Hampton Creek calls its egg-free mayonnaise Just Mayo. The FDA says that’s just the problem.
Bryan Bedder / Getty Images
Hampton Creek, the San Francisco startup bent on shaking up the food industry, has run into a problem with its egg-free mayonnaise, Just Mayo: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it's not actually mayonnaise at all.
In addition, the FDA contends that Hampton Creek makes misleading claims about how healthy its mayonnaise (or non-mayonnaise, as the case may be) is.
The FDA laid out its charges in an Aug. 12 letter to the company that was made public Tuesday.
Hampton Creek, founded in 2011, portrays itself as a pioneer of sustainability with egg-free foods that use plant proteins instead. It's backed by $120 million in venture funding and sells its products — Just Mayo, Just Cookie Dough, and Just Cookies — in Costco, Safeway, Dollar Tree, Whole Foods, ShopRite, Kroger, Walmart, and Target.
The startup's ascension hasn't always been smooth, however. This month, Business Insider interviewed anonymous ex-employees who said that the products were less than scientifically sound. In November, Unilever — the food conglomerate that owns mayonnaise brand Hellmann's — sued Hampton Creek, saying its white, creamy spread does not meet the FDA's definition of "mayonnaise." That definition, set in 1957, says that a food labeled as such must contain egg yolk. "They have an egg on their package but not in their product — they're just not mayo," Mike Faherty, vice president for foods of Unilever North America, said at the time.
Unilever dropped its charges soon after, saying it would leave Hampton Creek to deal with regulatory agencies directly. At the time, Josh Tetrick, the startup's CEO, told reporters, "Hampton Creek was founded to open our eyes to the problems the world faces. This moment has only validated why."
But the FDA picked up where Unilever left off. In its recent letter to Hampton Creek, the agency said that Just Mayo, including its Sriracha-flavored version, is "misbranded."
"The name 'Just Mayo' and an image of an egg are prominently featured on the labels for these products," the agency wrote. "The term 'mayo' has long been used and understood as shorthand or slang for mayonnaise. The use of the term 'mayo' in the product names and the image of an egg may be misleading to consumers because it may lead them to believe that the products are the standardized food, mayonnaise, which must contain eggs."
The FDA also took issue with Hampton Creek's claim that Just Mayo is cholesterol-free and with company marketing message "Your Heart Matters. When your heart is healthy, well, we're happy. You'll never find cholesterol in our products." If a small dose of food has more than 13 grams of total fat per 50 grams, the FDA says, then the label must disclose that level of fat in addition to any claims about cholesterol. But Just Mayo exceeds that fat-per-gram ratio, and lacks a label saying such, the FDA said.
"While there are authorized health claims about cholesterol and the reduced risk of heart disease, these products do not qualify to make these health claims, in part, due to the amount of fat that they contain," the agency wrote.
The FDA gave Hampton Creek 15 days to respond to its letter at the time it was issued. Hampton Creek has not returned a request for comment from BuzzFeed News.
Josh Tetrick of Hampton Creek.
Steve Jennings / Getty Images
from BuzzFeed - Tech http://ift.tt/1hc8Vel
via IFTTT
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder