Food Industry From the Horses Mouth

I have taken care to include whole quotes as I find them. Accordingly, if you pay attention you may find a sentence that if removed would have made the statement far more demeaning to certain people and to the food industry in general. Because I believe in keeping things in relative context though, I have avoided this entirely. Therefore, these statements are as issued.
(10 Quotations)

• McDonalds (taken from McSpotlight.com) - "The Defendants asked Dr Sydney Arnott (McDonald's expert on cancer) his opinion of the following statement: "A diet high in fat, sugar, animal products and salt and low in fibre, vitamins and minerals is linked with cancer of the breast and bowel and heart disease". He replied: "If it is being directed to the public then I would say it is a very reasonable thing to say." The court was then informed that the statement was an extract from the London Greenpeace Factsheet. This section had been characterised by McDonald's lawyer at pre-trial hearings as the central and most "defamatory" allegation, which if proven would be the "kiss of death" for a fast-food company like McDonald's. On the strength of the supposed scientific complexities surrounding this issue the Defendants had been denied their right to a jury."

• McDonalds (taken from McSpotlight.com) - "David Green, Senior Vice-President of Marketing (USA), stated 'McDonald's food is nutritious' and 'healthy'. When asked what the company meant by 'nutritious' he said: 'provides nutrients and can be a part of a healthy balanced diet'. He admitted this could also apply to a packet of sweets [candy]. When asked if Coca Cola is 'nutritious' he replied that it is 'providing water, and I think that is part of a balanced diet'. He agreed that by his definition Coke is nutritious."

• McDonalds (taken from McSpotlight.com) - "When asked to define 'junk food', Professor Wheelock (McDonald's consultant on nutrition) said it was 'whatever a person doesn't like' (in his case semolina). With disbelief mounting in the courtroom, Richard Rampton(McDonald's QC) intervened to say that McDonald's was not objecting to the description of their food as 'junk food'!"

• McDonalds (taken from McSpotlight.com) - "Peter Cox, (a Defence marketing expert) quoted from 'Behind the Arches', a book authorised by McDonald's in 1987, as evidence that McDonald's were engaged in 'a strategy of subversion' by trying to alter the dietary preferences of whole nations, 'very often for the worse'. The book states that, in Japan, McDonald's faced "a fundamental challenge of establishing beef as a common food". Their President, Den Fujita, said "the reason Japanese people are so short and have yellow skins is because they have eaten nothing but fish and rice for two thousand years"; "if we eat McDonald's hamburgers and potatoes for a thousand years we will become taller, our skin become white and our hair blonde."

• McDonalds (taken from McSpotlight.com) - "McDonald's began a major advertising campaign in the USA in 1987 which aimed "to neutralise the junk food misconceptions about McDonald's good food". An internal company memo, reporting on a high level meeting in March 1986 with public relations advisors prior to the advertising campaign, was read out in court. It states "McDonald's should attempt to deflect the basic negative thrust of our critics.....How do we do this? By talking 'moderation and balance'. We can't really address or defend nutrition. We don't sell nutrition and people don't come to McDonald's for nutrition."

• McDonalds (taken from McSpotlight.com) - "Incredibly, Paul Preston (McDonald's UK President) claimed that the character Ronald McDonald is intended not to "sell food" to children, but to promote the "McDonald's experience". But an extract from the corporation's official and confidential 'Operations Manual' was read out: "Ronald loves McDonald's and McDonald's food. And so do children, because they love Ronald. Remember, children exert a phenomenal influence when it comes to restaurant selection. This means you should do everything you can to appeal to children's love for Ronald and McDonald's." McDonald's annual advertising and promotions budget is $1.4 billion. It was revealed in court that Geoffrey Guiliano, a Ronald McDonald actor in the 1980's, had quit and publicly apologised, stating "I brainwashed youngsters into doing wrong. I want to say sorry to children everywhere for selling out to concerns who make millions by murdering animals."

• McDonalds (taken from McSpotlight.com) - "Dr. Neville Gregory (McDonald's expert witness) said McDonald's egg suppliers keep chickens in battery cages, 5 chickens to a cage with less than the size of an A4 sheet of paper per bird and with no freedom of movement and no access to fresh air or sunshine. Ed Oakley of McDonald's said the company had thought about switching to free range eggs, but, not only are battery eggs "50% cheaper", but, he claimed "hens kept in batteries are better cared for". He said he thinks battery cages are "pretty comfortable!"

• McDonalds (taken from McSpotlight.com) - "Ed Oakley (Chief Purchasing Officer for McDonald's UK) claimed that the company "had a very real feeling that animals should be kept and slaughtered in the most humane way possible" and so had published an animal welfare statement two years ago. When questioned about this so-called policy Mr. Oakley admitted that the "animal welfare policy is, in fact, just a policy to comply with the laws of the various countries in which McDonald's operate", and added "we do not go beyond what the law stipulates."

• McDonalds (taken from McSpotlight.com) - "A UK 'McFact' card states: "every consignment of beef arriving at the [McKeys] meat plant is subject to a total of 36 quality control checks, carried out by a team of qualified technologists. If a consignment should fail on any one check, it will be rejected by McDonald's." All the raw beef consignments are microbiologically tested, and categorised as 'satisfactory', 'passable', and 'unsatisfactory'. David Walker (Chairman of McKeys, the sole supplier of the company's UK hamburgers) stated that 'unsatisfactory' relates to beef which has a total colony of more than 10 million bacteria per gram. He then admitted that such consignments are, in fact, not rejected and are used for McDonald's burgers."

• McDonalds (taken from McSpotlight.com) - "McDonald's have refused to call their own expert witness on food poisoning, Colin Clarke, who prepared a detailed report following a visit he made to three company stores. The court heard that, regarding the cooking of hamburgers (which he had tested), Mr Clark in his statement "recommends that 73 degrees C be the internal minimum temperature of the final product, and that their temperatures were not reaching that in all cases. The minimum was, in fact, 70 degrees C."