Butter Substitute Lacks Calories in Spray Form: Court

It's different when I Can't Believe It's Not Butter is bottled
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 24, 2023 4:21 PM CDT
Butter Substitute Label Is Right, Spray Lacks Calories: Court
The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit's James R. Browning Courthouse in San Francisco.   (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

The double negative aside, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray is not misleading consumers, a court has decided. The US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that because the product is classified as a spray, labels showing it contains zero calories or grams of fat aren't wrong, Food Dive reports. When the whole bottle is considered, however, it's a different story; the consumer complaint that launched the case a decade ago says there are 771 calories and 82 grams of fat in a bottle. The court agreed that a spray dousing is a real serving measurement, as used by consumers.

For nutrition labeling, the Food and Drug Administration considers one tablespoon of spreadable fats to be a serving. The size is 0.25 grams for a spray. To get a tablespoon's worth, the court wrote, a consumer would have to spray 40 times, which the majority found implausible. One judge didn't buy that thinking, per Courthouse News. "The proposition that, absent some Canaan miracle, a bottle of flavored oil containing 1,160 calories and 124 grams of fat can be transformed into zero calories and zero grams of fat by the simple act of replacing the bottle cap with a pump device is ludicrous," he wrote in his dissent. (More consumer products stories.)

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