BBC随身英语:Food for thought 烟草律师进军食品行业

In an interview with the BBC's Susan Watts, he says: "People assume that if a product is legal to sell, then these people are telling the truth about this product... that's what they thought about cigarettes."

The lawyer's mission is to make companies stick to the letter of existing laws which, he says, regulators have been too weak to enforce. He says that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has merely been writing warning letters.

Around two thirds of Americans over the age of 20 are now obese or overweight, according to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Hidden sugars in processed food, Mr Barrett says, are part of that problem, and mis-labelling is key. He cites one example: yoghurt from a food company which lists "evaporated cane juice" as an ingredient, a euphemism for "sugar".

His lawsuits are class actions, where the class is defined as every person who purchased one of the misbranded products in the previous four years.

"If it cost a dollar and 25 cents, then the customer is entitled to his dollar and 25 cents back," he explains. "And there's a four-year statute of limitations, so the damages in each of these cases is how much have they sold of this misbranded junk in the last four years."

Barrett claims that some 25% of products are misbranded in the US. So the scale of damages in these casescould easily match the many billions of the tobacco suits.

Quiz 测验 1. What did the US tobacco companies had to admit about a decade ago?

That they knew cigarettes were addictive.

2. Look at the article. What does Mr Barrett say companies do wrong?

The lawyer says that they misrepresent their products when they say that these are 'natural' and 'healthy'.

3. Is the following statement true, false or not given? Two thirds of Americans are now obese or overweight.

False. The data is about Americans over 20 years old and excludes children and teenagers.

4. What expression in the article means the use of a mild word instead of one that could be hurtful, offensive or, in the case in the article, too revealing?

Euphemism.

5. What expression means 'to have the right to' something?

To be entitled to.

Glossary 词汇表 to take on (someone or something)挑战 to whet (their) appetite刺激食欲 addictive上瘾的，使成瘾的 medical costs医疗费用 a settlement和解协议 to file递交 a case一个案子 a player一个选手（这里指食品公司） to misrepresent误导，歪曲 to assume认为 legal合法的 the letter of the law法律条文 regulator监管机构 to enforce执行 to mis-label贴错标签 an euphemism委婉语 a lawsuit诉讼 a class action集体诉讼 misbranded贴错标签的 to be entitled to有权要求 the statute of limitations诉讼时效 the damages损失 to claim声称