SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, May 2, 2002: The Seattle lawyer who successfully forced McDonald’s to publicly admit its use of beef extract in its supposedly vegetarian french fries now has set his sights on another popular fast-food chain: Pizza Hut. The proposed class-action suit, filed by attorney Harish Bharti on behalf of 15 million vegetarians and 1 million Hindus throughout the country, claims that Pizza Hut has used beef products in its “Veggie Lover’s” pizza, but has been falsely promoting otherwise. “Defendants intentionally market their pizza to the vegetarian community,” according to the complaint, “knowing full well that the foods are not vegetarian.” “While they claim it’s a vegetarian product, they have a beef product in their cheese,” Bharti said. The practice, he said, is both deceptive and harmful to vegetarians and fellow Hindus who never knowingly eat beef. Pizza Hut doesn’t identify the amount of beef used in its ingredient list, the suit contends, because it is considered to be the “secret ingredient” that is the source of the flavor of its pies. Pizza Hut denied the charge yesterday. “We do not have any beef product in our pizzas,” said Patty Sullivan, spokeswoman for Dallas-based Pizza Hut.
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