After EXCLUSIVELY revealing yesterday that Pete Evans’ controversial Paleo baby recipe book had been put on hold because of major public health concerns, The Weekly online sought clarification from publisher Pan MacMillan.
Our calls were met with silence. Pan MacMillan later issued a statement saying the Bubba Yum Yum: The Paleo Way book, which was co-authored by recipe blogger Charlotte Carr and naturopath Helen Padarin, had been “delayed” rather than recalled but has refused to comment further.
Given the book contains a recipe for a DIY baby formula made from liver and bone broth that health officials believe could potentially be life-threatening to babies, The Weekly online has sought further clarification about whether the book would ever be published despite these concerns.
An issue of how much responsibility publishers have to check the safety and veracity of health claims made by their authors has arisen. Pan MacMillan is not the only publisher involved in this debate.
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Pete Evans, who once prided himself on his pizza recipes, is now endorsing Paleo for babies.
Penguin Australia is facing questions over what measures it took to assess the claims made by their cookbook author Belle Gibson, who claimed to be healing herself with food after allegedly being given just months to live following a brain cancer diagnosis several years ago. Serious doubts have arisen over her cancer claims.
Here are the questions Pan MacMillan declined to answer from The Weekly online this morning:
- What checks did you perform before printing the book to ensure the veracity of health claims and the safety of recipes in “Bubba Yum Yum: The Paleo Way”?
- Are you satisfied these obligations were met in relation to “Bubba Yum Yum: The Paleo Way?”
- Do you accept you have a duty of care to readers to ensure recipes in your cookbooks are not dangerous to their health?
- You didn’t respond to us but told The Daily Telegraph the book had not been recalled. We understand it had been printed and was ready for distribution to book stores but last minute instructions had been issued from you not to proceed with putting the book out on Friday as scheduled following intervention from public health officials. Are you planning to go ahead and publish this book at any time?
- Are you satisfied with the veracity of health claims made in the book Going Paleo, which you are publishing this week? For instance that a Paleo diet may help with “tumour shrinkage/cancer remission”?
Pete Evans currently co-hosts Channel 7’s My Kitchen Rules. When contacted by The Weekly a spokesperson for Channel 7 said that the network had no official comment on Pete’s Paleo book for babies and did not wish to comment on the speculation that Pete would not be returning to the show for next season.
