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A Response to the KIND Bar Controversy




Yum

April 16, 2015 by Andrea Fabry 14 Comments

The Food and Drug Administration recently issued a warning to KIND snacks saying their labels are making false claims.

KIND bar controversy PT

The FDA takes issue with some of the claims on KIND bar labels including:

    • “good source of fiber,”
    • “no trans fats,”
    • “very low sodium” [Kind Fruit & Nut Almond & Apricot, Kind Fruit & Nut Almond & Coconut, and Kind Plus Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew + Antioxidants],
    • “low sodium” [Kind Plus Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate + Protein],
    • “+ antioxidants” [Kind Plus Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew + Antioxidants],
    • “50% DV antioxidants vitamins A, C and E”  [Kind Plus Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew + Antioxidants],
    • “+ protein” [Kind Plus Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate + Protein], and
    • “7g protein” [Kind Plus Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate + Protein]

KIND bars has responded by assuring customers that,

“We couldn’t be more proud of our snack foods and their nutritional benefits. While we make these updates to our packaging and our website, please know that our recipes will stay the same.”

I, for one, don’t eat store-bought snack bars. I prefer to make my own with full control over my ingredients. (See my favorite two ingredient energy bar recipe.) However, I have some strong opinions about the KIND bar controversy and offer this letter to the FDA.

Dear FDA,

With all of the deceit happening in our food industry, I am befuddled that you would pick on KIND Bars.  Other food companies can use the word “natural” with abandon, and yet you spend your time  going after a company with a pronounceable list of  ingredients.

Compare KIND bars with foods manufactured by Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of Pepsico, the nation’s most profitable food company. Here’s what Frito-Lay says about their products:

“At Frito-Lay, we make great tasting snacks that start with high-quality ingredients. Many Frito-Lay chips start with corn or potatoes and are cooked in corn, sunflower, and canola oil, which have less than 20 percent of the “bad” saturated fat, 80 percent or more of the “good” unsaturated fat and 0 grams trans fat per serving.”

Before we get to the issue of fat, consider the ingredient list of Doritos, one of Frito-Lay’s top sellers. This is only a partial list of ingredients:

“Disodium phosphate, lactose, natural and artificial flavor, dextrose, tomato powder, spices, lactic acid, artificial color (including Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 40), citric acid, sugar, garlic powder, red and green bell pepper powder, sodium caseinate, disodium inosinate, disodium guanylate, nonfat milk solids, whey protein isolate, corn syrup solids.”

Yellow 6, Yellow 5, and Red 40 are petroleum-based food dyes. They have been banned in countries like Norway and Finland. These are high quality ingredients? I understand there are no health claims on a package of Doritos, but wouldn’t your energy be best spent trying to help American consumers have access to foods with unambiguous ingredients?

Regarding saturated fat, you’re upset that certain KIND bars exceed 1 g of saturated fat per 40 g RACC while claiming to be a “good source of fiber”. Frito-Lay can use genetically modified canola oil and call it good, but KIND can’t capture the healthy fat contained in a nut without retribution.

Who’s to say natural saturated fat is unhealthy anyway?  As I recall, you were telling us for years that trans fats were perfectly safe, despite growing evidence to the contrary. You totally reversed your stance in 2013 saying reduction in the amount of trans fat in the American diet could help save lives.

Confusion over the health benefits of fat emerged when we started creating them in factories. Up until that time we understood that fat appearing in nuts and seeds offered some important health benefits. I’m not sure it’s helping any of us to spend time counting grams of saturated fat when disease rates continue to escalate.

The issue, however, seems to be KIND’s  health claims. I get it. In my mind health claims ought to appear solely on foods occurring in nature. Perhaps something like this:

KIND bar food controversy

However, the real world dictates that some foods will come in packages. Monitoring health claims makes sense. But allowing companies to plaster the word natural all over their label while excoriating KIND for its use of the term antioxidants because of a missing street address* raises serious questions.

My hope is that the FDA will direct its attention to helping turn the tide in this country away from artificial, genetically-altered, pesticide-ridden foods to real foods that nourish and sustain its citizens.

*Exact wording of the street address issue:

“Specifically, the statement “Kind, LLC, P.O. Box 705 Midtown Station, NY, NY 10018” which is provided on the label does not include the street address and the street address of your business does not appear in a current city or telephone directory. FDA is unable to determine the physical location of your firm using a city or telephone directory and the address listed on the label.”

