LoKyBuckeye
I give up. This board is too hard to understand.
Tasti D-Lite must trim fat claims
By DAVID SALTONSTALL
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU CHIEF
It may be Tasti, but the Lite in Tasti D-Lite ain't so light.
Tasti D-Lite, the popular frozen treat maker, agreed yesterday as part of a settlement with the city to advertise its products as "low fat," rather than the slimmer-sounding "99% fat-free."
"Low calorie" also will be replaced by the less shapely "lower calorie," and "cholesterol-free" with "low cholesterol."
The agreement follows a probe by the city Department of Consumer Affairs that found more calories in a 4-ounce cup of vanilla than claimed by Tasti D-Lite, long a favored refuge for the city's diet-conscious.
Under federal guidelines, a 4-ounce serving can only have 40 calories to be "low calorie," but DCA found more than 50 calories in cups of Tasti vanilla. They also found 50% more cholesterol than the 2 milligrams allowed for a product to be deemed "cholesterol free."
Tasti D-Lite will pay the city $100,000.
"Consumers have a right to truthful information about what they're eating - particularly those with specific dietary concerns," said DCA Acting Commissioner Jonathan Mintz. "Tasti D-Lite has paid a hefty price and committed to full compliance in their advertising."
Tasti officials stressed that the $100,000 was not an admission of guilt but a way to settle the frosty dispute. Company officials said, and the city agreed, that the plain vanilla was 99% fat free. But other flavors - and there are over 100 - are not.
News of the settlement got a cool reception from patrons.
"I always knew in the back of my mind it is not necessarily the truth," said Miriam Weber, 23, at the Tasti D-Lite at Broadway and W. 47th St.