The Case of the `Skinny' Treats

FDA Consumer, July, 2001 by Carol Lewis

In this age of increased health awareness, people are willing to pay a premium for wholesome products. So when a food company touted its high-priced healthy treats as being nearly fat free and containing almost no calories, vendors all over the United States began buying them by the baker's dozens. But when suspicious customers helped prove that the treats contained more calories than they bargained for, more than just the company's cookies crumbled--its sole officer was arrested and charged with committing multiple crimes.

Vernon L. Patterson, president of Genesis II Foods Inc. of Chicago, pleaded guilty in federal court on Sept.14, 2000, to misbranding food products, mail fraud, and unlawful monetary transactions. The Food and Drug Administration's Chicago district office referred the food misbranding case to its Office of Criminal Investigations because Patterson previously had ignored the agency's misbranded food warnings, making his negligence a criminal offense. Judge Ruben Castillo of the Northern District of Illinois sentenced Patterson, 43, to a year in jail, three years supervised release, and $3,925 in fines.

The case began with a number of complaints to the FDA dating back to 1993. Consumers and health-care professionals nationwide were concerned about a line of products called "Skinny" treats. They were challenging the products' labeling claims.

Myrna Sears, a Baltimore distributor for some of Genesis II's products, told FDA investigators in an affidavit that after Patterson contacted her about purchasing his low-fat snacks, she bought rolls, carob-iced doughnuts, and white-iced apple doughnuts. All of the items claimed on their labels to contain 1 to 2 grams of fat and between 125 and 165 calories. But one of Sears' customers became suspicious about the good taste of the treats and sent samples to a lab to have their nutritional content verified. The samples tested for substantially higher fat and calorie contents than were being declared on the labels. The carob doughnut alone contained 23.5 grams of fat and 411 calories.

Sears contacted Genesis II and requested a company nutritional lab analysis so that she could compare it with the one done independently. What she didn't buy from Patterson were his rapid-fire excuses when the company's analysis confirmed her customer's suspicions.

At first, Patterson told Sears that what was on the package was correct. In fact, he said that he would not have been allowed to label them otherwise. When she revealed the results of her customer's analysis, he told her, "Just don't sell to that customer anymore." In the next breath, Patterson told Sears, after she threatened to notify the FDA, that the agency was only interested in pharmaceuticals and would not do anything about foods. When she didn't back down, Patterson became angry and verbally abusive. He concluded the conversation by saying that he didn't need her business anyway.

This was not the first time that the FDA had come up against Patterson. The agency had shut down his previous place of employment, where he was a salesman of health foods, for promoting a 21-calorie cookie that actually contained 400 calories. And Sears recalled another earlier incident when Patterson sold her a healthy "Eggless Doughnut" that he claimed contained the same amount of calories as a regular doughnut. He told her, however, that only 25 of those calories were actually absorbed by the body, because the company used "predigested fiber."

Besides the economic fraud of Patterson's actions, there was a health issue. People with high cholesterol, liver disease, and heart problems are at risk from eating certain foods, and need to closely monitor their fat, calorie and sugar intakes for medical reasons. One woman in Georgia feared for the health of her husband, who liked the "skinny" products, but who also had diabetes. Another woman in Mississippi piled on the pounds during the six months that she ate $500 worth of allegedly skinny products. Similar complaints continued to filter in from all over the country, and many were accompanied by product samples.

The case began to unravel when an FDA administrative investigation of Genesis II in April 1994 met with much resistance. The agency's consumer safety officer (CSO) was initially refused entry by confrontational employees, and the Chicago Police Department was called in. Patterson, meanwhile, was vacationing on a Caribbean island, but was reached by telephone. He said that he knew he had problems with his product labeling, and that he intended to correct them. At the same time, he blamed his Chicago-based manufacturer, Cloverhill Pastry-Vend Inc. for spraying soy oil in the baking ovens. He claimed this created a fat build-up in the product, which explained the labeling discrepancies.

But during the inspection, no Genesis II products were provided, despite the CSO's request. In addition, no labels or product information could be produced. At the conclusion of the inspection, ;however, the CSO discovered and retrieved discarded Genesis II products and nutritional information panels from the firm's trash receptacle.