Are National Brands Selling Product by Making Misleading Claims

In a word and my opinion YES, because today and for many years, displaying exaggerated declarations made prominent on the package. Based on my career and industry experience, I thought it important to discuss dairy and non-dairy frozen products using marketing tactics highlighted on the front of the package. You’ve seen them and may have even took the bait purchasing a pint of  a dairy product with words like low fat ice cream, or healthy, or good for you, and because it’s low calorie encouraging to consume an entire pint guilt-free. First of all, I am not suggesting that claims of total fat, calories, low fat or protein-fortified are false, I’ll simply point out targeted claims made in bold, large font that may not be stating the “full story”.

Value Calculations:

Values on low-fat and low-calorie products are correct but calculated on unrealistic assumptions that skew values and can be misleading. In a past post entitled Changes To The Nutritional Facts Label, I described laws and revised mandates on nutritional labels the FDA requires on all food labels during the next year. The Nutritional Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) was enacted in 1990, so why change now? Mainly because national and regional brands display values on a panel that is overstated and calculated on numbers that do not represent realistic portions consumed by the average US consumer.

Examples of tactics that I see as marketing tactics, sending the wrong message:

Breyers Natural Vanilla Ice Cream in a 1.75 Quart container, making a claim of 130 calories, 4g saturated fat, 35 mg sodium, and 14g sugar per serving, which is indeed accurate, however, the calculations are based on 14 servings per 1.75-quart container. I don’t know about you, but I do not know 14 ice cream lovers that would be satisfied in sharing a container of vanilla ice cream with 13 other people.       

ProYo – a name that could suggest it’s yogurt, which usually contains cultures, but none to be found in this product. They show on the label  low-fat ice cream, which is an oxymoron, because the FDA CFR Title 21 states to be called “ice cream” the milk fat needs to be a minimum of 10% so low-fat and ice cream technically are not in the same category. Low-fat with used to be called Ice Milk contains milk fat of 1% – 10%. Read an article on Eater.com, an excellent job of explaining Title 21 in laymen terms and also includes a piece on ProYo called “What about Frozen Yogurt”? Explaining the company uses words like ice cream with low fat claims. The FDA has a standard of identity for ice cream (21 CFR 135.110). According to the standard, cream is an optional dairy ingredient, so a product is not required to contain cream to be called ice cream. With this rulle manufacturers are taking advantage using terms the consumer is confused on. ProYo suggests it part yogurt, but no active culture are included. Here’s the explanation, read the entire article on definitions.

FroYo as it’s known in the industry is yogurt and not regulated by the FDA; it is instead regulated by some states, including California. It may consist of anywhere between 0.5 and 6 percent milk-fat, and may or may not actually contain yogurt culture such as Lactobacillus bulgaricus, though its flavor is always tart. Controversially, this has led to the outing of popular brands like Pinkberry: In 2007, the Los Angeles Times found it did not contain any live active yogurt cultures. FroYo is marketed as a lower-calorie alternative to traditional ice cream, and its history is full of spurts and starts”.

FroYo also uses terms like Healthy and Natural but includes Xylitol sugar alcohol which the FDA had to issue a warning that it can kill your dog. Read an article in Crunchy Betty challenging a component as Natural and by the way Xylitol is extracted from hardwoods. So eat it if you will and good luck to you.

Popular Product:

HaloTop – on the website state “Finally Healthy Ice Cream” followed by “Actually Tastes Like Ice Cream” and “We Only Use The Best Ingredients to Craft Our Ice Cream”. The product starts with skim milk and contains Erythritol, here’s the Wikipedia definition of how the alcohol is made. “Erythritol is produced industrially beginning with enzymatic hydrolysis of the starch from corn (corn starch) to generate glucose. Glucose is then fermented with yeast or another fungus to produce erythritol. Nutritionists aren’t buying in on the claim of healthy, read the article in Fortune.

Additionally, the company’s marketing approach is encouraging the consumer to eat the entire pint and saying it’s ok because one pint of Vanilla Bean is only 280 calories. To me, it’s almost like the company is saying hey if you have an eating disorder or can’t control yourself, then we have the dessert for you.    

It seems like every day I see another product in the freezer case making exaggerated claims rather than merely on the merits of product quality and integrity. Cruise the freezer aisle and look for the container bannering values in large font on the front, to entice you on its benefits, then look at the ingredient statement and see if you know the origin or definition of some of the ingredients. Can you say “snake oil”, the grocery aisle has become the newest circus in town, but with all the hype and sales numbers, the claims and strategy seem to be working.

Claims I recommend clients avoid using on their package:

• • Low Fat Ice Cream – because ice cream needs to be 10% butterfat and higher and low fat should mean less than 10% bf

• • Low calorie and healthy – to achieve a low-calorie identity means that some ingredients have been replaced to reduce caloric intake such as sugar alcohols like Stevia replacing cane sugar and Stevia which was banned for health reasons by the FDA until 1994 under pressure and petition by major companies like Coca-Cola.  

• Eat the entire container – can suggest overindulgence is ok without consequences

Truth in Labeling:

Truth in labeling has been a downhill move in the food industry for years and don’t suspect it will subside anytime soon. How do you believe what the label states and what you are really consuming? Purchase a product based on ingredients only, the more they’re originally derived the better. You should be able to clearly read and understand the ingredient statement.

Nutrition Panel:

As for the nutrition panel, take the servings per container listed at the top of the panel and multiply by any of the values. If there are 4 servings per container and the calories per serving are 100 and you proceed to eat half of the container then you just consumed 200 calories.

Sugar alcohol:

While fewer calories than cane or beet sugar, keep in mind the body processes it differently. Here is a part of an explanation on how it Metabolises: Sugar alcohols are slowly and incompletely absorbed from the small intestine into the blood. Once absorbed they are converted to energy by processes that require little or no insulin. Some of the sugar alcohol is not absorbed into the blood. These pass through the small intestine and are fermented by bacteria in the large intestine. Thus, overconsumption may produce abdominal gas and discomfort in some individuals. 

Are Low Fat, Low-Calorie Products here to stay?

The craze and lure to consume a large amount of a dessert with little calorie consequence has been around for many years.

Here’s an article from 1995 in the Independent on a food phenomenon, Entenmann’s 97% Fat-Free Danish and other pastries, how sales skyrocketed and that the product may not be as good for you as claimed.

What Big Ice Cream Says:

Attending a webinar major ice cream manufacturers stated they will come out with a Halo Top type product because the market is hot and they want to get in on the sales action. However, it was made clear manufacturers have little intention to move away from flagship higher fat lines, which over the years have seen tried and true. Ice cream attracts true desert connoisseurs and doesn’t expect that to change during the recent low-fat and calorie craze. Ben & Jerry’s high fat, low overrun products, with tons of large inclusions have been around since the 80s and will continue to produce high-quality products that satisfy the palate. The company is proud to use as few ingredients as possible and in many flavors with over 1,000 calories per pint. They don’t make health claims or encourage the customer to eat an entire pint, they’re simply a high-quality no-frills product in a colorful cup for the consumer enjoy without guilt.

You’re in Control:

I believe if a manufacturer’s true responsibility, then they will make non-emotional based claims and allow the product to speak for itself on quality. Truth in labeling is important and should not be an exaggeration of the truth. Customers don’t have to consume a full pint of a new-fangled dairy or non-dairy dessert, they simply can enjoy a more wholesome product and enjoy a couple of spoonfuls at a time.