Litigation on the menu for Applebee’s

June 5, 2008

applebees1.jpgA Seattle law firm says it’s filing a national consumer-protection class action against Applebee’s Neighborhood Bar & Grill, following media reports that the chain misstated the fat and calorie content of items on its “Weight Watchers” menu. “Applebee’s is capitalizing on consumers’ desire to eat healthy, but not taking the steps necessary to provide consumers with reliably healthy food,” plaintiff Anne Paskett says in a news release put out by her lawyers.

The report, which aired on several ABC-TV news stations in May, also found other chains were overly optimistic about the nutritional content of their “healthy menu” items, but apparently Paskett was partial to eatin’ good in her neighborhood.

After the report aired, Applebee’s issued a statement defending its Weight Watchers menu, saying an independent lab had verified it was “94 percent compliant.”

I don’t pretend to know what “94 percent compliant” means, but just for fun I ran some numbers. Assuming you can maintain your current weight with 2,000 calories a day, being off by 6 percent comes to 120 calories a day — roughly the amount in six ounces of white wine. Which, in all too round figures, comes to about 12.5 pounds a year.

BARBARA GRZINCIC, Managing Editor, Law

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Posted by Jackie Sauter | Filed Under food, law 

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