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No, You Can't Claim Candy is Good For You!

By Dan Flynn and Suzanna Schreck

Baltimore's Goetze's Candy is making a nutritional claim it cannot back up, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration charged in a March 4 warning letter to the company.
Those delectable Goetz's Caramel Cream Double Chocolates in the 9-ounce package should not make the claim on the label that they are "Fortified With Calcium,"  FDA said.
"The phrase 'Fortified With Calcium' is a nutrient content claim under (the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act), because this phrase characterizes the product's level of calcium, which is a nutrient of the type required to be in nutrition labeling..." the warning letter said.
FDA said the Maryland candy maker is not eligible to make the "Fortified with Calcium" nutrient content claim because its product--candy--is a snack food and those cannot be fortified under federal regulations.
Goetze's Candy is sold through retail outlets nationwide. The family-owned business claims it is not only "Made in the USA," but only uses American ingredients, except in those instances where something is not produced or grown domestically.   
"As a U.S. manufacturer, we respect the oversight of the FDA and USDA and understand that the U.S. has the safest food supply in the world," says Mitchell Goetze, on the company's website. He also promises the customers that Melamine and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HVP) are not used in any of Goetze's candies.   
FDA also took exemption to the way the candy company figures serving sizes, average servings per container, and even its descriptions.  "Your product bears the term 'Double Chocolate' and 'chocolate' as a characterizing flavor," the warning letter adds.  However, the product is flavored only with cocoa.  
"Because a consumer could reasonably expect there to be a chocolate ingredient in a chocolate candy product, but this product contains cocoa as the sole source of chocolate flavoring, the term 'chocolate' should be qualified with the word 'flavored' on the product label."
On its website, Goetze's Candy says it soon plans to list the suppliers for all of its ingredients. The company has 15 days to respond to FDA's Office of Compliance. 

Full post as published by Food Safety News on March 17, 2011 (boomark / email).