Many "fruit" snacks marketed by General Mills contain labels that say things like "fruit flavored" and "naturally flavored," and are typically marketed as if they are high in nutrients, and healthy for children. In truth, though, these products are nothing more than junk food posing as loosely-defined health food.

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By Jonathan Benson

Consumers are increasingly holding junk food manufacturers responsible for the false claims they make about their products, especially when such products are labeled as "natural" or as containing fruit when they really do not. Attorneys from the nutrition advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) are filing a class-action lawsuit on behalf of consumers against food giant General Mills for selling "fruit snacks" that contain little or no fruit, and that are loaded with refined sugars, trans fats, and artificial colors.

General Mills "Strawberry Fruit Roll-Ups," for instance, do not actually contain strawberries. They are, however, loaded with questionable additives like corn syrup, dried corn syrup, refined sugar, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, and various other chemicals and petroleum-based dyes. The only fruit-related ingredient in "Strawberry Fruit Roll-Ups" is a form of pear concentrate that represents only a small fraction of the overall product's content.

Similarly, General Mills "Fruit by the Foot Strawberry" snacks, which bear a label claiming they are "fruit flavored," are packed with the same refined sugar, corn syrup, artificial food coloring, and partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil as Fruit Roll-Ups -- and they also contain no strawberries.

Many other "fruit" snacks marketed by General Mills also contain labels that say things like "fruit flavored" and "naturally flavored," and are typically marketed as if they are high in nutrients, and healthy for children. In truth, though, these products are nothing more than junk food posing as loosely-defined health food.

"General Mills is basically dressing up a very cheap candy as if it were fruit and charging a premium for it," says Steve Gardner, litigation director at CSPI. "General Mills is giving consumers the false impression that these products are somehow more wholesome, and charging more. It's an elaborate hoax on parents who are trying to do right by their kids."

General Mills makes many phony natural products filled with junk ingredients

Earlier in the year, Natural News conducted an investigation into General Mills cereals and found the very same thing about many of them. General Mills "Total Blueberry Pomegranate" cereal, for instance, contains neither pomegranates nor blueberries. It does, however, contain many of the same harmful ingredients as Fruit Roll-Ups and "Fruit by the Foot." This list includes refined sugar, corn syrup, and petroleum-based dyes.

More recently, the Cornucopia Institute (CI) issued a shocking report about "natural" cereals in general and found that many of them are no better than conventional varieties made by brands like General Mills. Though marketed as if they are the equivalent of organic, and often priced more expensively than organics, these imposter cereals are typically loaded with genetically-modified organisms (GMOs), pesticides, and other chemicals

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Cross-posted from Natural News

Authors Website: http://www.naturalnews.com

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The NaturalNews Network is a non-profit collection of public education websites covering topics that empower individuals to make positive changes in their health, environmental sensitivity, consumer choices and informed skepticism. The NaturalNews Network is owned and operated by Truth Publishing International, Ltd., a Taiwan corporation. It is not recognized as a 501(c)3 non-profit in the United States, but it operates without a profit incentive, and its key writer, Mike Adams, receives absolutely no payment for his time, articles or books other than reimbursement for items purchased in order to conduct product reviews.