Class-Action Suit Claims Welchs Fruit Snacks Are No Healthier Than Candy

NEW YORK CITY -- Two women have filed a class-action lawsuit against Welch Foods for allegedly misleading consumers to believe its Welch's fruit snacks are healthier than they are.

Promotion in Motion licenses the brand name from Welch Foods, and is also named as a defendant in the suit, filed on Sept. 18 in New York Eastern District Court.

The plaintiffs take issue with the fact that the fruit snacks' packaging boasts that it's made with real fruit. Although the first ingredient in many of Welch's Fruit Snacks are juice from concentrate or fruit purees, other ingredients are corn syrup, sugar and cornstarch. The snacks have no dietary fiber, one of the key nutritional benefits of real fruit, the plaintiffs charge.

The lawsuit also claims that the marketing and labeling of the products suggests that the vitamins in the fruit snacks come from their fruit content, when in reality they are fortified and do not provide the same health benefits as nutrients consumed in real fruit.