Hide those Oreos

chideltjen · #1 05-13-2003, 02:51 AM

Seriously y'all... no... this is ridiculous!

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Suit Seeks to Ban Kids From Eating Oreos
Mon May 12, 3:04 PM ET Add AP - Feature Stories to My Yahoo!

SAN FRANCISCO - Kids in California may have to give up their Oreos, if a lawsuit filed by a San Francisco public interest lawyer is successful.

The lawsuit, filed last week in Marin County superior court, seeks a ban on the black and white cookies, arguing the trans fats that make the filling creamy and the cookie crisp are too dangerous for children to eat.

Stephen Joseph said he filed the suit against Nabisco, the maker of Oreos, after reading articles that said the artificial fat is hidden in most packaged food, though consumers have no way of knowing.

The big difference between this suit and others that have targeted tobacco and McDonald's fast food is that consumers know that tobacco is bad for their health and that McDonald's food contains a lot of fat, Joseph said.

"Trans fat is not the same thing at all. Very few people know about it," he said, explaining that his suit focuses on the fact that trans fats are hidden dangers being marketed to children.

Nabisco officials were not immediately available for comment. They have 30 days from the May 5 filing date to respond to the suit.

The National Academy of Sciences (news - web sites)' Institute of Medicine (news - web sites), which advises the government on health policy, said last summer that this kind of fat should not be consumed at all. It is directly associated with heart disease and with LDL cholesterol, the 'bad' kind that accumulates in arteries.

But the U.S. Department of Agriculture (news - web sites) said partially hydrogenated vegetable oils, which contain trans fats, are present in about 40 percent of the food on grocery store shelves. Cookies, crackers, and microwave popcorn are the biggest carriers of trans fats, which are created when hydrogen is bubbled through oil to produce a margarine that doesn't melt at room temperature and increases the product's shelf life.

The Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) has tried to force food companies to list trans fat content with other nutritional information on food packages, but manufacturers have challenged the rule. Even food labeled "low in cholesterol" or "low in saturated fats" may have high percentages of trans fats.

Informing customers about trans fats on food labels could prevent 7,600 to 17,100 cases of coronary heart disease and 2,500 to 5,600 deaths per year, the FDA has estimated.

Joseph said he has targeted Nabisco because, while other major snack food makers have reduced the amount of trans fats in their products, Nabisco has not.

AlphaGamDiva · #2 05-13-2003, 03:15 AM

completely off-topic, but on the oreo theme....

so, how about one of my sisters sat down on the couch at the house and started eating some oreos straight from the bag...she kept biting into ones without the filling, and was like, "wtf".....then, at a sisterhood retreat....we were playin a game to tell everyone something about ourselves that no one else knew.....throw a piece of paper with the info on it, then we have to guess who it is.....

OK, so, the chick who had previously eaten the empty oreos pulled a piece of paper that read, "i once ate all the filling off oreos at the house and put them back in the bag"--she got about 1/2 way through this statement b/c her voice changed to an, um, IRATE tone

, and then you see the sister who did it start crawling so fast on the floor trying to get away from her! it was priceless.....

ok, /hijack

LuaBlanca · #3 05-13-2003, 09:14 AM

hahahahahahhahahahaha

Hootie · #4 05-13-2003, 10:59 AM

LMAO! That's terrible! I'd be pissed too!

Back to Oreo...people need to get real. I love my oreos and will not support this!

sigmanuzk · #5 05-13-2003, 06:36 PM

I think that it's BS that nabisco puts that crap in our food and doesn't tell us. Everyone knows that they are bad for you because of all the empty calories but not everyone knows that it has trans fat and that the trans fat can increase LDL cholesterol levels. They should at least tell us that it is in there and how much, or just make them without the added fat.

It makes you wonder what else we are eating that they don't tell us about.

SilverTurtle · #6 05-13-2003, 06:54 PM

OMG that Oreo story is classic!

About the trans fat... if you look at a label on oreo's, does it say it's in there? Or is it just included in the fat content (saturated & unsaturated)?

I could see requiring foods to list it if it's so dangerous. But you'd think if it was then the FDA would have already required that.

Sadeyes21 · #7 05-13-2003, 07:11 PM

I am not an Oreo fan, but i do like to eat the cream out of the double stuffed oreos.

justamom · #8 05-13-2003, 07:41 PM

Hey, it doesn't take a genius to know it's LARD!

This is right up there with McDonald's making you FAT!

TORT REFORM! TORT REFORM!

MSKKG · #9 05-13-2003, 10:00 PM

JAM, I'm in total agreement with you. Just when I thought I had seen it all . . . ! It's an OREO not an orange!!!

honeychile · #10 05-13-2003, 10:17 PM

I've been pretty depressed lately - I think I'm going to eat 6 pounds of Oreos and call it quits. Suicide by Oreo has to be the best way to go!

Seriously, I love the "Uh Oh" Oreos! I'm all for printing the information on the package, but some San Franciscan granola freak isn't going to tell me what I can or cannot eat!

sororitygirl2 · #11 05-13-2003, 11:18 PM

I really want to try the UhOh Oreos... they look good. Do they taste like E.L. Fudge?

MSKKG · #12 05-13-2003, 11:20 PM

BE CAREFUL, sororitygirl2! Who knows what evil lurks in the middle of an Oreo! They don't call them "Uh Oh" Oreos for nothing!

Peaches-n-Cream · #13 05-14-2003, 01:11 AM

When we were babies, my sister would eat the middle of the Oreos and I would eat the cookies. She would also eat the pimento and I would eat the olive. We were cute little girls.

Schmeer · #14 05-14-2003, 06:46 PM

thats ridiculous...seriously OMG....when will people stop blaming 'fat ' problems on food companys...we are the ones who put the darn food in our mouth...i can't wait to see whats next by the way....someone suing jcrew for making have to buy clothes by sending me all those catalogues in my mail box....puuuulllease.

UCFPhiDelt · #15 05-14-2003, 07:05 PM

First, let me say that I hate oreos. I never acquired a taste for the cookies and I can't understand why people like them for the life of me.

As for the lawsuit, it does not ask that adults be restricted in their consumption of Oreo cookies in any way. The suits seeks to have the cookies kept away from children. The suit contends that the trans fats in Oreos are dangerous and that children consume it. The cookies are inagruably marketed towards children. As all of you have posted here on the thread, you are adults and will make your own choices on food consumption. A child does not have the same rights or intellectiual abilities to make these choices. As for whether Trans fat's are bad for you, there seems to be little doubt of that by most of the medical community. The reason you don't know they are in foods you commonly eat are for one main reason: MONEY. Trans fat's are cheap to put into products. Far cheaper than other fat based replacements. The food comapnies have determined it is cheaper to fight food labeling regulations in court than it is to replace the Trans fat's. This has nothing to do with the FDA knowing it is bad for you or with the food companies knowing it is bad for you. They don't really care about you. As long as you keep buying their food and they can keep the labeling regulations tied up in court, the better for them. If you think Nabisco or the other food companies care about you or your kids, you are sorely mistaken.

Note: It's a great strategy and as an accounting major, I would do the same thing for my companies.