FDA Warns Cheerios to Ease Off Health Claims

By Harry Kimball, Newser Staff

Posted May 12, 2009 5:05 PM CDT

(Newser) – The FDA has a message for Cheerios: You're a cereal, not a wonder drug. The agency says General Mills must tone down its health claims or risk having its product yanked off shelves, the New York Daily News reports. The cereal box makes all sorts of claims about lowering cholesterol and reducing the risk of heart disease, and the FDA says only agency-approved drugs can boast of such things.

“Your claim does not convey that all these factors together help to reduce the risk of heart disease and does not enable the public to understand the significance of the claim,” an FDA letter said, referring to other components of a healthy diet. “The science is not in question,” a General Mills spokesman said. "The FDA is interested in how the Cheerios cholesterol-lowering information is presented on the Cheerios package and Web site.” The company has 15 days to explain how it will change its marketing.

Cheerios cereal in the supermarket aisle. (AP Photo)

A GM whole grain claim. (AP Photo)

A box of General Mills' Cheerios. (AP Photo)

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MOST POPULAR STORIES

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FDA Whistleblowers: Our Email Was Monitored

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Feds Hit Red Cross With $9.6M Fine

FDA sites badly trained staff, poor record-keeping

E-Cigs Work, But Have Smoking Foes Burning

They can help smokers quit, but anti-smoking groups still want ban

Judge Blocks Gruesome Cigarette Labels

Big Tobacco was likely to win First Amendment complaint

FDA Doctored Its Gross Cigarette Photos

That's one way to counter tobacco company lies!

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