FDA's Warning to Food Manufacturers: Correct Your Labels

March 4, 2010 — -- The countdown is on for 17 food manufacturers to correct labels on popular food products that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says misrepresents the products' health benefits -- or else.

The FDA said Wednesday that its commissioner, Dr. Margaret Hamburg, had sent letters to each company in question Feb. 22, along with an open letter to the food manufacturing industry demanding they take action against "false or misleading" labels.

Among the complaints is that "misleading 'healthy' claims continue to appear on foods that do not meet the long- and well-established definition for use of that term," Hamburg said in the letter.

If companies such as Nestle and Beech-Nut do not comply, the FDA warned, the products could be removed from the shelves.

"FDA is notifying a number of manufacturers that their labels are in violation of the law and subject to legal proceedings to remove misbranded products from the marketplace," Hamburg said in the letter, which is posted on the FDA Web site.

Bruce Silverglade of the Center for Science in the Public Interest told "Good Morning America, "We hope this is the start of a battle that will lead to a war that will end deceptive food labeling."

Hamburg, citing the desire of industry leaders to provide safe, healthy products, said in the letter that the FDA's measure is an attempt to clarify "what is expected of them."

Click here for a list of each company and product addressed in the letters.