Washington – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent a warning letter to General Mills Inc. last week asking it to change how it promotes the health benefits of Cheerios.
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The FDA told General Mills to stop promoting Cheerios, the country’s best-selling cereal, as a product that can lower cholesterol levels, reduce heart disease and reduce the risk of cancer. The agency said that claiming the cereal can lower cholesterol levels by 4 percent in six weeks amounts to marketing it as a drug and violates the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. A local branch of the FDA gave the Minnesota-based food provider 15 days to explain how it will correct its statements on Cheerios.
In a prepared statement, General Mills (NYSE: GIS) said the complaint doesn’t question whether the cereal actually lowers cholesterol levels and said the dispute is over language, not science.
“The scientific body of evidence supporting the heart health claim was the basis for FDA’s approval of the heart health claim, and the clinical study supporting Cheerios’ cholesterol-lowering benefit is very strong,” the statement said. “We look forward to discussing this with FDA and to reaching a resolution.”
Cheerios boxes say that two, one-and-a-half-cup servings of the cereal every day have been clinically proven to lower cholesterol. The message has been on the box for more than two years.
This may sound like nitpicking by the FDA but the average person has no idea of what to believe and some poor shclep would stop taking his lipitor to save money and just eat 5 bowls of cheerios every day to control his cholesterol.
this or similar to this has been on their boxes for well over 15 years!!!!
So Kellogg’s has the chutzpah to say what oatmeal boxes should say. Oats are the only thing in Cheerios that would do anything to your cholesterol levels. So, I guess I have no sympathy for them in this case.
Cheerios are known to the state of California to contain cancer causing acrylamide.
same stuff (but much less quantity) that are in potato chips.
Why are we wasting our, mine and yours, tax money researching and arguing over a company’s claims.
What happened to a consumer’s responsibility to check into the advisability, viability, quality, usefullness, etc., of any products he/she decides to purchase?
What ever happened to Caveat Emptor?
If you are too stupid to see that NO breakfast cereal is a health food…..
All breakfast cereals contain too much sugar, and not enough nutrition. Those vitamens listed are just artificially included, which mean, TAKE VITAMIMS YOURSELF.
As far as cholesterol-lowering claims, read up on stuff yourself. Then YOU decide what to use.
I resent MY tax money going to organized theft agencies like the FDA, and other monster government agencies which do nothing but interfere with the people.
If you want to eat a candy bar for breakfast, go right ahead.
If I want to package a candy bar, and write on the label that it will give you energy all day long, lower your blood pressure, raise your IQ 70 points, unclog your arteries, and make your children understand Toisfois better, that is my right. YOU are the moron if you buy it.
As a child, I remember my father, A”H, taking me into stores and showing me packages. He used to say, “Most of the “features” or “advantages” displayed in bursts or bubbles, or very bold type, are probably outright lies. It is called marketing.
“Never buy any product based upon the manufacturer’s claims.
Do your own reading and deciding based upon what you learn. Don’t be mad at the company when you are a fool. Life is a game like Chess. If you keep taking that poison pawn, YOU are the fool, don’t get angry at your opponent.”
Can you imagine the future. You sit down to play Chess with your opponent. You must call a FGA (Federal Games Administration) agent to watch.
If you move a piece into a square where it could be taken, you will be required to notify your opponent that he should now take your piece.
If he takes the wrong piece at the wrong time, you will be required to advise him:
“Mr. Opponent, it is better if you leave that pawn alone. Wait for my next move, and you can take that rook. If you take that pawn now, I will take your queen in 3 moves.”
That will be called fair playing, and will be mandatory with the laws like the “Fairness in Gaming Doctrine” which will be passed, along with the FGA to enforce it.
Hey! It will employ many people. Imagine the jobs it will create! The end to our economic disaster? Not really. It is useless work. Like the FDA.
Can anyone show me where in our Constitution the FDA is authorized?
(Not you, Justice Ginsburg, with all due respect, but Justice Scalia, you are the one I respect most on the bench, show me where the Constitution authorizes monsters like the FDA and similar fiascos.)
The govenment is bothering with cereal boxes. NYPD cops are stopping people illegally. The Feds are taking over business. What happened to the USA?
Here is what I have written in the past which some of you will get angry at me for:
“State of mind is volitional.
If you refuse to make the most of today, stand aside and allow me to.
Evolution of Homo Sapiens was terminated by Democracy.
Depression, addiction, and blaming others, are foolish, self-destructive, childish behaviors. Quit misbehaving, take responsibility for your own behavior, life & happiness, and grow up.”
so FDA needs some more shochad from cheerios?……..