Are Kind bars ‘healthy?’ Here’s why the FDA is rethinking what makes a healthy snack

They’re bars made with mixed nuts, seeds and granola, doused in honey and topped with chocolate. Are Kind bars healthy?

After a lengthy battle with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Kind bars get to keep “healthy” on their labels, but the agency is launching a re-evaluation of what makes a snack “healthy.”

Last year, the FDA issued a warning to Kind – the health officials didn’t like the company’s nutritional claims on the labels and packaging.

The issue at hand is what constitutes a “healthy” snack – one stipulation, for example, is that a snack food can’t have more than three grams of total fat or one gram of saturated fat per serving.

READ MORE: The skinny on snack bars – What to look for on the nutrition label

(Keep in mind, nuts are nutritious options that happen to be high in fat.)

In an update, the FDA said it relented and is letting Kind keep “healthy” on its packaging. The term is more for decoration, though – the company had to scrap a lot of nutritional claims the FDA wasn’t happy about.

“We understood the company’s position as wanting to use ‘healthy and tasty’ as part of its corporate philosophy, as opposed to using ‘healthy’ in the context of a nutrient content claim. The FDA evaluates the label as a whole and has indicated that in this instance it does not object,” the FDA explained in its decision.

There was a laundry list of other issues with labelling too, such as Kind’s use of these terms:

• Good source of fibre
• No trans fats
• Very low sodium
• + antioxidants
• + protein
• 7 grams of protein

See the full list of issues outlined in the warning letter here.

READ MORE: How much sugar should you be eating? How to follow WHO’s guidelines

Kind removed the claims the FDA warned about, but in a note to consumers, the company said its snacks have “no quality or safety issues.”

“Nuts, key ingredients in many of our snacks and one of the things that make fans love our bars, contain nutritious fats that exceed the amount allowed under the FDA’s standard,” Kind said in a statement.

“This is similar to other foods that do not meet the standard for use of the term healthy but are generally considered to be good for you, like avocados, salmon and eggs,” it said.

Kind’s latest statement is here.

READ MORE: This food will make you feel fuller if you’re trying to lose weight

It’s a controversial issue. Nuts are high in calories and fat, but they’re a better bet than reaching for a bag of chips, for example.

For now, the FDA says that “in light of evolving nutrition research,” it’ll study what makes a “healthy snack.”

“We believe now is an opportune time to re-evaluate regulations concerning nutrient content claims, generally, including the term ‘healthy,’” it said.

Kind says a “true success” will come when the definition of “healthy” in the eyes of the federal agency better reflects all types of food that are recommended as part of a healthy diet.

carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
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