Pomegranate Fruit
The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against POM Wonderful LLC, on the grounds that the company’s allegedly deceptive disease prevention and treatment claims are in violation of federal law.
The FTC would like to see an end to POM Wonderful’s advertisements of the alleged health benefits of its Pomegranate Juice and POMx supplements. It also wants the company to obtain FDA approval for any future ads that make specific health claims. The FTC has scheduled a hearing before an administrative law judge for May 24, 2011.
Unlike other food corporations recently targeted by the FTC (such as Kellogg and Nestle) for misleading advertisement, POM Wonderful LLC has not stopped producing allegedly deceptive advertisements for its products. Instead, the company says that any pre-screening of its advertisement is a violation of its First Amendment rights. It has therefore filed its own lawsuit against the FTC. A statement issued by POM Wonderful LLC says,
“POM believes very strongly in its first amendment rights to communicate the promising results of our extensive scientific research program on pomegranates. We believe the commission is acting beyond its jurisdiction, exceeding its authority, and creating a new regulatory scheme that attempts to treat our juice as a drug, which it is not.”
POM advertisements claim that its juice can help to reduce arterial plaque and improve blood flow and the company’s co-founder Lynda Resnick has reportedly said that the juice can also diminish the risk of prostate cancer in men.