Pirate's Booty - More press

[clarksmom]

LA Times online - can't set up the link. A woman is suing the company. Probably already a post on this but I just flew on and am off again. It is also in the paper today. Ouch!

[Jessica]

I found this in yesterday's paper. What a ridiculous lawsuit!!

Woman sues over snack's fat miscount

NEW YORK — A woman is suing a snack food company for $50 million, saying its label on Pirate's Booty corn and rice puffs foiled her diet. In her lawsuit, Meredith Berkman, 37, claims she suffered "weight gain … mental anguish, outrage and indignation" because the snack contained three times more fat than its label advertised. Pirate's Booty, manufactured by Robert's American Gourmet Food, was recalled in January after the Good Housekeeping Institute found it contained 147 calories and 8.5 grams of fat, while its label said it contained 120 calories and 2.5 grams of fat. The company says it has changed the labels.

[Wendy w]

I heard this on the radio this morning. Talk about a frivolous law suit.:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Sounds like something from Ally McBeal.

[RobinC]

What a crazy lawsuit. I find it very hard to believe that 27 extra calories and 6 extra grams of fat can foil one's diet.

There are enough (former) Pirate Booty eaters here. Can anyone honestly say that they suffered weight gain and mental anguish as a result of eating Pirates Booty?

I really hope this woman doesn't get one cent! :mad:

[LaraW]

Well, speaking as a former Pirate's Booty eater, I can tell you that my DH has suffered some mental anguish because he is not allowed to eat it anymore. :D

But we won't be suing. Talk about a waste of time and resources!

[BlueMoose]

There is already a thread going on this topic. The consensus is pretty much the same.:rolleyes:

[MKSquared]

You know, while I was eating PB, I lost weight beautifully. I was measuring my servings faithfully and counting my Weight Watchers points. I would lose approx. 2 pounds a week. Now that I've slipped away from that, I haven't been shedding the pounds. It's not PB's fault ... geeesh!

[SusanT]

While I agree that suing may be a little extreme, is it ok for a company to mislead the public? Is Pirate's Booty being penalized in any other way for misrepresenting their products?

[RobinC]

I think there should be a reasonable level of accountability and punishment to the folks who make Pirates Booty. I think that first the FDA should evaluate the situation and assess any damages that it deems reasonable. (Does the FDA have the power to do that??) I also think a few questions need to be answered first, such as:
Did they intentionally misrepresent the nutritional value, were they really negligent?
Did they attempt to cover up the misrepresentation?
If the misrepresentation was an unfortunate oversight, how did the company handle the discovery of the problem?

I don't necessarily think they deserve a severe punishment for the misrepresentation, if it was really a mistake.

[AvrilH]

How much of the stuff did she buy if she thinks her damages are $50m?

[ClaraB]

Originally posted by Susan T
While I agree that suing may be a little extreme, is it ok for a company to mislead the public? Is Pirate's Booty being penalized in any other way for misrepresenting their products? First, you're assuming that they deliberately misled the public, which may not be the case (they may simply be idiots who don't know how to calculate the nutritional content of their product :rolleyes: ). Second, they've probably suffered plenty from the negative publicity they've received in the last few months. Why start a lawsuit that will likely drive them into bankruptcy?

[SQ]

Do you really think a lawsuit would drive them into bankruptcy??? Also, do you think that the saying, "Any publicity is good publicity," is true in this case and could somehow be helping the co??? Just thinking aloud.

[claire797]

She's about to be on the Today show in a few minutes! It's 8:02 Central time right now. I've gotta see this.

[valchemist]

please give us a report!

[claire797]

It was a short interview and she came across as an angry mom who was concerned that she had been feeding something so unhealthy to her two year old. I guess she decided to steer the focus away from her weight gain to how she felt terrible about giving the evil snack food to her child. She probably would have been better off sticking with the weight gain complaint!

She commented that she fed her two year old Pirate's Booty thinking it was healthy and even gave it to him for breakfast sometimes because he would cry "Booty. Booty" then commented on how it was "addictive". Right.

She also contradicted herself. She accused them of deception by saying they mislabeled on purpose, then later she made a comment about "when companies make these MISTAKES" consumers get hurt. So what was it? Deception or a mistake?

That's about all I got from the whole interview. She turned me off immediately with the whole "I fed this to my 2 year old". PLEASE! Even if the label was completely accurate, Pirate's Booty is not a good breakfast for a 2 year old.

[BosunsWife]

I caught the Today show this morning simply on a fluke. I caught this woman and was appalled when she said she fed it to her 2 year old for breakfast!!! Hello, even if it were low fat, its still a snack food - kind of like giving your child Cheetos for breakfast! Now I will admit to giving my DD pretzels and dried fruit for breakfast occasionally, BUT I asked her pediatrician about it and he said it was totally okay considering it was more nutritious than the sugar coated cereals a lot of kids eat for breakfast.

Also, I didn't think that she was that overweight or was it just me?

I think Roberts should be held accountable for mislabeling, but I don't know that a lawsuit is going to solve anything and it just ties up an already crowded court system with a frivilous lawsuit.

[Jan Belle]

Bosuns Wife, I agree with you 100% re: the appearance of this woman on the TODAY Show this morning. To me she looked as though she had an eating disorder rather than a weight problem. Me thinks, the disorder is more mental than physical.

I was also turned off by her appearance. She was really slick in her responses and often ambiguous with her responses. I think she's just going for the notoriety and press.