The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t want Kind labeling its snack bars as “healthy.” A in March says that four of the company’s bars exceed the amount of saturated fat the FDA considers to be healthy.
“Your website … states, ‘There’s healthy. There’s tasty. Then there’s healthy and tasty,’” William Correll, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, writes in the letter. “However, none of your products listed above meet the requirements for use of the nutrient content claim ‘healthy.’”
The FDA specifically picks out Kind’s Almond and Apricot, Almond and Coconut, Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate and Protein, and Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew and Antioxidants. Almond and Coconut, for instance, has five grams of saturated fat per serving, . The FDA says that only food low in saturated fats (one gram or less) may use “healthy” on a label.
Kind that it’s making adjustments to the labeling and online descriptions of the four flavors the FDA noted in its letter, but tells consumers that Kind snacks are still safe and nutritious. “Nuts, key ingredients in many of our snacks and one of the things that make fans love our bars, contain nutritious fats that exceed the amount allowed under the FDA’s standard,” the statement reads. “This is similar to other foods that do not meet the standard for use of the term healthy, but are generally considered to be good for you like avocado, salmon, and eggs.”