FDA Wants “Healthy” Labels Removed From Some Granola Bars

Federal food regulators are calling for a granola bar maker to stop calling some of their products “healthy,” because they do not meet the qualifications for health food. 

The FDA sent a warning letter last month to Kind, LLC, the maker of KIND snack bars, indicating that the company was incorrectly labeling their granola bar as “healthy,” despite having too much fat to justify that designation. The letter indicates that the products are thus misbranded and has ordered the company to change the labels.

According to the FDA letter, the term “healthy” can only be applied to food that has one gram or less of saturated fat per serving, and no more than 15% of the serving’s calories are from saturated fat. However, the FDA found far more than that in KIND’s granola-like snack bars.

The agency singled out for specific products:

• The Kind Fruit & Nut Almond & Apricot bar, which contains 3.5 g of saturated fat
• The Kind Fruit & Nut Almond & Coconut bar, which contains 5 g of saturated fat
• The Kind Plus Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate + Protein bar, which contains 3.5 g of saturated fat
• The Kind Fruit & Nut Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew + Antioxidants bar, which contains 2.5 g of saturated fat.

The FDA also noted that the total fat of the bars also exceeds the maximum fat required to call a food “low fat” with the bars containing from nine to 13 grams of total fat. To be considered “low fat” they would have to have no more than 3 grams of total fat per serving. The agency’s letter also questions claims that the bars have no trans fats and questions their allergen information.

Kind officials responded to the FDA letter on Tuesday, saying the company would comply with the agency’s requests, but also questioned the fat content rulings, indicating that the fat in their products comes from nuts and that fat is generally considered to be healthy.

“Nuts, key ingredients in many of our snacks and one of the things that make fans love our bars, contain nutritious fats that exceed the amount allowed under the FDA’s standard. This is similar to other foods that do not meet hte standard for use of the term healthy, but are generally considered to be good for you like avocados, salmon and eggs,” the press release states. ” Our team at KIND is fully committed to working alongside the FDA, and we’re moving quickly to comply with its request. We’re also taking it upon ourselves to conduct a thorough review of all of our snack food labels and website information to ensure that they’re compliant.”