FTC Accepts FDA-Compliant Advertising for Foods

University of Wyoming College of Law Professor Mary Dee Pridgen has
updated a treatise titled Consumer Protection and the Law to reflect recent
developments in Federal Trade Commission (FTC) enforcement of its 1995
policy statement on food advertising. As she notes, although FTC and the
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have overlapping authority to police
food advertising claims, they have generally divided their duties with FDA
concentrating on food labels and FTC addressing advertising claims. FTC
indicates in the policy statement that it will give advertisers “a bit more
leeway in advertising than the FDA allows on labels,” but if an advertising
claim complies with FDA labeling regulations, it will “generally be safe from
FTC scrutiny.”

Pridgen discusses FTC enforcement actions since the mid-1990s, involving Stouffer Foods, Häagen-Dazs, the Isaly Klondike Co., Mrs. Fields Cookies, Dannon, Gerber, and Kellogg, as well as companies that sell dietary supplements. She concludes, “In reported settlements that have come out since the Food Advertising Statement, the FTC continues to provide a safe haven for advertisers to make claims that do comport with FDA label requirements.”