Mr Viral
Personalised nutrition brand Zoe has been slapped on the wrist by the UK’s advertising watchdog. The company will no longer be able to claim its Daily30+ supplement is free from ultra-processed ingredients. But Zoe claims the advert in question never did.
The issue is a marketing one. In September last year, a paid-for Facebook ad described Daily30+ as a “plant-based wholefood supplement…”, followed by the phrase: “No ultra-processed pills, no shakes, just real food.”
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) received a complaint from a professor in nutrition and food science who disagreed with the statement, arguing it implied the product was UPF-free. The ASA agrees the advert was misleading.
Two ultra-processed ingredients identified in Zoe supplement Daily30+Zoe launched its Daily30+ supplement just under a year ago. The product is made from 32 different foods, including vegetables, fruits, seeds and mushrooms. It’s designed to be consumed on other food, as a way of increasing fibre intake.
Being described as a “wholefood supplement” means, in the eyes of consumers, that the product only contains wholefood ingredients. That’s how the ASA sees it: “They would understand wholefoods to be those foods that were either unprocessed or had undergone minimal levels of processing.”
But at least two ingredients in Zoe’s supplement have undergone more processing than that.
Take chicory root inulin, for example, is extracted using an industrial process. The extraction process includes slicing and steeping, purification using carbonated water as well as evaporation, and filtration, explains the ASA. Enzymes were also added during processing.
The other ingredient called out for having undergone extra processing was nutritional yeast, which was manufactured.
The ASA acknowledges some processing steps are “relatively simple in isolation”, but takes issue with the number of stages, which it claims exceeds what consumers would interpret as “minimal”. “We considered they would likely understand chicory root inulin as UPFs.”
But is Zoe’s Daily30+ supplement an ultra-processed product?The matter gets more complex when attempting to answer the question: Is Zoe’s supplement an ultra-processed product? Zoe claims it is a real food supplement, and not an ultra-processed pill containing artificial flavourings and additives.
Although there is no single, universally accepted definition of ultra-processed food, the Nova classification system is widely used. According to Nova, which classifies whole products and not individual ingredients, Zoe’s supplement is not an ultra-processed product.
How does the Nova classification system define ultra-processed food?The Nova Food Classification System splits levels of processing into four grups: from raw and minimally processed foods; to processed culinary ingredients; processed food; and ultra-processed food.
The UK House of Lords Food, Diet and Obesity Committee report’s definition of ultra-processed foods does not fit with Zoe’s product, either.
The ASA agrees with Zoe on both these points: the Daily30+ supplement is not a UPF product according to these definitions.
But that’s not what’s important here, contends the advertising watchdog. What matters is consumer perception. According to the ASA, consumers don’t understand the Nova classification nor the specific nature of UPFs; they simply view UPFs as ‘unhealthy’ and non-UPFs are ‘healthy’.
It’s doubtful that consumers would know Nova or other scientific UPF definitions refer to the whole product and not individual ingredients, judges the ASA. “We told Zoe Ltd not to make claims that their products did not contain UPF ingredients if consumers were likely to interpret the ingredients to be ultra-processed.”
Tim Spector refutes ASA ruling on Zoe supplementZoe co-founder professor Tim Spector “categorically” rejects that the Daily30+ advert was misleading. Neither the product, nor its ingredients, could be classed as ultra-processed, he said in a statement.
“It’s made entirely from whole food ingredients and is designed to be added to meals – not taken as a pill or shake. The claim ‘No ultra-processed pills, no shakes, just real food’ is factually accurate and irrefutable.”
Describing the ruling as “entirely baffling”, Spector pointed out that the ASA acknowledged the Daily30+ supplement doesn’t meet Nova’s classification of UPF.
Others have also queried how the ruling came to be, asking for more information on consumer understanding of UPFs. “Where is the evidence of consumer understanding from Zoe as defendant or the ASA as enforcer?” said Legal Products Group CEO Mark Tallon on social media. “My guess is neither have any consumer data on these claims and thus we will continue to see the ASA act as a clairvoyant when it comes to the mind of the consumer.”
Zoe takes UPF matters into its own handsAlthough many UPF classifications exist, the Nova classification system is the best known.
But Zoe, which contends “not all UPFs are equally detrimental to health”, has decided to launch its own UPF scale, which it did in the UK House of Lords earlier this year.
The health-focused company has developed four UPF risk categories, made up of ‘no risk’, ‘low risk’, ‘moderate risk’, and ‘high risk’. According to Zoe’s scale, ‘no risk’ offerings include unsalted butter and dark chocolate, whereas ‘high risk’ products include milk chocolate and chicken nuggets.
