Diet Coke Plus gets a minus

[graylocks]

Even my 15 year old burst out laughing when we first saw this being marketed.

Coke scolded over labeling of Diet Coke Plus

The Food and Drug Administration has warned The Coca-Cola Co. that one of its products has a misleading nutritional label.

Diet Coke Plus, the no-calorie soft drink labeled as including vitamins and minerals, has come under fire from federal health regulators because they say the drink fails to meet the standard for including the word “plus.”

Diet Coke Plus, the FDA wrote in a letter to Coke officials is “misbranded … because the product makes a nutrient content claim but does not meet the criteria to make the claim.”

-D

[Paul F.]

The story continues;

Diet Coke Plus, the FDA wrote in a letter to Coke officials is “misbranded … because the product makes a nutrient content claim but does not meet the criteria to make the claim.”

The drink contains added vitamins and nutrients, including 15 percent of the FDA-recommended daily allowance of vitamin B12 and 10 percent of magnesium.

Roberta Wagner, director of the office of compliance at the Center of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition wrote in the letter the FDA does not consider it “appropriate to fortify snack foods such as carbonated beverages.”



I find the story troubling in a couple ways..
I'm all for accurate labeling, enforced by the FDA.
What bothers me is that the FDA gets to decide if it's "appropriate" to fortify snack foods or not.
What's next? "I'm sorry, the FDA doesn't feel it's appropriate to call it "diet" when it has aspartame in it".

Second; more a problem with the story than the FDA's decision...
The story menions that it IS fortified with "15 percent of the FDA-recommended daily allowance of vitamin B12 and 10 percent of magnesium." OK... silly.. but OK..
But how does this fall short of the FDA's "feelings"?
What IS the criteria that the FDA sets? Or is it just based on what they feel is "appropriate"?

Anyone who buys the nasty swill thinking it's "healthy" isn't real bright in the first place... (and yes, I do consume diet soda's... I just don't think it's healthy ).

[vision63]

But is the criteria valid? Would vitamin pills meet the criteria?

[Speedy]

It is a ploy to enhance marketing so that schools will sell the stuff during school hours.