Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Remember when the Feds destroyed a food label overnight?

I got this story straight from an FDA employee involved at the time. He told us in a food safety seminar in the late '80s. I do not remember the date of occurrence, nor can I find any mention of the incident on the interwebs.

Remember Beech-Nut baby foods and juices from the late 70s? They used to be a major competitor to Gerber. Well it seems they came up on the FDA radar in respect to an apple juice bottling plant. Observers could see trucks loaded with baby bottles of juice coming out of the plant, but no apples going into the plant.

The bottled product was indistinguishable from apple juice by analysis. As a matter of fact, we were told that FDA discussed the matter with Beech-Nut. Beech-Nut told them "Prove it is not apple juice".

The FDA employee did not tell us what was actually in the bottles. Whether it was juice reformulated from concentrate or freeze dried powder, I never did find out. It was perfectly wholesome food. But was not fresh pressed apple juice. Still the bottles were labeled "Apple Juice"

The FDA rep said they figured they could not hurt the company very badly over what was in reality a labeling violation. The investigation and prosecution would take years and cost mucho $. So what did they do? They decided to put the company out of business cheaply and quickly, without oversight of a Judge.

FDA administrators picked up the phone and called CBS. A few days later, the "60 Minutes" crew arrived at the front gate of the bottling facility. Management declined to comment, nor to let the news crew on the property. "60 Minutes" carried the story without comment from the manufacturer.

Stores could not give Beech-Nut baby food or juices away. Within weeks Beech-Nut was sold for 5 cents on the dollar to a major distributor who declared that it would be thirty years before they would be able to turn a profit on the label.

Two takeaways from this story:
One: If you are a producer of food in this nation, don't phugg around with the FDA.
Two: The American Consumer is a fickle beast. It only takes a moment to lose market share and an eternity to grow it back. Anheuser Busch should take note. I think the moment has passed for A_B.

https://apnews.com/article/e4d3dd2da0ece9e862a5e4e43d70a978


NEW YORK (AP) _ The former president of the Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp. admitted he cheated millions of consumers by selling them sugar water labeled as pure apple juice for babies.

Niels L. Hoyvald, 56, pleaded guilty Monday to 10 felony counts of violating the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. The plea forestalled a third trial for Hoyvald.

″I did not intend to defraud, but I do plead guilty with intent to mislead the public,″ Hoyvald said. ″I did it knowingly.″

″We’re glad this defendant has finally admitted his involvement,″ said the prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas H. Roche.

Beech-Nut and its corporate parent spent as much as $10 million in legal fees during the case, said federal Judge Thomas C. Platt.

Platt fined Hoyvald $100,000 and sentenced him to five years probation and six consecutive months of full-time community service. The agreement concludes a complex and costly prosecution that began three years ago.

Hoyvald was convicted in February 1988 on about 350 counts of willfully violating the food and drug act, but a federal appeals panel overturned the conviction on a technicality. A second trial in September ended with a mistrial.

Hoyvald, who has since been fired by Beech-Nut, was president of the company during part of the period that the baby-food giant produced and distributed as pure apple juice for babies what was actually water flavored with beet sugar or other sweeteners and containing little, if any, apple.

″This case has probably cost Nestle, the corporate parent of Beech-Nut, in fines and legal fees, many times the few millions they saved in passing off this bogus apple juice to the public,″ said Andrew J. Maloney, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

In November 1987, Beech-Nut pleaded guilty to 215 felony counts and paid a $2 million fine, plus investigation costs.

Another defendant, John F. Lavery, a Beech-Nut vice president during the years the company willfully cheated millions of its customers, was also convicted in the scheme.

The U.S. Supreme Court last month ended Lavery’s right to appeal and obligated him to serve a year-and-a-day jail sentence.

Go buy yourself some Arbor Mist Merlot Blackberry Wine. I bought some and poured it out after one drink. Tasted like Kool-Aid with a little alcohol added. Basically water, corn syrup, flavoring, and alcohol is about all.

I would have never found that out.

Yeah, wasn't too smart of me to buy without reading the label.

Sounds like the FDA was doing their job!

Good thing they didn’t get the chewing tobacco department. Probably ain’t any beach nuts in it either.

Or maybe there is and the package says it's chewing tobacco.

I had forgotten about the baby food story. Thanks for the reminder.

Not sure how many on the fire have ever seen beech nuts or eaten them. Beech nuts are a cousin to chestnuts and chinquapins. Squirrels love beech nuts.