The FDA has issued Cheerios a warning for a drug marketing violation.
The Cheerios ad says that in six weeks, “Cheerios could help lower your cholesterol 4%.” By making this type of claim, however, the FDA says Cheerios becomes a drug and thereby needs approval before advertising the results.
General Mills, who makes Cheerios, says they were approved as a drug several years ago; however, the FDA maintains that they were not.
I say stock up on your Cheerios stash while you can--with the FDA mad at them, you never know what could happen!
What's Driving This Trend
- Regulatory Compliant Advertising
- There is a rising need for regulatory compliant advertising in the food industry to avoid legal consequences.
- Functional Foods Marketing
- The trend of marketing functional foods as a way to improve health and avoid chronic diseases continues to be popular in the food industry.
- Nutrition Science Advancement
- There is a growing trend of investing in advancing nutrition science to bring credibility to food products that claim health benefits.
Who This Affects Most
- Food Manufacturing
- Food manufacturing companies need to invest in nutrition science research to develop functional foods and market them in compliance with regulations.
- Healthcare
- The healthcare industry needs to collaborate with food companies to advance nutrition science research and development of products that address chronic diseases.
- Legal
- The legal industry will continue to work with food companies to identify legal risks of making advertising claims and to ensure regulatory compliance.
