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Denny's lawsuit and salt

Denny’s Restaurant Chain Socked with Salt Lawsuit

The Denny’s franchise is being sued for oversalting, but you can avoid unhealthy menu choices without suing anyone. (Is the lawsuit justified? Take our poll.)



More than a pinch: A lawsuit accuses Denny's of salting its menu to unhealthy levels.

RODALE NEWS, EMMAUS, PA—Denny’s restaurants may be cheap, fast, and family-friendly, but their overly salty food threatens the health of their customers, according to a class-action lawsuit filed Thursday by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). In the first salt-related lawsuit filed by the nonprofit advocacy group, CSPI is suing the chain restaurant after private negotiations to reduce what they deemed excessive levels of sodium in many menu items fell through.

THE DETAILS: CSPI is bringing a class-action lawsuit against Denny’s in conjunction with a New Jersey man who suffers from high blood pressure. The man, Nick DeBenedetto, apparently had a liking for Denny’s ham, egg, and cheese sandwich and its turkey sandwich—which unbeknownst to him contained 2,580 and 2,610 milligrams (mg) of sodium, respectively. “I was astonished—I mean, literally floored—to find that these simple sandwiches have more salt than someone in my condition should have in a whole day,” DeBenedetto was quoted as saying in a press release about the lawsuit. “I never would have selected those items had I known.”


The American Heart Association recommends that no one eat more than 2,300 mg of sodium each day (about 100 mg less than what the government recommends), and that people with high blood pressure cut their daily sodium intake to less than 1,500 mg. When the body is exposed to too much sodium, it retains fluid, and in people with high blood pressure, that fluid could build up in the lungs. In older adults, getting more than a single day’s worth of sodium at one time could trigger congestive heart failure.



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crap

i personily think this is CRAP because if the people want to eat at a fatfood place the should know that it has alot of salt in ti. aslo, why should they complain about it when mcdonalds has a lot of salt in there food. posted 9-14-09

to salt or not to salt

choices, choices and more choices. to salt or not to salt? what about the choice u don't have but thru no fault of your own receive it anyway.yesterday at Denny's my daughter while eating fries gagged on a piece of metal braided wire that is used on a scouring pad to clean their fryer as the manager explained it i guess no one rinsed it out with water after it was cleaned were sorry we'll get u a new order of fries// well nooooooo thank you. seemed it happened to another right before we got there. i would worry about salt to but what reaslly lurks behind those kitchen doorways. so now i'm finding direction where to lodge this complaint..

Denny's lawsuit is baseless

We are all responsible for our actions, and that includes paying attention to what we put in our bodies. If I want to over indulge in a meal dripping in fat and soaked in salt, I should be able to do so. There is nothing illegal or immoral or actionable about giving people like myself what we want to eat.

For those of you who complan that Denny's conceals the salt content of its food, you are wrong. The plaintiff in this case got all of the nutritional information highlighted in the complait he filed in this unfortunate case from the Denny's website. That information is also available in Denny's restaruants. Why this Plaintiff did not check the information available to him, but decided to sue instead, is a mystery. This is a stupid case.

denny's suit stupid

Just another lawsuit to clogg up courts for stupid lawsuits that lawyers hope just get settled out of court. The lawyers should be held liable for these stupid lawsuits. The should have to pay if they don't win and maybe they will think twice about trying to get money from big companys for stupid trivial things that things should not have to be dumb proof and consumers need to think for themselves. If there is too much salt then don't eat at Denny's. Salt is a great spice that helps to flavor many things, but people put other things on with salt in them ketup, mustard and so forth to add to the salt content. If you have to look at your salt content then you should be asking where every you go to order food to ask for no salt when you order.
tired of stupid friverless lawsuits
too many lawyers with nothing to do

Regarding COMMON SENSE

Sorry I didn't proofread my former post, to the person named in part "SunnyRainBOWHeart...." I made a huge error in my spelling of it was not intentional. I'm sure someone got a big laugh outta that, since some people do turn that middle word into something nasty by adding the "L", but that again was a typo.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO COMMON SENSE?

