Fly The Fatty Skies

An airline’s offer to give 50-piece tubs of fried chicken to attract travelers from Western Samoa has left a bad taste in the mouths of health workers.

The National Heart Foundation urged Air New Zealand to lay off fast-food promotions that hamper efforts to fight heart disease.

A recent Air New Zealand advertisement in a Samoan newspaper promised a “mouthwatering feast” of takeout chicken for New Zealand-bound ticket-holders. Similarly, Samoa’s Polynesian Airlines has offered barrels of salted beef, 3-pound cans of corned beef and 10-pound packs of frozen chicken.

Iutita Rusk, a coordinator with the heart foundation, said such promotions reinforce “the status of these high-fat foods.” More than 70 percent of Pacific Islanders suffer from problems related to poor diet, such as heart disease, diabetes and obesity.