FDA Warns 16 Food Companies about Misleading Labels | Teen Ink

FDA Warns 16 Food Companies about Misleading Labels

March 12, 2010
By JKars32195 BRONZE, New York, Ny, New York
JKars32195 BRONZE, New York, Ny, New York
4 articles 0 photos 3 comments

The Food and Drug Administration is coming down hard on many different food companies. The FDA was seen to have warned 16 different food companies for false advertising of their foods. These accusations are now causing the FDA to change the criteria of the food claims on different food and drink products.

Many food companies such as Nestle, POM pomegranate juice, Gerber’s baby food, Juicy Juice and Gorton’s fish fillets, are labeling their foods, without the FDA’s guidelines, therefore deceiving their consumers about what’s really in their food. According to an article from the New York Times, POM pomegranate juice made false claims that their juice could prevent or even cure hypertension, diabetes and cancer. These claims violate the guidelines that the FDA provides. In response to these claims, the POM Company quoted in the New York Times, “We are currently reviewing the FDA’s concerns and, as strong advocates of honest labeling and fair advertising, we are looking forward to working with the agency to resolve this matter.”

In and article from Fox News.com, The FDA bashed Nestle who makes Gerber baby carrots because appropriate dietary levels have not been established for kids in this age range and they are providing these foods for young babies.

Another problem the FDA found was that many labels said that there were no trans fats in their food, in order to mask that there are tremendous amounts of saturated fats. The food product that pertained to this the most was Dibs vanilla ice cream snacks. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the Dibs company claimed to be devoid of trans fats in their food but don’t inform their consumers that there are 20 grams of saturated fats, and many health companies clearly state that people should only consume 20 grams of saturated fats a day.

In an article found in Reuters, FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg and the FDA are planning on changing the guidelines for labeling and working with the food industry so future problems do not occur. Hamburg said, “The FDA will give food manufacturers further clarification about what is expected of them as they review their current labeling,".


Similar Articles

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

This article has 0 comments.