Cherry companies progress after FDA warnings

Tart cherry growers approve health benefit initiative

COLUMBIA BASIN — Warnings to an industry from the nation's Food and Drug Administration regarding advertising have a Grant County company sitting put for a little while.

Last fall, 29 cherry companies throughout the United States received warnings from the FDA to stop making unproved claims that their products treat or prevent disease. Royal City-based Royal Ridge Fruit and Cold Storage and TPG Enterprises, Inc. of Othello were among those companies warned.

The claims followed some research which may indicate a link between the products and health benefits to consumers that use them.

"The cherry industry took (the warning letters) very seriously," said Jane DePriest, marketing director for the Michigan-based Cherry Marketing Institute, a promotion and research organization for tart cherries. Each company had 15 days to tell the FDA their plan of action, DePriest said, and had longer to put those plans into effect.

DePriest said that as far as her institute knows, all of the companies that received letters have complied. The institute did not receive a letter, she added, noting that the institute does not sell products.

"The FDA did not say what (the companies) were saying was wrong, they were just saying they did not follow protocol," she said. "They were not saying, 'You can't say this about cherries,' they were just saying, 'You can't say it in this way.'"

A common thread for amongst the companies receiving the warning letters was that they were making health claims about cherries on their Web site sales pages, which the FDA takes as an extension of the physical paper label on the actual product, DePriest said. The health benefit information was removed from the Web site sales pages.

"The cherry industry is moving on; this is not deterring us from selling for health benefits," DePriest said.

Hannah Taylor, office manager for TPG Enterprises, echoed DePriest in making the distinction that the companies never said anything wrong, it was just the way their products were being marketed.Erin Stuber 4/13/06

Taylor said her company found the FDA enforcement officer based out of the Seattle office was "extremely helpful" with the guidelines.

"We did not see much of an adverse effect," she said, noting it was "a little inconvenient" to have to change the labeling and Web sites, changes with a number of costs involved, but a Seattle-based FDA enforcement officer helped make the transition easy. The company is in full compliance now.

"We actually saw an increase in sales," Taylor said, postulating that the situation made some customers curious about the company's product.

Kevin Dorsing, partner in Royal Ridge Fruit and Cold Storage, said his company saw a "fairly substantial" drop in sales after the withdrawal.

"We've been working with the FDA and CMI to come up with wording that's appropriate and (working) to get the program back up and going again," Dorsing said. His company had to make "quite a few" modifications to its Web site, removing customer testimonials, and also had to immediately halt an advertising campaign program, taking two to three months to reorganize and comply with the FDA before beginning newspaper and magazine advertisements again.

"Specific claims to curing or solving diseases is what they're having a hard time with," he said. "To say that cherries are good for you is probably OK to say, to say that fruit is OK to eat, is probably OK. But to start promoting or at least putting the word out there about some of the research that we have done, and some of the health benefits that people are really receiving from it is what the FDA does not want us to say."

Dorsing pointed to the University of Texas and the University of Michigan as two schools conducting research in the last two to three years where the focus has been on the health benefits of drinking cherry juice.

"There's a lot of studies out there that would suggest that the concentrate would help with arthritis, gout and the anti-inflammatory properties," Dorsing said, adding that the studies are ongoing and still being looked at. Even though research has shown that the products do help, he said, any advertising along those lines had to be removed.

"The FDA considered some of the statements that were being made by some of the growers and some of the marketers as unproven health claims," Dorsing said. "In other words, we were making claims that it cured arthritis. Because we made those claims, the FDA classified us as a drug and said that we've got to go through the drug approval process."

Dorsing said it was disappointing to have the situation arise, considering the tart cherry industry went through some difficult times, particularly in the 1990s.

"We saw this as a real good potential, not only to help the industry, but also as a real great potential for the consumer," he said.

Dorsing said the industry has had to go back, re-examine and be very careful about the claims it makes regarding its products.

"Certainly, we need to explore some more as to what the FDA will and won't allow," he said. "I think as we continue to work with them, we'll continue to get a better grasp on where we want to go."

The industry is in the process of regrouping, but continues to do research and fund studies in effort to continue making its health benefit claims, Dorsing said.

David Severn, promotion director for Northwest Cherry Growers, said the implications were mostly regarding processed or tart cherries, and doesn't really impact the fresh market.

"Any bad publicity about cherries doesn't help our cause," Severn said, adding that much research has been conducted throughout the country and the world on the health benefits and associated attributes of cherries. "We will continue to research and promote what we find out through our research. The main thing is to make sure people go over the packaging (and ensure that) packaging is up to date and accurate for customers."

DePriest said tart cherry growers recently approved a new initiative to promote the health benefits of tart cherries, which involves growers paying additional assessment to health benefit promotion and some to research to provide "more information for some of the things we're trying to say about cherries." The initiative was in the works before the letters from FDA, she added. "I think growers saw the need for doing more."