Dried fruit snacks appeal to parents and kids because they’re sweet, neat and easy — no knives or juicy mess to deal with in the car or in a school lunch. But they are not the healthy snack that their packaging might imply.

“I have many concerns about fruit snacks for children,” said Bend registered dietitian Lori Brizee, who authored a book about healthy eating for children.

Fruit snacks are processed fruit, such as Fruit Roll-Ups and Fruit Gushers, often made from a blended combination of products and then dried to create a chewy treat. Many are marketed as 100 percent fruit. But, some of that might be from fruit juice concentrate, not whole fruit, so it’s really just “fruit sugar,” Brizee said, “not all that much different from cane sugar or high fructose corn syrup.”

Many fruit snacks contain artificial additives and trans fats. Also, she said, they can rot the teeth.

“They are sticky and get stuck in the crevasses of children’s molars, leaving fuel for the bacteria in the mouth to cause dental cavities,” she said.

Yet, to look at the boxes in the store, it’d be easy to feel like the snacks are of equal quality as an apple or cup of fresh strawberries.

Misleading marketing

It’s labeling deception, said Steve Gardner, the litigation director for nonprofit consumer organization the Center for Science in the Public Interest. Well-intentioned parents are being tricked, he said. That’s the motive behind CSPI’s complaint against food giant General Mills in federal court in California.

“Parents shouldn’t feed (kids) fruit snacks believing them to be good for them,” Gardner said. “If you want to give kids junk, OK. We just want parents not to be misled into thinking these are healthy.”

Amid today’s epidemic of childhood obesity, fruit snacks should be known as empty calories, he said.

Gardner said the biggest General Mills offenders were Fruit Roll-Ups, Fruit by the Foot and Fruit Gushers. Labels say those General Mills snacks are “fruit flavored,” “naturally flavored,” a “good source of vitamin C” and low in calories, fat and gluten — all misleading marketing, according to the organization.

“The products contain dangerous, non-nutritious, unhealthy partially hydrogenated oil, large amounts of sugar, and potentially harmful artificial dyes,” according to a news release from CSPI.

The complaint says the presence of partially hydrogenated oil in fruit snacks that are marketed as healthy and wholesome is deceptive. Trans fat in partially hydrogenated oil lowers HDL, or good cholesterol, raises LDL, or bad cholesterol, which is linked to serious health problems.

Strawberry Fruit Roll-Ups, for example, are made from pears from concentrate, corn syrup, dried corn syrup, sugar, partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, citric acid, acetylated monoglycerides, fruit pectin, dextrose, malic acid, vitamin C (ascorbic acid), unspecified “natural flavor,” Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6 and Blue 1, according to CSPI. And, the product provides little of the beneficial fiber or nutrients associated with real strawberries.

Some boxes say “Made With Real Fruit,” and at least one variety of Fruit Roll-Ups has pictures of strawberries and oranges on the box, but there are no strawberries in Strawberry Fruit Roll-Ups, nor watermelon in Fruit Gushers Watermelon Blast.

And, the bright colors of those products come from synthetic dyes that can impair some children’s behavior.

“There is fairly solid science that FDA approved artificial dyes or colors are bad,” said Gardner. “There is a known risk of hyperactivity.”

General Mills is not the only company that makes misleading claims on fruit snacks, said Gardner, but he said CSPI’s philosophy is: “Sue the leader of the pack, the company that is setting bad practices. The others are following.”

Kris Patton, a public relations manager for General Mills, said, “We stand behind our products and we stand behind the accuracy of the labeling of those products.”

Better choices

Brizee said fruit “leather” such as Stretch Island brand fruit strips are a slightly better alternative to fruit “snacks” that contain many other ingredients. Fruit leather is typically whole fruit puree that has been dried in sheets, so the whole fruit is consumed. It provides more fiber, potassium and vitamins and minerals in that form, she said.

However, the pureeing and drying process increases the surface area of the fruit, so more of the fruit is exposed to heat and air, which destroys some vitamins.

“Fruit leather is far superior to fruit snacks,” Brizee said. But, “it is not as nutritious as fresh fruit.”

Dried fruit is a little better than fruit leather because it has endured less processing — a little less destruction of some vitamins.

It’s all fine if it’s considered dessert, Brizee said. Desserts don’t have to be healthy. “I consider fruit snacks a dessert, just like candy,” she said.

Snacks, on the other hand, should be healthy. Kids don’t meet all of their nutritional needs in meals alone.

“Dried fruit or even fruit leather is something that contributes to nutrient needs,” she said. “Fruit snacks contribute calories but not significant amount of other nutrients.”

Fruit snacks versus fruit

Think ingredients

Fresh fruit is the best choice for a child’s — or anyone’s — nutritional needs. Going down the scale, dried fruit would be the next best choice. After that, fruit leather is superior to fruit snacks, said registered dietitian Lori Brizee, although she considers fruit leather and fruit snacks a dessert, not a healthy snack.

When shopping, look for a specific fruit or pureed fruit as the first ingredient — not fruit juice. If a fruit snack is strawberry, you want strawberries to be the first if not the only ingredient, said Brizee.

Apple and pear puree concentrates don’t have much nutritional value and are high in sugar and low in fiber. Those purees are cheaper than peach, strawberry, raspberry and mango, so they are used as filler and sweetener, Brizee said.

Avoid added sugar in any form — cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose. There should not be any fat in a fruit snack, although some manufacturers add it for texture.

‘Fruit’ suit

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nonprofit consumer organization, recently filed a complaint against food giant General Mills for labeling many of its fruit snack products. Steve Gardner, the litigation director for CSPI, said well-intentioned parents are being tricked into thinking fruit snacks are healthy. The worst General Mills products, according to the claim, include Fruit Roll-Ups, Fruit by the Foot, and Fruit Gushers. This Simply Fruit product was not on the top of the list but would still be considered a “dessert” by dietitians.