Chocolate pudding is healthy and salmon is not. Finally, that something is being addressed. She regularly has to tell people who make healthy foods that they aren’t allowed to use the word on their label. The FDA this week (May 10) finished collecting input on how it should define the term “natural”-which is being used with reckless abandon on supermarket shelves since the claim isn’t regulated”. Clear and reputable guidelines that outline what we should be eating for our health (and to combat the obesity crisis) are precisely what Americans need to start making educated and responsible choices about their own well-being.
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The FDA said it’s allowing use of the phrase framed as a “corporate philosophy”, rather than as a nutrient content claim. For decades, Nestle said, the FDA banned any health claims on food packaging.
The ingredients in KIND bars vary depending on the flavor, but an almond and coconut bar contains almonds, coconut, honey, glucose syrup, rice flour, soy lecithin, chicory root fiber, sugar, and sea salt-a relatively short list that leaves the bar with 190 calories, 12 grams of fat, and 12 grams of sugar.
Kind in February hired public affairs powerhouse Glover Park Group for lobbying help on FDA issues.
The snack company noted that the fats come from nuts and sought the re-evaluation of the term “healthy”.
“Sometimes something such as sugary cereal or a pop tart may be deemed healthy, not necessarily that they put it on the label but it can have that healthy label if they wish”, Policastro said. Here is just some of the recent news and research on the significant nutritional benefits of nuts. The difference is that “natural” was left open to food marketers, because it didn’t have an FDA definition.
“The FDA has now affirmed Kind can use healthy on our wrappers again – just as we had it before”, Kind said.
This means that many snacks that include nuts don’t qualify as healthy.
Of course, this doesn’t mean we will be seeing piles of food stripped of their “healthy” labels soon. It’s a person’s overall diet, not how much fat or vitamin C an individual food has, that determines their health. Instead, you should work to become more of an educated and suspicious shopper.
“When you say this product is healthy because it has seven grams of protein, that’s a nutrient claim”, Lubetzky said. Under this definition, food has to meet standards for fat content, saturated fat content, sodium, cholesterol and beneficial nutrients.
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Lubetzky said he was originally concerned the FDA’s warning would hurt his company’s sales, but that they continued to grow for the next couple of months. As Quartz reported in November, the Sugar Association, Sara Lee Corporation, and the Grocery Manufacturers Association all have filed citizens petitions with the FDA over qualifications for the word “natural”.
