Fruit shown on label often not in the box, kids' food study says

January 26, 2007

Unfortunately, according to health advocates, many companies fail to put the fruit where it counts -- inside the products.

The Prevention Institute and the Strategic Alliance for Healthy Food and Activity Environments, an Oakland-based coalition of California's leading public health, physical activity and nutrition organizations, say more than half of the most aggressively advertised children's foods that show fruit on their packaging or even put the word "fruit" in their name contain no fruit.

Yoplait Go-Gurt Strawberry Splash yogurt, Fruity Cheerios and Berry Berry Kix are just a few of the products named in the organization's study being released today, "Where's the Fruit?"

Some products boast natural fruit flavorings, but those don't contain the nutrients of real fruit.

"Frankly, it was pretty surprising to find that nearly 51 percent of these products had no fruit in them at all and that 16 percent had minimal fruit," said Leslie Mikkelsen, managing director of the Prevention Institute and a registered dietitian, who headed up the four-month research project.

"Parents are rushing through grocery stores with their kids, and a lot of them are relying on what they see on the front of the package. Most are too harried to read the fine print."

The organization used a 2006 study by the nonprofit Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation to identify which children's foods were most heavily advertised on television. More than $10 billion a year is spent on marketing food to children, according to Prevention Institute.

Strategic Alliance narrowed down the foundation's findings to supermarket products that featured fruit on the packaging, a $3 billion-a-year industry. When they pored over the labels of the 37 items selected, they found that what was pictured on the front of the box wasn't necessarily found in the list of ingredients on the back.

"The deception is really intolerable," said Larry Cohen, executive director of the Prevention Institute. "There is really no excuse for misleading parents in a way that weakens their ability to encourage their children's health."

Children's diets are of particular concern these days in light of growing rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes, both of which are related to poor nutrition.

Cohen and Mikkelsen said they hope the study will be a wake-up call to parents and nudge food and beverage companies to change their policies. They also would like to see the Food and Drug Administration strengthen its rules on packaging and advertising.

"Current FDA regulations on health claims and product definitions, such as those for fruit drinks, are not sufficiently protecting parents and children," the report states. "These regulations need to be updated to ensure the packaging clearly states fruit content on the cover."

The FDA did not return calls Thursday. But Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit nutrition and science advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., says the FDA's typical reaction is to point to a lack of resources to pursue these types of cases. Although there are laws that forbid false package advertising, Jacobson said they contain so many loopholes that these cases are difficult to win in court.

"There is tremendous deception out there, and it's become part of what's expected," he said. "It's a scuzzy little corner of the food industry."

General Mills, which the Prevention Institute report calls one of the biggest offenders, did not respond to questions Thursday.

"They would just say that they're being truthful on the (nutrition) label," said Marion Nestle, professor of food studies and public health at New York University, and author of "What to Eat."

She urges all parents to carefully scrutinize labels but says that to understand them, "you have to be a Talmudic scholar."

They may taste fruity, but ...

The following products with fruit in the name or illustrated on the front of the package contained either no fruit at all or a minimal amount of fruit (in the form of 2-10 percent fruit juice), according to a study released today. These products were chosen for the study because they are heavily advertised.

NO FRUIT

MINIMAL FRUIT

On the Web

The complete report, "Where's the Fruit?,'' is available online at www.preventioninstitute.org.