General Mills is the Food and Drug Administration’s ("FDA") latest target. In case you think that you misread the previous statement, General Mills—manufacturer of the popular cereal "Cheerios"—received a letter addressed to its Chairman from the FDA May 5 claiming that the FDA has reviewed various Cheerios labels and found they contain "serious violations" of federal regulations. Cheerios is the best-selling cereal brand in the United States, with sales of $1.4 billion last year, according to General Mills.

In recent years, the FDA has begun cracking down on manufacturers who overstate the benefits of their products, amid increased demand for healthy foods. According to the FDA, General Mills is breaking federal regulations on two counts: they are marketing Cheerios like an "unapproved new drug" and misbranding the product by making "unauthorized health claims." What, in particular, has caught the ire of the FDA? The FDA said that the Cheerios product label promotes it like a drug intended for use in the "prevention, mitigation, and treatment of disease." The FDA’s letter drew particular attention to phrases that say the product lowers cholesterol by "4 percent in 6 weeks," that it can also reduce bad cholesterol by 4 per cent, and that it is "clinical proven" to lower cholesterol. The letter does not address the veracity of General Mills’ claims, but simply the point that by making such claims, the product is being touted and advertised as having the same medicinal effects as other cholesterol-lowering drugs, and therefore should go through the proper channels for obtaining drug approval.

On the positive side, the FDA’s letter acknowledges that General Mills had observed regulations correctly in respect of a health claim associating "soluble fiber from whole grain oats with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease," but the two claims about lowering cholesterol go beyond that which constitutes permissible advertising. The FDA said that even if the cholesterol-lowering claim could be argued to be part of an otherwise permissible claim, the wording disqualifies it from use in the soluble fiber health claim.

An important development in this matter is the fact that the FDA cites text on one of General Mills’ company websites (www.wholegrainnation.com) as constituting misbranding. According to the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the "Act"), an advertiser’s website is considered to be part of the product labeling. The website in question says "heart-healthy diets rich in whole grain foods, can reduce the risk of heart disease." According to the FDA, the claim does not meet the requirements of the Act, which requires such assertions to state that "diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol and high in fiber-containing fruit, vegetable, and grain products may reduce the risk of heart disease." The Cheerios’ labeling neither mentions fruits, vegetables and fiber, nor the need for the diet to be low in saturated fat and cholesterol.

The FDA’s letter also refers to another labeling claim about reduction in cancer risk. The FDA said Cheerios’ claim, which includes the statement "regular consumption of whole grains as part of a low-fat diet reduces the risk for some cancers, especially cancers of the stomach and colon," fails to meet the authorized format because, for example, like the aforementioned claim, it does not mention fruits and vegetables and fiber content, and again denies the public the chance to see the overall context of the healthy diet. The agency has also taken issue with the added phrase "especially cancers of the stomach and colon," which goes beyond what an authorized claim is allowed to say.

In a statement, General Mills spokesman Tom Forsythe defended the cereal’s claims. "Cheerios’ soluble fiber heart health claim has been FDA-approved for 12 years, and Cheerios’ ‘lower your cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks’ message has been featured on the box for more than 2 years," he said. "The science is not in question. The scientific body of evidence supporting the heart health claim was the basis for FDA’s approval of the heart health claim, and the clinical study supporting Cheerios’ cholesterol-lowering benefit is very strong. The FDA is interested in how the Cheerios cholesterol-lowering information is presented on the Cheerios package and website. We look forward to discussing this with FDA and to reaching a resolution."

General Mills has been given 15 days to reply with an explanation of how they intend to "correct the violations" and to ensure that "similar violations do not occur." Will the day come when consumers need a prescription to purchase their next box of Cheerios?