Lycopene Findings Cause Heinz to Rethink Marketing Strategy
Then, many decades and many health claims later, there was lycopene, an antioxidant found naturally in tomatoes, whose immunizing powers were said to have included a level of protection against prostate cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in autumn 2005, ruled that food-makers could claim on their packaging that tomato products have the potential to reduce cancer risk -- so long as the assertion was qualified by a side warning saying there is little scientific evidence supporting the claim.
That was mixed news for H.J. Heinz Co., which had appealed for FDA permission to make the link between lycopene and prostate cancer on its product packaging.