Colonel Sanders Under Attack for Trans Fat Content

WASHINGTON - KFC may be finger-lickin' good, but a consumer group is suing the chain over the kind of fat used to fry the food.

Dr. Arthur Hoyte, a retired physician from Rockville, Md., and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, want a judge to order Kentucky Fried Chicken to use other types of cooking oils or make sure customers know about trans fat content immediately before they make a purchase.

Yet some customers say they know what they're getting when they order from Colonel Sanders.

"It's greasy. The skin falls off," one KFC customer says.

The food industry watchdog claims the chain's use of partially hydrogenated oils poses a serious health threat. The group says trans fat raises "bad" cholesterol levels and lowers "good" cholesterol, citing research it says shows trans fats cause tens of thousands of heart attacks each year.

"Groups should go after places like that, because that's unhealthy," one former KFC employee says.

But in a statement, the KFC division of Yum Brands says the lawsuit is "frivolous" and "without merit":

All KFC products are safe to eat and meet or exceed all government regulations, and we take health and safety issues very seriously. We provide a variety of menu choices and provide nutrition information, including trans fat values, on our website and in our restaurants so consumers can make informed choices before they purchase our products. We have been reviewing alternative oil options, but there are a number of factors to consider including maintaining KFC's unique taste and flavor of Colonel Sanders' Original Recipe, supply availability and transportation, among others.

Hoyte and the consumer group are seeking class-action status for the lawsuit and asking a judge to let Hoyte represent anyone who ate at a Washington, D.C.-area KFC in 2004 and 2005. Along with stopping KFC from using oil with trans fats, they are asking for a variety of economic damages.

The Food and Drug Administration says trans fat raises bad cholesterol. The government agency this year started requiring food labels to list trans fats.

The lawsuit is the second time in the last three years that KFC and the Center for Science in the Public Interest have crossed paths.

KFC settled a complaint filed by the group with the Federal Trade Commission in 2004 over ads claiming its fried chicken was compatible with then-popular low-carb diets.

Under the settlement, KFC also was barred from running advertisements saying that eating its food is healthier than eating another food unless it can back the claims up scientifically.

(Copyright 2006 by WTOP and The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)