This post is part of Fight Back Fridays, hosted by Food Renegade.

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Government is a squishy thing. Not at all the firm marble and granite structures in which they work, politicians are all too easily swayed by questionable science, fuzzy math and persuasive lobbyists. But I must give credit to the Federal Trade Commission, for it is due. They called this one right.

Statement of CSPI Legal Affairs Director Bruce Silverglade

The astonishing claims made by Kellogg that its Frosted Mini-Wheats improved children’s attentiveness by 20 percent were laughable on their face and never should have surfaced in an advertising campaign by a major food manufacturer.

The settlement announced today by the Federal Trade Commission is a strong sign the false advertising cop is back on the beat, and the agency will no longer tolerate misleading health claims. We hope this is the just the beginning of a coordinated new effort to rein in dishonest advertising and marketing by food companies. The FTC could require much stronger remedies, such as corrective advertising. In addition, Congress should expand the FTC’s authority to level civil penalties.

Incidentally, if Kellogg sincerely wanted to improve children’s attentiveness, it would phase out the use of Blue 1, Blue 2, Red 40, and any other synthetic food dyes that show up in some varieties of Mini-Wheats. Those dyes exacerbate some children’s hyperactivity and behavioral problems, and have no place in foods aimed squarely at children.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is also right. It’s time for megacorps to stop telling us (and especially our children) that their GMO-laden, ultra-processed nonfoods are nutritious, healthy and delicious.