'Unless you’ve literally pulled it out of the ground yourself and stuck it in a box, don't call it all-natural'
Next up, delegates heard from Justin Prochnow, an attorney in the Denver office of law firm Greenberg Traurig, who gave some sage advice about how to avoid legal hot water:
- Avoid blanket 100% natural claims if you want to avoid a lawsuit: “I tell my clients that unless you’ve literally pulled it out of the ground yourself and stuck it in a box, don't call it all-natural.”
- The FDA and the FTC regard your website, marketing materials and ads as extensions of your label, so don’t think you’re off the hook with iffy claims just because they are not on the wrapper…
- Be careful with testimonials. If a consumer says your product cured his knee pain, it’s the same as if you’re saying it. Whether you can substantiate the claims doesn’t matter, if you even imply that your product can diagnose, prevent, treat or cure a disease, it’s a drug, not a food.
- Don’t make rookie mistakes with nutrient content claims. If there is not a daily value for a nutrient, you can’t make ‘contains/source of/high in’ type claims about it (so ‘high in antioxidants’ is a NO GO).