The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) made good on their promise to crack down on misleading food labeling by handing out 17 warning letters to food manufacturers on March 3.
The violations vary, including labels for Gorton’s Fish Fillets and Dreyer’s Dibs and vanilla fudge Drumsticks (that boast no trans fat, yet they contain high levels of saturated fat). POM pomegranate juice also got knocked for claims that their juice can cure diseases like hypertension, and Gerber baby food was warned about making invalid health claims on nutrients as dietary guidelines for those nutrients have not been set for children under two years old.
Most of these companies claim that they were in compliance with FDA regulations, but still have vowed to cooperate.
The change is refreshing. For those who know how to read nutrition labels, it’s easy to forget that many people don’t know how to see past those bogus or inflated claims. The Dreyer Dib are a perfect example. No trans fat is all well and good, and may cause someone to buy those over other ice cream treats, but one serving of Dibs bite sized ice cream contains 17 grams of saturated fat: the recommended limit of saturated fat per day is 20 grams, so you almost reach your limit in one snack.
I wrote a review for POM juice a while back, and while many people love the juice and think it’s great for your health, the claims they make, backed by “research,” are some of the most vague and convoluted statistics I have ever heard, performed by their own professionals, mind you. Here’s a snippet:
“Drinking 8 oz. of POM Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice per day for two weeks lowered the incidence of LDL oxidation, believed to be a key factor in arterial plaque formation. The pilot study included 13 patients.”
Wait, what? Lowered the incidence by how much? 1%? 100%? How many people saw this effect? One? All 13? More importantly, how can you conduct a study with only 13 people? There aren’t even numbers in that stat — which means it’s not actually a stat, right?
I looked at other health (health!) bloggers that reviewed the juice and they, too, were shouting its health praises and quoting these stats. Point being, everyone can get caught up in these misleading claims, even informed customers.
While the FDA is meant to help protect the public’s health, they can only do so much. As such, it is on each individual person to educate themselves on what, exactly, they’re putting into their bodies.
Photo via FDA.gov
