Arizona Green Tea Ginseng, diet version misleading? Is it legal?

The company says on its label that the product is 100% natural. I have saved the bottle. But the drink is flavored with SPLENDA which is not a natural product in any way. The bottle does not say that anywhere and in fact says the product is 100% natural which would seem not to be true --

Is it legal to claim as they do?

Product 100% natural ???

Rapid Review: Arizona Diet Green Tea with Ginseng

Arizona Diet Green Tea with Ginseng. First ingredient: Premium Brewed Green Tea using filtered water. That, some natural flavors, Vitamin C, citric acid and honey, Splenda (which I much prefer to aspartame) and Ginseng extract. No calories, no carbs, one gram of sugar and 10 grams of sodium per serving.

Here's what Dr. Mehmet Oz (author of the excellent You: The Owner's Manual) has to say on the subject:

"It may have only one-third the caffeine of coffee, but because it has extra natural chemicals in it, it gives you the same punch. Green tea is unfermented tea that hasn't been oxidized yet, so whatever biologically active, natural goodness was in the plant is still in there."

"Rapid Review: Arizona Diet Green Tea with Ginseng" : Cheesefry Nation : Blogs : News-Record.com : Greensboro, North Carolina

Product 100% natural ???

AriZona Green Tea calories and nutrition information - Food Labels ...

AriZona® Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey (tall 23.5 oz can)

AriZona Green Tea calories and nutrition information - Food Labels - DietFacts.com

[sandra]

Splenda

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Front of yellow Splenda consumer packet. Splenda is a sucralose-based artificial sweetener marketed in North America. Since its United States introduction in 1999, sucralose has overtaken Equal in the $1.5 billion artificial sweetener market, holding a 62% market share. According to market research firm IRI, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, Splenda sold $212 million in 2006 in the U.S. while Equal sold $48.7 million. Its patent is owned by the British company Tate & Lyle. In April 2009, the International Trade Commission closed a patent infringement case that will permit Chinese manufacturers to produce copycat versions of Splenda products which will be sold under different brand names.

Marketing controversy

In 2006 Merisant, the maker of Equal, filed suit against McNeil Nutritionals in federal court in Philadelphia alleging that Splenda's tagline "Made from sugar, so it tastes like sugar" is misleading. McNeil argued during the trial that it had never deceived consumers or set out to deceive them, since the product is in fact made from sugar. Merisant asked that McNeil be ordered to surrender profits and modify its advertising. The case ended with an agreement reached outside of court, with undisclosed settlement conditions. The lawsuit was the latest move in a long-simmering dispute. In 2004, Merisant filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau regarding McNeil's advertising. McNeil alleged that Merisant's complaint was in retaliation for a ruling in federal court in Puerto Rico, which forced Merisant to stop packaging Equal in packages resembling Splenda's. McNeil filed suit in Puerto Rico seeking a ruling which would declare its advertising to not be misleading. Following Merisant's lawsuit in Philadelphia, McNeil agreed to a jury trial and to the dismissal of its lawsuit in Puerto Rico. Currently, Splenda is advertised with the slogan, "It starts with sugar. It tastes like sugar. But it's not sugar." In 2007, Merisant France prevailed in the Commercial Court of Paris against subsidiaries of McNeil Nutritionals LLC. The court awarded Merisant $54,000 in damages and ordered the defendants to cease advertising claims found to violate French consumer protection laws, including the slogans "Because it comes from sugar, sucralose tastes like sugar" and "With sucralose: Comes from sugar and tastes like sugar". A Sugar Association complaint to the Federal Trade Commission points out that "Splenda is not a natural product. It is not cultivated or grown and it does not occur in nature." McNeil Nutritionals, the manufacturer of Splenda, has responded that its "advertising represents the products in an accurate and informative manner and complies with applicable advertising rules in the countries where Splenda brand products are marketed." The U.S. Sugar Association has also started a web site where they put forward their criticism of sucralose.

Source page:
Splenda - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

See also...

Is adding splenda to green tea healthy?

Is adding splenda to green tea healthy? - Yahoo! Answers

Originally Posted by Unregistered The company says on its label that the product is 100% natural. I have saved the bottle. But the drink is flavored with SPLENDA which is not a natural product in any way. The bottle does not say that anywhere and in fact says the product is 100% natural which would seem not to be true -- Is it legal to claim as they do?

Yes it actually is. There is no regulation on what "natural" means, because it's a ridiculous claim. Not to get super philosophical on you, but there is no line of what is or isn't natural. If one thing is natural then everything is natural and if one thing isn't, then nothing is natural. If the FDA or USDA were to open this Pandora's box the country would go broke supporting the legal department. Any product can claim to be 100% natural even if it is made from 100% manufactured product. Really, everything you eat is processed and manufactured. Even if you grew it yourself, the seeds have been processed and genetically selected. It's very easy to think that by buying "natural" or organic you are supporting a better way to get food when in reality many of the same companies that make those products also make the very ones you are trying to fight against! Also, natural definitely doesn't always mean healthier or better for the environment. Oil and gas that goes in your car is very natural. Does that mean it's good for anything or anyone? No. But vitamins are about as unnatural as a twinkie and those are definitely good for you. Before you go saying well yes, but there are some manufactured products that are just so fake you can't POSSIBLY claim they're natural, I should tell you that there are worms that produce polyester, "naturally."

The bottle says "100% ALL NATURAL TEA" , drinking a bottle right now. I can't find anywhere that the bottle claims its contents are entirely all natural.