CSPI forces changes in some food labels.

Claiming that FDA is not doing an adequate job of policing the claims on food labels, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) says it has been successful in changing behavior through the legal system. Most recently, according to CSPI, the organization was able to convince Tropicana and its parent company, PepsiCo, to change the label on its Peach Papaya drink, largely because the product contains no peach juice and no papaya juice. In fact, says CSPI, "the very small amount of juice in this drink is pear juice from concentrate."

"We're open to listening to legitimate concerns and this seemed like a reasonable concern," said Danielle Vona, director of juice and juice drinks, Pepsi-Cola North America. "We want to take every opportunity we can to provide consumers with nutrition information about our products."

On another front, CPSI was successful in getting Pinnacle Foods to change the label on its Aunt Jemima Blueberry Waffles to reflect the fact that the product contains no blueberries. Instead, says CSPI, the "artificially flavored blueberry bits" in the waffle mix are made from sugar, dextrose, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, soy protein concentrate, artificial flavor, salt, citric acid, cellulose gum, blue 2 lake, red 40 lake, and malic acid. In other words, said CSPI litigation director Stephen Gardner, "no actual blueberries are harmed in making Aunt Jemima Blueberry Waffles."

"We thank Pinnacle Foods for speedily agreeing to these sensible label improvements, and we appreciate their willingness to work collaboratively," said Gardner. "In fact to be fair, Pinnacle Foods only recently acquired Aunt Jemima, so they're righting a wrong that didn't originate with them."

In the past year, says CSPI, it has been more aggressive in its policing of deceptive labeling claims on its own, by turning to litigation, partly since it says the FDA does a poor job in this area. In recent weeks, CSPI has reached settlements with Quaker Foods and Tropicana over deceptively labeled products and is currently suing Quorn Foods, which sells a meat substitute made from processed fungus. CSPI has received, and forwarded to the FDA, complaints from more than 900 consumers who experienced nausea, severe vomiting, diarrhea or anaphylaxis after eating Quorn products.