 

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Filed Under: Foodie, Natural Living Tagged With: antioxidants, chocolate, claims, fat, FDA, food, Food and Drug Administration, Food dyes, food labels, food processors, frito-lay, health, ingredients, KIND bars, natural food, processed food, protein, saturated, saturated fat, snack food

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Comments

  1. Melanie says

    April 17, 2015 at 6:22 am

    Andrea.

    Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Your letter should be a shameful indictment for the FDA. It is time that our country stops bowing to the profitable and trampling those companies which are providing more wholesome options to the average American who out of years of habit eats only from a package. It is time for the FDA to take a stand against GMOs, as its wiser European counterparts already have, and against the slew of chemically derived ingredients being spoon-fed across our country without consideration of the harmful affects being inflicted upon our citizens due to the FDA’s lack of regulation on the giants of the food industry.

    Thank you for taking a stand for the citizens of our country who should have the right to wholesome, health-building foods. Hopefully the FDA will wise-up soon and redirect their efforts to reigning in the ingredients abuse of companies whose only concern is profitabilty rather than providing healthy, wholesome, quality options to the public.

    Reply
    • Andrea Fabry says

      April 17, 2015 at 8:16 am

      Well said, Melanie. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment and encourage.

      Reply
  2. Angela Burch says

    April 17, 2015 at 9:08 am

    Excellent article, Andrea!

    Thank you for taking a stand!

    Reply
    • Andrea Fabry says

      April 17, 2015 at 11:11 am

      Thank you, Angela. 🙂

      Reply
  3. Dawn Ring says

    April 17, 2015 at 7:57 pm

    Way to go Andrea!

    Reply
    • Andrea Fabry says

      April 17, 2015 at 8:25 pm

      Thanks Dawn. 🙂

      Reply
  4. JJ says

    April 18, 2015 at 6:42 pm

    regarding the fats: I switched from light margarine to regular butter last year and my fats and cholesterol lab values improved! I don’t think it’s a coincidence. The closer to natural fats you get the better for you No question. Nuts oils even healthier than the butter no doubt! Sorry fda is picking on these kinds of bars.

    Reply
    • Andrea Fabry says

      April 18, 2015 at 9:16 pm

      It’s people like you who share their story that show how wrong the FDA has been about fat. Thanks for commenting!

      Reply
    • Deborah Mann says

      July 15, 2016 at 2:08 pm

      If God made it, it’s good
      If man created the ingredients…..proceed with caution.

      Reply
      • Andrea Fabry says

        July 15, 2016 at 3:15 pm

        So true, Deborah.

        Reply
  5. Maria says

    April 19, 2015 at 7:12 am

    Great article, because this really ticks me off! Why not go after something like Quest Bars (which EVERYONE I know eats.)? They claim to be “the perfect nutrition” and having “natural flavors.” But the major sweetener is sucralose. How is that natural and perfect? I agree that the FDA has SO many other things to go after. Ridiculous!!!

    Reply
    • Andrea Fabry says

      April 19, 2015 at 3:26 pm

      Thanks for the comment, Maria. Sounds like we’re on the same page with this. 🙂

      Reply
  6. Gina B says

    April 20, 2015 at 10:55 am

    Thank you for this letter! I read it on Facebook this weekend, and I agree. The difference between KIND bars and those other products? The FDA didn’t approve nuts. (#smh) I mean, that’s how I feel – it all comes down to what they say is and isn’t good – in their own eyes. But that’s ok. Sooner or later, that lack of common sense on their part will turn more and more people from putting so much trust in them and do their own research. (I say this after I just gobbled down a KIND bar, lol…)

    Reply
    • Andrea Fabry says

      April 20, 2015 at 12:18 pm

      Hope you enjoyed one with antioxidants, Gina. 🙂

      Reply

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MEET ANDREA

I am a certified Building Biology Advocate, a former journalist, mother of nine, and avid CrossFitter who likes to think outside the box. After our family's health crisis in 2008, I learned to ask questions about what's in our food, our water, and our air. I hope to empower you as you seek to live safely in a complex world. Thankfully, small steps lead to big changes. Let's travel this road together, one step at a time.

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