One does NOT need to have HIGHER EDUCATION (degrees and/or mutlitple degrees) to know that one should see a doctor about ones health, but taking that doctors advise is optional, that is, no doc can MAKE a patient heed his advice.
This has become a nation whereby personal responsibility has taken the low-road to blaming any&every-one else for their problems and thats okay!? NOT! SUNNYRAINBLOWHEART needs to get a grip and read other great posts one of which is by Kathleen.
A person MUST take responsibility for what goes into their mouth is a COMMON SENSICAL reality! Grow up people! Its not Denny's responsibility to make you eat whatever is best for YOU. YOU should know already., and as for knowing the content of whats on the menu? Most restaurants have already taken the initiative to provide that when asked., soooo??
What the newest excuse Plaintiff? Sorry-ain't buyin it., go hold up a bank if you want a cash windfall!!

tomsalty

if its too salty dont eat it ask for something with little or no salt thats nit to hard to do p.s when ording ask for light on the salt thats all

too much of everything!

alot of restaurants use too much salt, not just Denny's. Go into McD's and watch them throw salt all over their fries and it's not just the salt, but the fat and oversize portions. If someone is that worried about the content of their food, they need to start staying home and making their own.

SALT LAWSUIT versus DENNY's IS JUSTIFIED

I am disgusted and appalled at the arrogant "he should know better" attitudes of most of the people who posted on here, saying that Mr. De Benedetto is stupid and is not justified in suing Denny's restaurant chain for exceeding the daily healthy salt content in a meal. One elitist moron who posted on here, who is obviously wealthy, opines, "Hire a nutritionist to help plan your menus and let's make America a healthier place to live in!" In some households both husband and wife work yet after paying bills having almost nothing left over for discretionary spending or saving. "Hire a nutritionist", indeed. He or she sounds like insensitive Marie Antoinette, who when told the peasants were starving and had no bread, dismissed it with her ignorant solution of "Let them eat cake!" Duh! If they can't afford bread, they can't afford to buy cake.

Anyhow, I have 3 university degrees at the undergraduate level plus a Master's Degree. As a volunteer I teach nutrition classes--for free--to financially disadvantaged clients at a charity I'm on the Health Advisory Board of and I probably know more about nutrition than most of these people posting yet I do not have the arrogant attitude that "everyone" should know what I know. No! People are busy with their own lives. Nutrition is not a matter of common sense; it's very complex, especially with the existence of processed foods.

People have their own aptitudes. Some people can be very intelligent in their own fields yet not know about nutrition. For example, I could have an M.D. and a J.D. and a Ph.D. in Psychology yet know little or nothing about auto mechanics and get cheated at the auto repair garage. Life is too short to know everyone else's fields of endeavor.

The type of--in some cases vicious--attack on Mr. De Benedetto exhibited here is the same deplorable, snobbish attitude that too many IT people have about computer science, looking down their noses at the consumers, saying "everybody knows" or "everybody should know" whatever.

Yes, restaurants have a responsibility to their public. No single meal should contain more than the daily maximum of sodium, be it for the "average" patron or someone with a health condition.

