January 31, 2012
Previously published on January 26, 2012
On Wednesday, the National Advertising Division ("NAD") of the Council of Better Business Bureaus announced that it had determined that Suncore Products, LLC can substantiate certain nutritional claims the company made in Internet, print, and television advertisements for its “WhoNu? Nutrition Rich Cookies.” The claims included that each three-cookie serving of WhoNu cookies contained: - “As much Fiber as a bowl of oatmeal;”
- “As much Calcium and Vitamin D as an 8 oz. glass of milk;”
- “As much Vitamin C as a cup of blueberries;”
- “As much Iron as a cup of spinach;”
- “As much Vitamin E as two cups of carrot juice;”
- “As much Vitamin B12 as a cup of cottage cheese and fruit;"
- “As much Vitamin A as an 8 oz. glass of tomato juice;”
- “Each...serving has 3 grams of Fiber, is an excellent source of Calcium, Iron, Vitamins A, B12, C, D & E, and has a total of 20 essential vitamins and minerals.”
NAD also examined whether the advertising implied that eating a serving of the cookies was equivalent to consuming a serving of the comparative foods. The self-regulatory body determined that consumers were likely to understand that the comparison between the cookie and the comparative food were limited to the specific nutrient called out in the claim. NAD also noted that SunCore avoided direct comparisons to whole fruits and vegetables, did not recommend the cookies as a substitute for healthy snacks and did not depict the actual healthy foods used in the comparisons on the product’s packaging. In the past, NAD has expressed concern in previous cases about advertising claims for snack foods that make direct comparisons to whole fruits or vegetables.
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