Which food labeling claims put you most at risk of a class action lawsuit?

Feb 10, 2018
Kelly Tessitore
0
class action, health claims, natural, product attribute claims

For full article written by Elaine Watson click here:

Think you’re on safe ground if you follow the letter of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act? It’s a good start, said attorneys at a recent webinar, but it won’t stop you getting sued:

“We’re beyond the days when you can just check for compliance with FDA regulations.”

Key points:

Added sugar: If you add sugar don’t claim the product as ‘Healthy’
No added sugar: Don’t make this claim if it normally wouldn’t have sugar added.
Don’t promote ingredients that are in small amounts compared to the rest of the formula.
For example, ‘vegetable type chips’ that are made primarily potato starch/flour and secondarily various vegetable powders.
Fruits and veggies in processed food. “Don’t overstate a product’s health benefits or imply eating
processed foods is equivalent to eating fresh fruits and vegetable.”
Natural claims. We caution every client to not use this word.
Sins of omission: Don’t say 100% juice if it contains 0.00005% preservative.
Country of origin: Your words and imagery should match the country of origin.
Matching rivals’ claims. A rival may be making the claim and under attack by a class action lawyer.
Longstanding claims. Send your products to the lab once a year to back up your claims. Low salt, high in potassium, etc.

Comments are closed.