POM Wonderful
POM Wonderful, LLC is a private company which sells an eponymous brand of beverages and fruit extracts. It was founded in 2002 by the billionaire industrial agriculture couple Stewart and Lynda Rae Resnick. Through The Wonderful Company, their holding company, they are also affiliated with Teleflora, FIJI Water, pesticide manufacturer Suterra, and Paramount Agribusiness. In 2010, the company was warned by the FDA for making false health claims and for marketing statements that promoted their products as unauthorized drugs. Products The company's main product is pomegranate juice, which is sold in a trademark "double-bulb" bottle with the product name, POM, featured in capital letters where the O is substituted by a heart symbol. The company also manufactures blended juice beverages, such as pomegranate juice mixed with juices of blueberry, cranberry, cherry, mango or tangerine, and bottled tea- and coffee-based beverages of various flavors distributed in more conventional containers. In addition to drinks, the company sells pills and concentrated liquid products marketed as nutritional supplements. In 2017, POM Wonderful acquired the pomegranate distributor Ruby Fresh. While not part of POM Wonderful itself, another company owned by the same Resnick family, Paramount Farms, has extended the "Wonderful" brand to pistachios. The Wonderful Pistachios logotype uses a heart instead of the "o" in "Wonderful", similar to the "POM" in the POM Wonderful logo. The fruit The brand name "POM Wonderful" refers to the "Wonderful" cultigen of pomegranate which is grown in the central and southern San Joaquin Valley of Central California. It is the leading commercial variety in California, being well suited for juicing with its soft seeds, high water content, and wine-like flavor. POM branded products are produced from fruit obtained from their own corporate orchards, and other orchards in the same area. The company employs a proprietary process in their own facilities to mechanically extract juice for various pomegranate based products. Sponsorship of research POM Wonderful makes claims in promotional materials to have spent tens of millions of dollars for research. There are two broad types of research being sponsored and published. One type regards the proposed health benefits of pomegranate juice, the other type regards chemical analysis and bio-availability of pomegranate extracts and supplements. Pomegranate juice in general is the actual subject of its published sponsored research regarding health benefits, though POM typically supplies the juice to the investigators of the study. Published sponsored research regarding POM's extract products (pills and liquid concentrates) deal only with chemical analysis and bio-availability of said products, without examining any health benefits. Research has been conducted at various research institutions including UCLA, University of Naples, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The company has promoted these studies as indicating that consumers of their beverages and extracts will receive a wide range of health benefits against various chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and erectile dysfunction. In 2006, POM became the target of PETA for funding laboratory experiments on animals to promote health claims related to its pomegranate