A candidate for the misleading label hall of fame

I had some Aloe Juice recently (4.00 / 1)

it was tasty, reminded me of grape in a way. I think it had cane sugar though not HFCS. Nice catch mm.

---

by: Curtis Abbey @ Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 05:14:11 AM UTC

Could that possibly withstand legal challenge? (4.00 / 1)

Could someone successfully defend a statement that honey is not sugar, that corn syrup is not sugar? If so, the law is an ass.

Not at all in the league of what you found, but I once bought something because the label prominentally said "No sugar added." I didn't read the label, though. When I ate it, I thought it was suspiciously sweet.

No sugar was added, but an artificial sweetener of some kind was added.

---

by: count @ Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 05:43:47 AM UTC

"Sugar" (4.00 / 3)

I think the law might be lax on marketing-type labels related to sugar, or, more likely, there is no enforcement of 'truth in advertising' laws.

Considering ingredient labels, I suspect that sugar falls into a distinct category that comprises refined cane and beet sugar, while the syrups and honey fall into another category.  The nutrition label, which I neglected to photograph, has a category for "Total Sugars" that covers all sweeteners.

---

by: mental_masala @ Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 15:10:11 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

baked beans. (4.00 / 2)

Now you have me wondering, are factory baked beans really baked?

---

by: count @ Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 13:04:36 PM UTC

You should contact the FTC (4.00 / 1)

The Federal Trade Commission has a unique position in the federal government.  They are there to protect consumers from false and misleading claims on all products sold in the US. http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/consume...

So even though sugar has a "standard of identity" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S... the fact that the label does not mention the other sweeteners does constitute a misleading label.

An example of misleading labels were the "NO CHOLESTEROL" claims, on foods that had never contain cholesterol, they were removed from the market.

However under the Bush regimen labeling became the wild west and most label claims, no matter how specious, were able to skate by with out the government crying foul.

The Obama FTC will enforce the labeling laws.    

---

by: OrganicGeorge @ Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 19:42:47 PM UTC