P.M. BRIEFING : Halt False Claims, FTC Orders Kraft

A Federal Trade Commission judge today ordered Kraft Inc. to stop misrepresenting the nutrient content of its cheese slices, ruling the company “falsely advertised” that they contained as much calcium as 5 ounces of milk.

“Kraft Inc. falsely advertised that its Kraft Singles cheese slices contained as much calcium as 5 ounces of milk and contain more calcium than do most imitation slices,” said Lewis F. Parker, the commission’s administrative law judge.

The milk equivalency claim was false, Parker said, because a 3/4-ounce slice of Kraft Singles has about 70% of the calcium of 5 ounces of whole milk and less than 68.2% of the calcium of 5 ounces of low fat or skim milk. Parker also ruled that the claim that Kraft Singles contain more calcium than do most imitation cheese slices was false because virtually all non-dairy slices contain the same amount of calcium Kraft Singles do.