Big lawsuit with a side of fries

In late August 2005, the State of California filed suit against nine companies — including Salem, Ore.-based natural foods manufacturer Kettle Foods Inc. — for selling potato chips or French fries without warning customers about exposure to acrylamide, a chemical believed to cause cancer.

Since 1986, California has required businesses to post consumer warnings about potential exposure to chemicals that cause cancer or reproductive harm. Acrylamide was listed on the register of chemicals subject to Proposition 65 in 1990. Some studies show French fries and potato chips contain concentrations 125 to 75 times the amount requiring a warning, according to a California Department of Justice press release.

The state notes products made by the nine companies in the suit don’t contain more acrylamide than other products — just that the products were inadequately labeled. Other food manufacturers named in the suit are Burger King Corp., Cape Cod Potato Chips Inc./Lance Inc. (Nasdaq: LNCE), Frito-Lay Inc./PepsiCo Inc. (NYSE: PEP), H.J. Heinz Inc., KFC Corp., McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD), Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), and Wendy’s International Inc. (NYSE: WEN).