Dr. Praeger's Announces Status of New Veggie Burgers

10/05/06 ELMWOOD PARK, N.J. -- Dr. Praeger's Sensible Foods today released the following statement from Dr. Peter Praeger regarding its new line of veggie burgers:

"In connection with efforts to upgrade the company's manufacturing capabilities and enhance the all-natural ingredients in our products, it was discovered that the fat content rose in our veggie burgers, which required us to remove the American Heart Association's (AHA) certification for heart healthy food. Once the issue was discovered, we began the process of correcting the situation.

"Because we pride ourselves on making only sensible, all-natural foods, we temporarily stopped distribution of our Dr. Praeger's veggie burgers to make slight modifications to the ingredients and production processes. As a result of these modifications, we have applied for recertification by the AHA's oversight board. In the meantime, we are removing all products currently on the market that display both incorrect nutritional information and the AHA Heart check-mark and certification statement. Until we receive a decision from the AHA about recertification, we will be shipping our reformulated veggie burgers in packages without the AHA check-mark and certification statement and with the veggie burger's most recent nutritional information.

"While we await the results of the AHA's independent test of our new veggie burgers, we have used an independent testing firm, which concluded that our new veggie burger processing resulted in a burger that meets FDA and AHA standards for fat content, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium levels. Once we receive the results of the AHA's independent tests in the coming weeks, we are hopeful that the veggie burgers will once again receive the AHA heart check-mark and certification."