Fruit is a big seller for parents who want to feed their children
nutritious food. So it's no surprise that manufacturers prominently display
berries, cherries and oranges on boxes of breakfast cereals, drink cans and
yogurt containers.
Berry Berry Kix contains no berries whatsoever.
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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."
"Unfortunately, if there is a health claim on the package, people believe
it," she said. "And people think a picture of a piece of fruit is a health
claim."
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
Airheads
Berry Berry Kix
Bubble Tape
Cap'n Crunch with Crunch Berries
Dannon Danimals XL (Strawberry Explosion)
Froot Loops
Fruity Cheerios
Juicy Fruit Gum
Life Savers (Wild Cherry)
Nestle Nesquik milk and drink mix (strawberry)
Post Fruity Pebbles
Push Pop (cherry)
Ring Pop (cherry)
Starburst
Tang
Trix cereal
Trix yogurt (strawberry kiwi)
Twizzlers
Yoplait Go-Gurt yogurt (Strawberry Splash)
MINIMAL FRUIT
Capri Sun juice drink (strawberry)
Hi-C Fruit Drink (Boppin' Strawberry)
Kool-Aid Jammers
Popsicle (orange, cherry, grape)
Skittles
Sunny Delight fruit drinks
Source: Prevention Institute and Strategic Alliance, a coalition of
leading California health agencies and organizations
On the Web
The complete report, "Where's the Fruit?,'' is
available online at www.preventioninstitute.org.
© Copyright 2007 San Francisco Chronicle
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