health education

The U.S. Food and Drug Agency (FDA) released warnings to the manufacturers of Canada Dry ginger ale and Lipton tea due to their misleading claims.

In august 30, the regulatory agency forwarded the letter to Dr. Pepper Snapple Group that manufactures Canada Dry Sparkling Green Tea Ginger Ale. Earlier in August 23, Unilever Inc. who makes Lipton Green Tea 100 Percent Naturally Decaffeinated received the same letter.

The federal agency does not consider the Canada Dry claims that contains 200 mg of antioxidants from green tea and vitamin C to be health promoting. The antioxidants in the beverage pose no significant activity as the natural antioxidants and cause no enhancing health benefits, an official says. Furthermore, the agency does not allow beverages and soft drinks to have any fortification with nutrients.

The FDA issued the warning to a website of Unilever that made the claims about Lipton Green Tea’s health benefits such as lowering blood cholesterol and decreasing risk of heart disease. The claims made the beverages more of a drug than a drink, the agency says. Furthermore, such claims need supporting evidences and studies to prove its efficiency and safety.

Food manufacturers often fortify their products with health enhancing nutrients to win the taste of the consumers. However, such action may create misconceptions to the public. The agency is hunting down such products to protect the interest of the people.

The letters have given the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group and Unilever Inc. to answer the warning within 15-day period. If the companies are unable to comply with the warnings, the FDA may issue complaints to courts. Furthermore, the agency may issue sanctions and confiscations of the products if the recipients ignored the warnings.

The two companies say they were working with the regulatory agency to resolve the issues.