIP was detected in the broiled (0.07 ng/g), deep fried (0.02 ng/g) and pan-fried (0.04 30 ng/g) chicken breast. The cooking temperature and rate of drip loss had great impact on crust formation during pan-frying, and greatly affected the amount of PhIP formed. High temperature and high rate of drip loss were found to be most favourable for the formation of PhIP.

I can't imagine what's hiding in my BBQ ribs and chicken :S

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

12. So according to this, deep fried is the healthiest, although they don't give stats for

boiled or poached.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

13. Just to add, according to this PhIP will appear in home cooked chicken.

[JonQ]

16. They could always serve it raw

and avoid those carcinogens altogether.

[MadHound]

8. You're going to find this in any grilled meat

Go down this road and all that wonderful BBQ goes bye-bye.

Thanks, but I think I'll take my chances with PhIP.

[HopeHoops]

9. Even WITHOUT the chemicals the shit isn't fit to eat.

"I'll take a bucket of death-wish please - and coke."

[daleo]

10. I could eat it in my 20's

Now, it feels like drinking a cup of grease.

[stuball111]

11. Never eat the crap...

got sick on it 30 years ago, and haven't touched it since! Now... if they drum up something stupid like Smoking causing cancer, I might be concerned!:rofl:

[pinniped]

14. The suit should seek to ban their stupid commercials.

.

[Quantess]

15. Years ago, I vowed to never eat at KFC because they are mean to their chickens.

If I want fried chicken I'll go to Popeye's.

Then I found out Taco Bell is owned by the same company as KFC, so I vowed to never eat there, either. You know what, I don't miss it! If I want a taco, I get it from a local taqueria, which tastes 100x better, and is usually a better deal.

[Rude Dog]

17. PCRM

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a PETA front group.

I'm sorry, I don't listen to avowed terrorists or support their abuse of the system.

[azmouse]

18. People should stop eating that crap and learn to cook.

[Froward69]

19. Face it, without Fried Chicken and Jack Daniels

Life would not be worth living.