Kind Bars Don't Deserve 'Healthy' Label, FDA Says

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has submitted a letter of warning to Kind LLC, the maker of items like Kind Healthy Grains Bars and Healthy Grains Clusters, stating that the company's self-identification as a provider of nutritious products is in violation of federal labeling requirements.

In particular, the FDA singled out Kind's Fruit & Nut Almond & Apricot, Fruit & Nut Almond & Coconut, Plus Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate + Protein, and Fruit & Nut Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew as containing too much saturated fat to qualify as healthy items. The agency's standard requires items to have less than one gram of saturated fat per Reference Amount Customarily Consumed (RACC), while Kind bars have 3.5 grams.

"Your products do not meet the requirements for use of the nutrient content claim 'healthy' on a food label," William Correll, director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, said in the letter, released publicly on Tuesday. "You should take prompt action to correct the violations."

In response, Joe Cohen, Kind's senior vice president of communications, announced that while the company would comply fully with the FDA's standards.

"Nuts, key ingredients in many of our snacks and one of the things that make fans love our bars, contain nutritious fats that exceed the amount allowed under the FDA's standard, Cohen said in a statement "There is an overwhelming body of scientific evidence supporting that nuts are wholesome and nutritious. This is similar to other foods that do not meet the standard for use of the term healthy, but are generally considered to be good for you like avocados, salmon and eggs. Our team at Kind is fully committed to working alongside the FDA, and we're moving quickly to comply with its request."

In a detailed blog post, "A Note to Our Kind Community," the company has posted a longer explanation of its commitment to healthful products, pointing to recent news and research on the significant benefits of nuts.