Thursday, September 22, 2011

Lawsuits Against Fast Food

There was an incident last year where a labor court Brazil accepted a lawsuit from a worker in McDonald’s who claimed that he gained 12kg (26.5lb)because the company forced him to eat hamburgers. The company was required to pay him 30,000 BRL ($17,500 USD) in compensation.

image of an overweight person unhappily viewing fast food items; french fries, burger and soda.A similar lawsuit occurred in the US as well. A group of teenagers sued McDonald’s claiming that their skillful PR encouraged continuous eating of their burgers, which encourages obesity in the US. The suit was not accepted however the result was easier access to nutritional information such as calorie amounts on fast food menus as well as some improvements to the menu.

The responsibility of the fast food industry in causing obesity is handled differently in each of these circumstances. Although we have been aware for a long time that fast food is not generally healthy, these lawsuits help us to increase our awareness and should encourage us to better inform ourselves on how to eat more healthily.

2 comments:

  1. The employee should win. If it was a requirement of his job, they should be liable for the consequences.

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  2. Lawsuits regarding the fast food industry appear as a sensitive issue. While I agree that if it was a requirement of his job, the company should be liable, many people may argue that he should have known he was at a health risk and changed his job, which is much easier said than done.

    The importance of these kind of lawsuits is that they allow fast food companies to change and evolve. They are motivation for fast food restaurants to improve their menus and add healthier items.

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