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Chief Justice Bell's Verdict
19th June 1997
McDonald's Corporation
First Plaintiff
and
McDonald's Restaurants Limited
Second Plaintiff
VS
Helen Marie Steel
First Defendant
and
David Morris
Second Defendant
before
The Hon. Mr Justice Bell

SUMMARY OF THE JUDGEMENT
(read in Open Court on Thursday, 19th June 1997)

McDonald's food, heart disease, cancer of the breast and cancer of the bowel

The leaflet bears the meaning that McDonald's food is very unhealthy because it is high in fat, sugar, animal products and salt (sodium), and low in fibre, vitamins and minerals, and because eating it more than just occasionally may well make your diet high in fat, sugar, animal products and salt (sodium), and low in fibre, vitamins and minerals, with the very real, that is to say serious or substantial risk that you will suffer cancer of the breast or bowel or heart disease as a result; that McDonald's know this but they do not make it clear; that they still sell the food, and they deceive customers by claiming that their food is a useful and nutritious part of any diet.

This charge is defamatory of both Plaintiffs.

My conclusions and findings in this part of the case are accordingly as follows.

At the material time of publication of the leaflet between September 1987, and September 1990, McDonald's food was high in fat (including saturated fat) and salt (sodium) and animal products and it has continued to be so. It was low in fibre at the material time of publication of the leaflet, but it has not been proved to be so now. It has not been shown that McDonald's food generally is high in sugar, although some individual times are. It has not been shown that McDonald's food is low in vitamins or minerals.

It is not true to say that eating McDonald's food albeit more than just occasionally, might well make your diet high in fat, animal products and salt (sodium), let alone sugar, or low in fibre, let alone vitamins and minerals. Such a statement is not justified. It is not true in substance and in fact because it is only true (so far as fat, animal products, salt and fibre are concerned) in relation to a small proportion of people who eat McDonald's food several times a week. The leaflet does not say that if you eat McDonald's food several time a week it might well make your diet high in fat, animal products and salt (sodium), and low in fibre. It leads the reader to believe that this is to be expected from anything more than just the occasional McDonald's meal.

It follows that it cannot be right to say that eating McDonald's food will bring the very real risk that you will suffer cancer of the breast or bowel or heart disease as a result of making your diet high in fat, sugar, animal products and salt (sodium), and low in fibre, vitamins and minerals, even if such a diet carries such a risk.

Nevertheless I have gone on to consider whether it has been proved that a diet high in fat (including saturated fat), animal products and salt (sodium), and low in fibre leads to a very real, that is serious or substantial, risk of heart disease or cancer of the breast or cancer of the bowel.

In my JUDGEMENT a diet high in fat (including saturated fat) and animal products, and low in fibre, sustained over very many years, probably does lead to a very real risk of heart disease in due course.

This conclusion does not help the Defendants to justify the meaning and message of this part of the leaflet because of my finding that it is not true to say that eating McDonald's food more than just occasionally might well make your diet high in fat and animal products and low in fibre. It does mean, in my JUDGEMENT, that the small proportion of McDonald's customers who eat McDonald's food several times a week will take the very real risk of heart disease if they continue to do so throughout their lives, encouraged by the Plaintiffs' advertising.

It has not been proved, on balance of probabilities, that a diet high in fat, including saturated fat, and animal products, and low in fibre, even if sustained over very many years, leads to a very real risk of cancer of the breast in due course, although it is possible that it increases the risk to some extent.

It has not been proved, on balance of probabilities, that a diet high in fat, including saturated fat, and animal products, and low in fibre, even if sustained over very many years, leads to a very real risk of cancer of the bowel in due course, although it is strongly possible that it increases the risk to some extent.

It follows that McDonald's food is not very unhealthy as stated in the leaflet.

However, I do find that various of the First and Second Plaintiffs' advertisements, promotions and booklets have pretended to a positive nutritional benefit which McDonald's food, high in fat and saturated fat and animal products and sodium, and at one time low in fibre, did not match.

Save in this last respect, the defamatory meaning and message of the leaflet is not justified.

Had the leaflet said that in order to do his or her best to keep any risk of suffering heart disease or cancer of the breast or cancer of the bowel to a minimum the reader would be well advised to keep consumption of fat, particularly saturated fat, and animal products down and consumption of fruit, vegetables and cereals up, should take a fair amount of exercise and, above all, avoid smoking, and had it gone on to say that if the reader ate McDonald's meals several times a week indefinitely, without taking a lot of care with the rest of his or her meals, there would be a very real risk of heart disease in due course and that it was possible that there would be some increase in the risk of cancer of the breast and cancer of the bowel also, and had it concluded that the reader would, therefore, be well advised to ignore any McDonald's advertising which might appear to encourage him or her to eat McDonald's meals several times a week, then, in my view, McDonald's (the Plaintiffs) would have had no just cause for complaint. But that was not the message which the leaflet gave. Its actual message of a very real risk of heart disease or cancer of the breast or cancer of the bowel simply from eating at McDonald's more than just occasionally for any period, and of a cover up of that fact, is not justified.

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