The FDA Has Some Bad News About Your Kind Bars

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Depressing news for all you Kind bar fans: The popular nut and fruit snack, which bills itself as a “healthy and tasty” treat, is actually kind of not healthy at all.

According to a letter from the Food and Drug Administration to the makers of Kind, the bars “do not meet the requirements for use of the nutrient content claim ‘healthy’ on a food label” under the law.

“Your website states, ‘There’s healthy. There’s tasty. Then there’s healthy and tasty’ and ‘all of our snacks are pretty much the nirvana of healthful tastiness.’ In addition, your webpage for the Kind Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate + Protein product states ‘KIND Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate + Protein is a healthy and satisfying blend of peanuts and antioxidant-rich dark chocolate.’ However, none of your products listed above meet the requirements for use of the nutrient content claim ‘healthy’ that are set forth in 21 CFR 101.65(d)(2).”

The FDA said the bars have too much saturated fat to justify the term “healthy,” and also don’t measure up to their “antioxidant-rich” claim. Bloomberg reports Kind is “moving quickly to comply” to edit its labels.

More disappointment for people who thought cheerfully labeled snacks and drinks (a la Vitamin Water) could actually make them fitter.

(h/t Bloomberg)

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate