Health bar can’t say it is ‘100pc natural’

MAKERS of a snack bar have been banned from calling it “100 per cent natural” after a watchdog decided the claim is not in line with customers’ meaning of the term.

Posters advertising the Go Ahead Goodness Bar claimed the snack was “crammed with 100 per cent natural ingredients”.

A reader complained to the Advertising Standards Authority, claiming the product contains ingredients that would not be understood by customers to be natural.

This is because sunflower oil and fat-reduced cocoa powder in the bars underwent processing.

United Biscuits, which makes the bars, argued that the processing technology had existed for many years and both ingredients were commonly found in consumers’ cupboards. However, the ASA ruled that the Go Ahead Goodness Bar could no longer use the term, and said consumers would understand the term “natural” in the context of the claim to mean the product was made using ingredients that were completely natural.

It ruled: “We considered that neither sunflower oil nor fat-reduced cocoa powder would be understood by consumers to be ‘natural’ ingredients. We therefore concluded that the ad was misleading.”

United Biscuits said the term when used in relation to food was not written into regulation, but guidance from the Food Standards Agency said ingredients could be described as natural if they were not chemically altered or produced using new technologies.