Parlor Spider...Step In, Little Fly

Insightful thoughts and/or rants from atop the soapbox from one who wishes to share the "right" opinion with everyone.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Sure, But How Do the Cows Feel?

I will readily admit that living in the upper Midwest has some drawbacks. Not watching television much or listening to the radio a lot can also be drawbacks when it comes to finding things out. I generally am among the last to know popular culture. Fortunately, I have at least one child who feels it his duty to keep me relatively abreast of the world. And, of course, reading six newspapers every day keeps me at least on the fringe of contemporary things. But I admit to being totally befuddled by Cytosport's "Muscle Milk" and the latest in a long line of lawsuits surrounding the company.
In case you have yet to realize its existence, "Muscle Milk" is marketed to athletic types by the company as a nutritional shake, and such luminaries as Shaq have touted its benefits. Who knew? Not me. Anyway, Cytosport has been ruthless in filing suit against any person or company that uses the word "milk" in its trademark. Thus, "Warrior Milk," a product supposedly engineered by a nutrition expert, has come under the legal wrath of the Cytosport legal beagles. So has "Angel Milk," a similar product aimed at pregnant and nursing mothers. The lawsuit eventually cost so much that "Angel Milk" is no longer offered for sale. All of this makes the latest legal wrangling somewhat interesting: Cytosport is itself being sued by the Nestle Corporation (the world's largest food company with sales of more than $800 billion last year). The reason for the suit? Nestle claims "deceptively misdescription" (?) because "Muscle Milk" has actually NO MILK IN IT! Obviously, the FDA has a loose interpretation of what can be called "milk."
According to the Cytosport folks, this product is "designed after one of nature's most balanced foods: mother's milk." That description alone would probably cause me to eschew its use, but that's just me. At any rate, this product does contain whey as does regular milk, but it contains no lactose and no fat. It DOES contain "fast-burning medium-chain diglycerides"...almost sounds like fat to me.
I seriously doubt that Nestle will run out of money to continue litigation, and I will add this to my ever-expanding list of things to do on Monday:
9. Find "Muscle Milk" while trying not to think about lactating mothers...bless their hearts.

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