Parents Suing Welch's Fruit Snacks for Being 'Misleading,' Claiming That Product's 'Real Fruit' Is Really an 'Empty-Calorie Sugar Syrup

Welch's faces a class-action lawsuit for marketing its fruit snacks as being "made with real fruit," while the plaintiffs allege that the fruit component in the product is really an "empty-calorie sugar syrup."

Photo credit: LunaseeStudios/Shutterstock.com

The lawsuit brought against Promotion In Motion, the company that produces, markets and distributes Welch's Fruit Snacks, and Welch's Foods contests the product being marketed as a healthy snack.

On its packaging, in addition to saying the snacks are "made with real fruit," the product is said to provide 100 percent of the daily value of vitamin C and 25 percent of a person's dietary needs for vitamins A and E. A 2.25 oz bag of the "Mixed Fruit" variety has 12 grams of sugar and 0 grams of dietary fiber.

“If they called it junky happy joy chewy, that would be fine,” Stephen Gardner, the attorney for the plaintiffs, told Fortune. “But they’re marketing this to people so they choose to buy it as an alternative to fruit. It’s an alternative to M&Ms—not to use M&Ms pejoratively. I love M&Ms.”

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a non-profit watchdog and consumer advocacy group, targeted Welch's a few years ago, threatening that it would face a lawsuit if it didn't stop with heart-health claims related to its foods.

"Welch Foods claims that its Fruit Snacks products are nutritious and healthful to consume. This claim is deceptive and misleading because, far from being a healthful fruit-filled snack, Welch’s Fruit Snacks contain added sugars and artificial food dyes, lack significant amounts of real fruit, and contain no dietary fiber," CSPI stated in a 2012 letter to Welch's President and CEO Bradley Irwin.

The letter sent from Gardner and fellow litigator Amanda Howell went on to state that the fruit component of the fruit snacks "come long after all of these unhealthful and non-nutritious ingredients." The attorneys also said that Welch's was "only able to claim that its Fruit Snacks contain '100% Vitamin C' and '25% Vitamins A & E' by clearly violating FDA’s Fortification Policy."

"It takes a heroic amount of chutzpah to tell consumers that these fruit snack candies will reward anyone's heart," Gardner said in a statement at the time, noting a fruit snack package that featured a heart and the text "Reward Your Heart."

A look at the "Mixed Fruit" nutrition list reveals that fruit puree is listed as the first ingredient, followed by sugar and corn syrup.

Promotion in Motion in a statement to Quartz said that fruit puree has "always been the first ingredient in Welch’s Fruit Snacks."

"Our labeling is truthful and gives consumers the information they need to make informed decisions," the statement to Quartz continued.

Gardner told Quartz the ultimate goal of the lawsuit is to have Promotion In Motion "stop these abusive practices" and "find a way to let people (parents in particular) know what they are buying."

(H/T: io9)

—

Front page image via Shutterstock.