salt

To answer the question about would one normally know that ham has more salt in it than he should have in one day. YES YES AND YES. sandwich meats are notoriously high in salt. i.e. ham- it is preserved in salt as are pickles. HE is responsible for his own health... just looking for another way to make some money. What happened buyer beware. Make eating establishments stick to sodium restrictions. WHAT!. why does any business have to cater to the needs of one group? If they loose business because people do not want high level of salt in their diets then they will go out of business or change. The government needs to stay the heck out of it. It only makes it more expensive to run a business and adds red tape to our already huge government over site. PLEASE. If they guy wanted to know the sodium level, most restaurants will give you the nutritional information upon request. Plus did Deny's make the ham? nope they just sliced it and put it on a sandwich. Lets see if we all only got to eat what is in healthy guidelines then all burgers would be child size, there would be no fries, no pies, no cake- definitely no icing or ice cream or god forbid cookies. No salted nuts or chips- no creamer for your coffee- no pickles- mustard- salty. Might as well close most American -Italian places and Chinese.. whoa.
Everything in moderation. The guy should of ate half of the sandwich which is probable enough anyway and there would be no issue. It makes me so sick, no personal accountability. It is your body, if you have health issues then be wary.."I didn't know ham had a lot of salt in it" they should of told me cuz they KNEW you had salt issues. Anyone who doesn't know ham or sandwich meat or processed food in general has a lot of salt in it is a moron. Like a boss of mine used to say.. "you can't fix stupid"

Denny's Salt Story

It's sooo complicated to be the type of consumer who can't cook, wants a break from cooking or who hasn't eaten all day and finds himself needing to stop somewhere to grab something and at the same time understands the need to avoid irradiated foods, overcooked foods, processed foods, salty foods, foods packed with saturated fats, foods sweetened with aspartame, foods packaged in plastic, pasteurized foods etc etc etc. In light of this, being a buyer in a restaurant becomes no different than being a buyer anywhere, so the adage Buyer Beware prevails. Restaurants are not out to partner with consumers in their quests for health. It's not their job. Restaurants are out to make a profit. There is nothing wrong with that. That really is their job. And making a profit is a good even a great thing: profit is not a dirty word! Restaurants only do what they must to sell their product - food -by making it attractive to the American buyer who likes it when it looks and tastes a certain way. That's how food sales go up, and that's how restaurant personnel and all the other businesses involved in keeping a restaurant going remain employed and off the dole. In fact, it is this consumption of goods on a large scale that benefits society so much. But the question arises as to how attractive would that food remain to buyers and how would sales be influenced if buyers were made aware of the content of menu items? If buyers knew that the salt content was high enough to contribute to a stroke or the fat content high enough to contribute to a heart attack or that beef was irradiated on its way to restaurants or tomatoes were picked early and sprayed with chemicals on their way to market to encourage ripening on the road, would the menu items still make their mouths water? When buyers shop for clothes, the fabric content is available on clothes; when they shop for books, the book content including # of pages, publication date, condition, and maybe synopsis are made available; when buyers shop for cars, many features...too many to list...are made available; when they shop for jewelry, the quality of gold and stones are made available. It may be that for every item a consumer purchases, he can go somewhere to find a description of what it is he is buying. So why should it be different for restaurants? Why is it that a buyer/consumer should remained uninformed as to what exactly it is he is purchasing in a restaurant whose items are much more important than the fabric content of a shirt, the story in a book, the features of a car, or the quality of a necklace as they are ingested and influence the health of the buyer/consumer? Sure it is true Buyer Beware, but how can a buyer beware if there is no information provided? Maybe the man in question is lazy to not go home and just cook for himself. So what? Maybe he wouldn't heed the content anyway. So what? Maybe he just wants to make a quick buck...class action or not. So what? Maybe he should have more sense to realize a store...and a restaurant is a store....like Denny's might not be too concerned about his high blood pressure. Again so what? The point is that despite everything he is a consumer in the public market for a meal, and buyers need to know what it is they are purchasing. When they know exactly what they are purchasing, they can take true responsibility...sure...not that they all will...but at least they are able to do so. So do I think it's a frivolous suit? No. If that's what it takes to get people fired up about their food and the food supply, I'm all for it. Would it impact the restaurant industry in a negative way and cause sales to fall? Who knows? I hope so, so that restaurants would adjust to the new market demand and change their products so going out to eat was finally not so complicated. That's the beauty of capitalism. Let it work.

