According to the Complaint, in one campaign by Tyson on allrecipes.com, a cooking and health information website, Tyson advised consumers to eat chicken "as often as you like" because doing so can "greatly reduce" the risk of heart disease. The Complaint, which contained lengthy factual information concerning the causes of heart disease in Americans, alleged such claims falsely represented Tyson's chicken as "heart-healthy." Further, the Complaint alleged that certain Tyson advertisements were false because "eating Tyson chicken in unrestricted quantities will not lead to a reduction in the risk of heart disease." The Complaint filed by PCRM stated that "consumers who follow Tyson's advice to 'serve chicken as often as you like' and consume large, or even moderate, quantities of any of Tyson's chicken products will not 'greatly reduce' their risk of developing heart disease, but, rather, may actually increase such risk." To support its contention, the PRCM pointed out that all animal products contain saturated fat and that consumption of chicken, "even in moderate amounts," "may easily cause a person to exceed the recommended daily limits of fat and cholesterol."

In other claims, the Complaint alleged that in advertisements appearing in People and Good Housekeeping magazines, as well as during television shows such as Oprah, Tyson stated that its chicken was "all natural." The Complaint alleged that, in reality, "Tyson's production and processing practices, in which chickens are conceived, hatched, fed, and raised in wholly artificial conditions, are anything but natural." PRCM contended that Tyson's chickens are actually raised in "factory farming" conditions, in which "the chickens are genetic mutations that do not exist in nature, the chickens are vaccinated" and "medicated immediately after being hatched." PCRM pointed out that Tyson's chickens are given antibiotics when they are still in eggs and that these antibiotics can cause adverse reactions in humans, including the development of antibiotic-resistance.

In a press release issued on the PCRM website on January 10, 2003, PCRM touted the initial success of its lawsuit. The press release stated that "after the PCRM filed a lawsuit against Tyson Foods over an ad alleged to be false and misleading, Tyson has pulled the Internet ad which had advised consumers to 'serve chicken as often as you like' to ensure heart health." In a statement in PCRM's press release PCRM President, Neal D. Barnard, M.D. stated that "The truth is, chicken has nearly the same high concentrations of cholesterol and saturated fat as beef, and chicken consumption is a major contributor to heart disease and obesity."

PCRM has asked that Tyson stops its deceptive claims and that Tyson place labels on its chicken products and in its advertising for chicken that warn people of possible harm to their health. PCRM subsequently amended its Complaint with regard to Tyson's "all-natural" claims. Tyson, in response, filed a motion to strike on Friday, March 28, 2003. The PCRM is currently preparing a response to Tyson's filings. We will keep you apprised of further developments as the case progresses.