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A consumer group is demanding that Frito-Lay put warning labels on chips with the fat substitute olestra or face a lawsuit by a Massachusetts woman who says she got stomach cramps and had to use the bathroom quickly after eating the snacks. The Center for Science in the Public Interest said Wednesday that 30-year-old Lori Perlow of Braintree, Mass., would sue Frito-Lay under a consumer-friendly deceptive-advertising law in the Bay State. Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo Inc., said warning labels are not needed for its Light lines of potato and corn chips. "It's an extremely safe product, well-tested," said Frito-Lay...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Food & Drug Administration will no longer require companies that sell snacks and other foods containing the controversial fat substitute olestra to warn that it can cause cramping and other digestive problems. In a ruling Friday, the FDA eliminated that requirement, which has been in warning labels ever since 1996, when the agency allowed Procter & Gamble Co. to market the fat substitute, which is sold under the brand name Olean. The decision comes after an FDA review of new scientific data, including clinical studies of people eating olestra, a substance made from soybeans and sugar,...

FDA Removes Unappetizing Warning Label From Fake Fat Olestra By Lauran Neergaard, AP Medical Writer Snacks made with the fake fat olestra no longer will have to bear the unappetizing label that warned they might cause cramps and diarrhea. The Food and Drug Administration lifted the warning Friday, concluding that if the zero-calorie fat substitute has any stomach-troubling effect, it's mild and rare. The FDA approved olestra's sale in 1996, as long as packages bore labels spelling out possible gastrointestinal side effects. The synthetic chemical made of sugar and vegetable oil tastes like fat, but passes through the body...