Though I am all for this siut, I am not a Democrat, did not vote for Obama, do not like government involvement, but do want to be protected as a consumer.

salt

Anybody that has ever watched t.v. should know that any fast food restaurant and any processed food is high in fats and salts.This guy is an idiot to expect that if he eats at a fast food place that he is going to get a healthy meal.He is too lazy to cook his own food and do his own research and he expects somebody else to take care of him.Get over it dude and take responsibility for your own actions.We don't need big brother to take care of us.

Is this guy completely stupid?

Surely he could taste the salt in the food? Un-dang-believable! So maybe he should not order it or not go there... duh. He is absolutely responsible for his own food choices. Why is everybody out to get whatever compensation they can from everyone for their own choices? It only raises costs of everything for everyone else. Take responsibility for yourself and your actions!

Denny's

Denny's actually does disclose all of its nutrition information. As most restaurants do these days, they have it on their website. Took me less than a minute to find it. I'll bet it even says on their printed menu that the info is on the website (although I'm not positive about this - just guessing, because I've seen it at a lot of other restaurants).

Saying he wouldn't have eaten the food if he had known is just dumb (i.e. ignorance is not an excuse). Did he ask? Just like anyone with some sort of dietary restriction (a peanut allergy, for example), it's his responsibility to know what he's putting in his mouth.

dennys

they arnt at fault because he is and took is life in his own hands including he knew what his health condition is. also this country has tons of no good sue happy consumers and lawyers making the prices to rise.

Don't support corporate deception

Yes, many of us know that ham is high in salt, but would you think that one single sandwich contains more than you should consume in a day? And the turkey sandwich has more sodium than the egg and ham sandwich! And by the way, the lawsuit isn't asking for money. It's asking that Denny's be forced to disclose nutritional information on its menu. Come on people -- get the facts straight before you critize the people trying to protect you and fight against the companies that are knowingly making us fat and ill.

Salt at Denny's

Eating once or twice at Denny's is not going to cause high blood pressure. After that, eating there is CONTRIBUTORY NEGLIGENCE!
And why pick on salt? I avoid Denny's because of fat.

Denny's should be sued to force nutritional disclosure, but the rest of us taxpayers should sue the people who eat regularly at Denny's for driving up our health costs.

Denny's Salt Story

I find it incredible that someone who has high blood pressure would order the meal he did. As for CSPI just another bunch of "Nannies "
tryiong to dictate and control the rest of us.

Food Labeling

While I did vote in the poll for requiring food labeling, it shouldn't surprise anyone that ham has a lot of salt and if you are trying to reduce your sodium intake you should avoid All cured meat products, salted pretzels, and so on.

And even when foods are labeled, half the time the info is practically useless. If you are trying to consume let say 1200mg of calcium, or 500mg potassium, etc.... the label just lists percentages of the RDA and not the actual mg content and then figuring in that the can of tomatoes was was 2.5 servings... It becomes quite the chore to actually know how much of any micro-nutrient we are consuming (at least the fat/protein/sugar is fairly straightforward). Just my 2cents.

Grow Up!

Talk about trying to blame someone for something. This has been a problem long before Obama came into the picture. Grow up, you lost the election, get over it!

Denny's Salt Situation

It is obvious that many of you are NOT reading the story! You all seem to be saying that this guy is looking to blame Denny's for his condition. This is not what the story is saying. The man is upset because Denny's did not disclose the amount of salt its food contains so he could eat according to his condition. He clearly stated, had he known, he would not have ordered it. While these foods do contain high salt, Denny's is through the roof! In the article it clearly states that Denny's has more than twice the salt of McDonalds regarding burgers. You get the idea that Denny's uses to much salt, if everyone thinks that McDonalds does. Try reading the article instead of assuming this guy is just trying to make a quick buck. It doesn't matter if you agree with his suit or not... the whole point of the story is that resturants don't disclose the amount of salt and other things in the menu items.

Looking for a scapegoat?

