McDonald Israel franchisers, Alonyal, is being sued for NIS 100 million in a class action motion that alleged an attempt to mislead eaters about sodium in the food. The salty food poses a health hazard, says plaintiff Yoram Peri, in elevating the risk of heart attack.
The petitioner, an industrial engineer, says McDonald's is presenting its offerings as "health products," even though this is "very far from the reality," as he states in his suit.
McDonald's stopped reporting the sodium content of its foods in 2005, and in any case, the sodium levels marked on the packaging were often misleading and incorrect, the suit states. Nutritional labeling that did appear was not presented in customary nutritional terms, in order to persuade the public to buy products while purposefully hiding their true nutritional value.
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As an example, Peri cited the chain's ketchup packets, which contain no information about sodium content. Other nutrition information required by law, such as the calorie count, protein and fat, are based on 10 grams of the product, instead of 100 grams, as is required by law.
Peri is seeking damages of NIS 3,000 per customer. The suit estimates 244,000 customers were affected.
McDonald's responded that as a pioneer in nutritional labeling, the chain has published brochures listing information collected in independent laboratory analyses, even though it is not required to do so. "Unfortunately, the sodium results were incorrect," it said.
"It should be kept in mind that this (corrected) information is less than 15% of the daily recommended amount, and that there is no health risk involved in the correctly labeled amount of sodium. In fact, this is a reasonable and desirable amount," the fast food giant said.
The company said it has corrected its labeling, nutritional brochures and Web site in response to Peri's threat of legal action, and called the current claim a bid to obtain money in an out-of-court settlement.
"It should also be noted that any customer who is sensitive to sodium can ask for fries or salad without salt or sauce (which contains salt). The company has no vested interest in manipulating or hiding any information from its customers," it said.
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