By CONNIE LEWIS
Hundreds of chain restaurants in California will have to post warnings about the mercury content of fish, according to a settlement reached earlier this month.
The settlement also requires the restaurants to pay $132,287 in civil penalties and another $132,287 to fund programs to educate consumers about mercury in fish. Some of the funds will be used to finance an effort to monitor the defendants’ compliance with the settlement.
“We’re not trying to discourage people from eating fish, which is an important source of protein and an important part of a balanced, healthy diet,” said Attorney General Bill Lockyer in a statement. “But people have a right to know when they are being exposed to substances that can cause cancer, birth defects or reproductive harm, and businesses have a legal duty to provide that notice.”
Proposition 65 requires restaurants to warn diners about carcinogenic mercury and related compounds in certain seafood, including shark, swordfish, tuna, king mackerel and tilefish. It calls for the warnings to be posted near a restaurant’s front door, hostess desk or reception area. Signs must be at eye level and sufficiently lit.
Please Sue Us
In a twist, the suits were encouraged by the defendants, including two Orange County-based chains.
Two years ago Irvine-based Yard House Restaurants LLC and Irvine-based Claim Jumper Enterprises Inc. were among several chains that the state said violated Proposition 65.
Yard House and the others asked Lockyer to sue them because it was better than the alternative: facing suits filed by private activist groups represented by trial attorneys.
The restaurant owners were leery after seeing aggressive law firms, such as now-defunct Beverly Hills-based Trevor Law Group LLP, go after restaurants and other small businesses for alleged infractions of the state’s Business and Professions 17200 code.
All but two of the restaurant chains that were sued will be required to post a detailed warning about mercury in fish. The notice must say that pregnant women and young children should not eat shark, swordfish, mackerel and tilefish.
The same warning also advises pregnant women and small children to limit their tuna consumption.
Two chains, New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Morton’s Restaurant Group and Plano, Texas-based Metromedia Restaurant Group, will have to post a generic warning that advises diners that known carcinogens or reproductive toxins may be present in food or beverages sold in the restaurant.
Other restaurant chains covered by the settlement include Red Lobster, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Chili’s, Macaroni Grill, Outback Steakhouse, Benihana, Chart House, Cheesecake Factory and P.F. Chang’s.
Already Complying
Most of the restaurant chains have outlets in OC. Many have posted warning signs since the suit was filed.
Diners shouldn’t be concerned that the warning signs signal food inspection is lax, said Steve Zolezzi, executive vice president of the Food & Beverage Association of San Diego.
Food inspectors from the California Department of Environmental Health regularly check meat, poultry and fish for potentially harmful contaminants, including mercury, he said. Any found to have an unacceptable level doesn’t go on the market.
“So the message to the public is the food supply is safe and will continue to be safe in the future as more and more scrutiny is applied,” Zolezzi said. “But what they’re (the attorney general’s office) referring to is certain segments of the population, such as a fetus, young children and people with immune deficiencies that could be negatively affected by eating certain fish.
“And it also gets down to how often and in what quantities these fish are consumed.”
Mercury is more readily absorbed into some fish, such as swordfish, that live near the ocean’s surface, or eat other fish that live near the top of the ocean. That’s because mercury floats on water, Zolezzi said.
Lewis is a staff reporter with the San Diego Business Journal.