Do you do ANY research before you speak!?! It hardly makes sense to blame Obama for the nutritional mess that has plagued the food industry and restaurants well before he took office and possible before he was born! He nor the dems have ever proposed forcing restaurants to conform to any sodium restriction. If we are to point the finger politically it would be the republicans who allowed the food industry to get out of hand by not imposing limits when it became apparent the food was less than healthy, but in reality if you are looking for a scapegoat to blame, why not take a look at the food processing. They know the added sodium is not good, but ignore the facts because salt is cheap. The American love affair with over salted foods is a personal issue, and not a political agenda. Our demand is what is pushing the processing plants and reataurants serve us what we want rather than what we need.

Denny's Salt Story

It seems that the majority of those who replied to this story agree that the gentleman with high blood pressure should be responsible for his food choices and just use some common sense. Most people I know would undoubtedly know that ham and cheese contain alot of salt. Any processed meats contain alot of salt. Wouldn't the man's physician who diagnosed him with high blood pressure have given him some sort of dietary guidelines to follow? I think it's sad that so many people who file lawsuits such as this one try to put the blame on someone else for their own actions. I would agree with the lawsuit if one of the Denny's employees had held the man down and force fed him his meal! Will this man also be adding any other restaurants to his lawsuit, as I'm sure Denny's isn't the only one he's eating salty food from. And on the other side of this, shame on Denny's, and all the other restaurants for putting "unhealthy meals" on their menus for the public to consume. Hire a nutritionist to help plan your menus and let's make America a healthier place to live in!

Obama's Food Nazis

Because Democrats absolutely demand control over every aspect of your lives.

FASCISTS.

denny's salt

I think that these frivilous lawsuits are too costly for the public, unnecessary, and judges should throw them out of court.

I also think that gentleman needs to accept responsibility for his own health, and I cannot imagine that he would think that he could order that kind of sandwich and be making an "OK" choice considering his condition. If he was tracked, what he eats at home and elsewhere, I am sure it would reveal his bad choices all around.

salt lawsuit

Oh, really- and how old is this man? If he's old enough to have CHF he's old enough to know that he is responsible- he, not someone else- for what goes into his mouth. Get over it, guy, and get a life rather than blaming someone else for your lousy choices. And as to the group doing the suing- leave it alone. There are far more important things to sue over- like strip mining, just to name one example. Or cuts in human service budgets. Or medication safety. Or.....

salt

No matter where you eat it...ham and cheese will have an abundance of salt!

HAIR

Back in 2002 I went to Orlando, Fl with my 3 children. I went to eat at a denny's. Everything was fine until the food came. My daughter's food had a pubic hair in it. I told the waiter that was taking care of us. He went back to the kitchen talking in spanish thinking that we didn't understand what he was saying. What he said was not nice. It went down hill from there because everyone heard what I had to say. If I wanted I could have sued them for that. But I didn't. I didn't pay for a thing. I will say that resturant owners should be a little bit more careful about the food they bring out to customers. Now a days with the way things are going they will get sued just for forgetting a knife or a napkin or because they didn't put enough salt in the food. This is the world we live in.

Denny's Salt Story

I do firmly believe that all restaraunts should have nutritional information available. I realize that there are alot of people that still don't have internet or computer savy to check things out before you go out to eat, but most restaraunts and wait staff can answer most questions or give nutritional info sheet when requested. I think it is wrong for lawsuits of this nature because the man didn't ask for information and the intentionally uninformed man can't blame the restaraunt. I have major food allergies and would never dream of going into any restaraunt and blindly eat whatever is on the menu. I have found that most places are more than happy to accomodate with variations to the menu if needed to provide a good meal. Personally what ham isn't high in sodium, really!

Salt/Restaurants/Accountability

Being responsible for one's own actions assumes that one has information. A great outcome of the lawsuit would be to require basic nutritional information be disclosed/available, not just blame Denny's for the guy's heart condition. In our family, we make every attempt to be healthy eaters, and only recently became vegetarian. Before that, we really struggled to make the best choices when we were not given adequate information on which to base our decisions.

