WASHINGTON -- The Federal Trade Commission has charged that Stouffer Food Corp. deceptively advertised its Lean Cuisine frozen entrees as 'low sodium.'
The charge came Monday as consumer and health activists urged Congress to enact new legislation regulating health claims in food advertising.
The FTC, which regulates advertising, said Stouffer used a non- standard unit of measurement to indicate sodium content so that consumers could mistake the products as low sodium.
The commonly used unit of measurement for sodium is milligrams, but the Stouffer ads stated sodium in grams, the agency said. One gram is equal to 1,000 milligrams.
Many consumers try to limit their sodium intake for medical reasons. High sodium, or salt, diets are linked with high blood pressure, a risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
The company said the ads in question only ran in January and February 1991 publications and that all of its products have since then been reformulated to contain lower levels of sodium.
'No Lean Cuisine entree is made with more than 600 milligrams of sodium. In fact the average sodium content is now 540 milligrams,' said Stouffer spokeswoman Roz O'hearn at the firm's Solon, Ohio headquarters.
'We have stated to the FTC that we will not use grams in the future to describe sodium content,' O'hearn said.
The FTC said Stouffer ads published in four widely circulated magazines 'represented that its Lean Cuisine line was low in sodium.'
The ads said, 'There are some things we skimp on: calories, fat, sodium.' The ads also said the frozen foods always contained 'less than 1 gram of sodium per entree.'
A footnote said the entrees had been 'reformulated to contain less than 1 gram (1000 mg.) of sodium.'
'At the time the advertising was disseminated, in many cases Lean Cuisine entrees were not low in sodium,' the FTC said.
Also Monday, Rep. Joe Moakley, D-Mass., announced legislation aimed at regulating health and nutrition claims made in food advertising.
'I'm not a yogurt and granola, earthy, crunchy guy, but I do believe consumers are entitled to know what they are buying,' Moakley said.
He said now that the Food and Drug Administration is improving food labels, the FTC should be required to make the same standards for health claims apply in advertising.
David Hoffman, a spokesman for the Consumer Health and Safety Coalition, said, 'We are very concerned about inconsistencies between ads and labels.'
