Kind Bars May Not Be as Kind As You Thought

Typically, people think of granola bars as healthy snacks and, although, many of them are full of nutrients, some bars have too many grams of sugar, carbs or saturated fat to be considered a good-for-you snack.

One of those bar brands is Kind Bars.

“At least four of Kind LLC’s self-proclaimed healthy bars are in violation of ‘healthy’ labeling requirements, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which sent a warning letter to the company,” reports Bloomberg.com.

The specific bars addressed in the letter are:

Fruit & Nut Almond & Apricot
Fruit & Nut Almond & Coconut
Plus Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate + Protein
Fruit & Nut Dark Chocolate Cherry Cashew

The dried fruit and almond bars contain 3.5 grams of saturated fat, while the FDA standard for a product to be labeled “healthy” is 1 gram of saturated fat. Also, Kind can’t use the term “plus” to describe the Kind Plus Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate + Protein bar because it doesn’t contain enough grams of protein, reports Bloomberg.com

Kind LLC responded to the FDA’s letter, which was sent to them earlier this week, by saying, “Nuts, key ingredients in many of our snacks and one of the things that make fans love our bars, contain nutritious fats that exceed the amount allowed under the FDA’s standard,” Joe Cohen, a spokesman for the company, said in a statement. “There is an overwhelming body of scientific evidence supporting that nuts are wholesome, nutritious and healthful.”

If the company doesn’t fix the labeling issue, the FDA may ask Kind to remove these bars from all grocery stores.