FDA Regulates 'Healthy' Food Label
By Amy E. Feldman
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Wait, it sounds delicious AND it says healthy on the label? Really? No, not really.
The Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter last month to the makers of TrueBliss Confections Dark Chocolate Covered Coconut products. Uhh. Chocolate covered coconut. Sorry, got lost there for a second...
The FDA said that the company violated federal labeling requirements when it used the word "healthy" on the label. Well as far as I'm concerned, a coconut comes from a tree - Doesn't that make it healthy?
To understand why the sad answer is "no" you need to know that the law strictly governs certain claims on a product's label.
Under the regulations, manufacturers are allowed to use the word "healthy" on a processed food label if the food is: low in fat and saturated fat; limited in the amount of sodium and cholesterol; and provides at least 10 percent of one or more of vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, calcium, protein, and fiber.
According to the FDA (and your common sense, of course), the saturated fat in the chocolate coconut deliciousness is too high to get to say it's healthy.
Remember that while the government regulates labels, you can too. If it sounds too tasty to be healthy, read closer and draw your own conclusion.