Nestle rebuked by the FDA for misleading nutritional labeling

The Food and Drug Administration came down on Nestle earlier this month for marketing its childrens’ juice boxes as “medical” foods.

In a Dec. 3 letter, the FDA said the company mislabeled its Boost drink, which comes in flavors like chocolate, vanilla and strawberry, “as a medical food for the medical condition of ‘failure to thrive’ and also for ‘pre/post surgery, injury or trauma, chronic illnesses.’” According to federal guidelines, the letter explains, “medical foods must be for the dietary management of a specific disorder, disease, or condition for which there are distinctive nutritional requirements and must be intended to be used under medical supervision.”

Not sure “failure to thrive” really counts as a disease.
 
But wait, there’s more. A second letter dated Dec. 4 criticizes Nestle’s Juicy Juice line for, among other things, claiming the drink “helps support brain development” in children younger than 2. Also, the letter said the labels “may lead consumers to believe that the products are 100% orange/tangerine juice or 100% grape juice when, in fact, they are not.”

A Nestle representative told Reuters that the company would fully cooperate with the FDA. But Nestle isn’t the first company to be accused of playing fast and loose with food labels to tug on those parental guilt strings -- there are many more common claims that may not raise federal ire. Think of the phrases “whole grain” and “good source of ___.” Check out Consumer Reports’ ShopSmart guide to tricky lingo -- No. 6 on the list, regarding Cheerios and the lowering of cholesterol, might sound remarkably similar to the FDA’s issue with Nestle.

Children aren’t savvy enough to read between the marketing lines, so their parents must learn to be. No excuses -- it’s often as simple as turning that juice box over to check out the ingredients and the nutrition label.

-- Amina Khan

Comments

[Registered Dietitian in PA]

Not defending the sneakiness of Nestle - but Failure to Thrive is absolutely a legitimate medical condition:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Failure_to_thrive

[CAS]

I don't disagree that there are great problems with misleading food labels, but I will argue that failure to thrive qualifies as a disease. It is a technical term for a child whose growth is below the 3rd or 5th percentiles for age or whose growth has fallen off precipitously and crossed two major growth percentiles. The problem with the Nestle food label was not that failure to thrive is not a disease, it was the description of Boost as a medical food. Medical foods are meant to include foods that would only be used to treat a specific disease under the care of a physician. For example, there are nutritional powders without phenylalanine for patients with phenylketonuria. Failure to thrive can be caused by a variety of underlying disease processes, so it doesn't have specific nutritional requirements in the way phenylketonuria does, but I would argue that caloric supplementation with a food such as Boost might be recommended by a physician for a child with failure to thrive. This is a very fine line. Boost aims to be similar to Pediasure, which calls itself a nutritional supplement. Boost should call itself a nutritional supplement, but that does not mean that it is not helpful for the medical scenarios described on the label.

[Rob]

CAS post seems a bit too "understanding" with respect to Nestle's claim...hmmmmm....

[Peter]

Brings to mind Nestle's history in Africa giving away infant formula until mothers' breast milk dried up ... and then selling it to them. "When will they ever learn?"

[Nicolas Martin]

Any parent who believes Nestle's outlandish claims isn't likely to raise a very bright child no matter what he eats.

[Martin]

This adds to my list of reasons to never buy anything that Nestle sells--I'll never forget the free powder milk given to breastfeeding mothers until they were no longer able to breastfeed (claiming that their milk was healthier) and then charging after the mothers were unable to breast feed.

[ZR]

Notwithstanding everything else they claimed, yes, "failure to thrive" is a legitimate and widespread condition suffered by many, many people...no that Boost is the cure for this by any means...

[MikeInMaryland]

Registered Dietitian in PA? CAS? Is 'failure to thrive' a descriptive of a symptom with multiple possible causes, or is it a described, specific, disease? Is itchiness a described, specific, disease, or is it a symptom of multiple possible causes (such as exposure to an allergen, or a result of having psoriasis or eczema, etc.)?

According to kidshealth.org, 'failure to thrive' "is a general diagnosis, with many possible causes." That, to me, does not sound like a definitive diagnosis of a specific disease, such as H1N1 influenza.

[Lawrence Turner]

It really confuses me why anyone would ever believe the claims of marketers trying to sell a product.

In the words of governor Arnold Schwarzenegger: " I'm here to promote and promote and promote. Market, market, market. This is what I know how to do, and I know that it pays off. Everyone is making it sound better than it is. Because that is what marketing is all about."