Denny’s Sued Over Sodium Content of Meals
It’s a class action lawsuit, supported by the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Most meals at Denny’s restaurants meals are dangerously high in salt, putting the chain’s customers at greater risk of high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, alleges a class action lawsuit filed Thursday by a New Jersey man with the support of the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, CSPI.
…The plaintiff, Nick DeBenedetto, 48, is a resident of Tinton Falls, New Jersey, who has eaten for many years at Denny’s restaurants in East Brunswick and Brick, New Jersey.
DeBenedetto takes a prescription medication to control his high blood pressure and at home does not cook with salt or use the salt shaker. Some of his favorite Denny’s items, such as Moons Over My Hammy or the Super Bird turkey sandwich, contain far more than 1,500 mg of sodium even without soup, salad, fried onion rings, or other side dishes.
“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 said. “It’s as if Denny’s is stacking the deck against people like me. I never would have selected those items had I known.”
As much as I loathe Denny’s (and that whole “greasy spoon” genre of restaurants), Mr. DeBenedetto doth protest too much, methinks. How could someone on a low salt diet have failed to realize that menu items w/processed meat and cheese – like the “Moons Over My Hammy” sandwich – contained excess sodium? How could he have missed it? When your palate is conditioned to unsalted food, “normally” salty stuff really leaps out at you. And – in fairness to Denny’s – full nutritional info is readily available… in light of his medical problem, Mr. DeBenedetto owns some responsibility for failing to educate himself about his food choices.
But I don’t believe this suit is really about Denny’s, per se. Denny’s menu items are certainly high in sodium, but it’s hardly the only offender: there are plenty of canned, frozen, snack and (other) restaurant foods that are nearly as bad. Check out the nutritional info for Chili’s, for example. Or how about the info for a Hungry Man frozen dinner? We’re talkin’ Sodium Central. Basically, I think the CSPI is using this as a test case.
I’ll be curious to see how this plays out in court, although it could take years… I imagine Denny’s will fight this every step of the way.
July 31, 2009
I don’t care for Denny’s or other restaurants like them. But I would know if I went in and ordered “Moons Over My Hammy” it probably would have plenty of sodium involved.
Most restaurants use plenty of salt in their food. Americans seem to like the flavor. Just watch most cooking shows on T.V. and you will see they add salt to everything.
To think Mr. DeBenedetto did’nt realize what he was eating seems a little lame to me.