Then there's the other issue: hiding unhealthy things in healthy-sounding packaging - Vitamin Water is made with some new version of HFCS? Who would have thought? It's called "crystalline Fructose" - and is an even more concentrated sweetener. My glycemic index is spiking just thinking about it! How can a consumer be "informed" when she doesn't know what she's reading? Do we all have to have chemistry degrees so we can know what we eat? After all, crystalline fructose sounds like that stuff you buy when you want to avoid processed sugar - like turbinado...

It's harder every day to be healthy. Do I plan to sue every junk food maker? No... and this guy probably didn't either (notice it's a class action; read the book King of Torts by Scott Turow for a great read and insight into this industry).

Denny's Salt Story

Anyone with high blood pressure immediately has the responsibility to find out how much s/he is permitted in a day and which foods are or are not healthy. Whether eating at home or at a social event or at restaurants as an adult know, in advance, what you may or may not eat.

Denny's Salt Story

I do not think the law suit is justified, but I do feel that resturants should be required to disclose their nutrition information. One reason I very seldom eat out is that most of the food is not really very healthy, taste great, but not good for you.

There are many times I do not feel like cooking, but when I think about all the salt and fat in the rstuarant fooods, I go home and make my own.

Denny's Salt Suit

I believe that everyone should have the right to know what is going into their body. We shouldn't have to file a suit just to know! Forget about research! Who has the time to look up the detail of every single item they are going to eat? A resturant should be obligated to let a customer know what is in the items on the menu. The FDA requires this of food manufactures, so what is so different about a resturant?
I agree with Rita that resturants lack the use of spices and herbs which would solve a lot of issues regarding their food. However, it is unrealistic since the resturants our out to make as much money as possible versus offering healthy choices. CJ's comment about staying at home is not possible for everyone. When someone takes a business trip, they shouldn't have to cook for themselves. Most hotel rooms don't have stoves or microwaves.
Think of it like this, if a resturant did not disclose an item that a food contained and someone died from an allergic reaction to it, don't you think the resturant should be held accountable? For those who believe that people should be held accountable completely, then don't ask the FDA to keep requiring manufactures to provide nutritional labels for their products!

Denny's Salt Story

It time people took responsability for ALL their own actions. I recently decided to stop eating out as I was trying to lose some weight. I went back to a restaurant for a "splurge" and I felt horrible for the next few hours. Very thirsty and full. You can post warning signs everywhere but honestly, if you want a bunch of fat and salt, you should not hold a restaurant accountable for your actions! Before you go out to eat you muight want to go online and take a look at the caloric/sodium counts on your favorite foods, you'll be amazed.

Denny's Salt Story

It time people took responsability for ALL their own actions. I recently decided to stop eating out as I was trying to lose some weight. I went back to a restaurant for a "splurge" and I felt horrible for the next few hours. Very thirsty and full. You can post warning signs everywhere but honestly, if you want a bunch of fat and salt, you should not hold a restaurant accountable for your actions! Before you go out to eat you muight want to go online and take a look at the caloric/sodium counts on your favorite foods, you'll be amazed.

Denny's Salt Suit

If people would spend more time worrying about their own problems instead of how to get money off someone else by a frivolous law suit this would be a better place.

Salt

People need to take some accountability, but restaurants (and nursing homes, too) do use a lot of salt instead of utilizing the many herbs and spices to boost the flavors in food. I suspect the person doesn't use very good judgment in his meal choices and probably doesn't exercise or eat properly at other times. We live in a very litigious society, instead of taking responsibility for our choices and actions.

Denny's Salt Story

Give it a break!!! This guy must be old enough to know what he should be/shouldn't be eating. How about staying home & fixing your own meals?? Oh no - that would be to easy.

And this story doesn't say much for the group doing the law suit either. Gotta get their 5 minutes of fame & glory.

Denny's Salt Story

What has happened to people being accountable for thier own actions. What a waste of our courts time. I mean come on. The same meals probably have a few thousand calories each too. Can't help his BP either.

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