Did the recipe for Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar change after the company was purchased by Katy Perry -- and now, in partnership with Bill Gates, is the vinegar brand using "Apeel apples," which contain trans fats? No, that's not true: This rumor is false about products from two different companies. Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar does not use apples coated with Apeel, an edible protective coating that extends the shelf life of some fresh produce. Apeel does not contain trans fats. Bill Gates does not own Apeel, but the company was founded in 2012 after receiving a research grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Katy Perry is an investor in both independent companies.
One example of this rumor appears in a post (archived here) on Instagram on May 30, 2024. It was captioned:
Listen good.
This is how the post appeared on Instagram at the time of writing:
(Source: Instagram screenshot taken on Tue Nov 26 18:54:31 2024 UTC)
The one-minute-long video clip on Instagram was taken from the February 2, 2024, "Heal My People TV" podcast episode on YouTube. At the 17:04 mark, host Dr. Bobby Price repeats something he says is "coming up a lot on the internet now." After establishing that Bill Gates has purchased over 240,000 acres of farmland (this is true), Price repeated a multifaceted rumor that had already been debunked in December 2023, by Reuters (here and here) and by USA Today (here). In the abbreviated Instagram clip, Price says:
Katy Perry, who is a singer, and her husband, I believe his name is Orlando Bloom, bought the Bragg's Apple Cider Vinegar company, and they have teamed up with Bill Gates and now are using his Apeel apples. Now let me sort of educate the audience a little bit about what Apeel is. Apeel, it uses monoglycerides and diglycerides, which are by, byproducts of all oil processing, OK, so the byproducts of, you know, things like soybean oil, canola oil, which are very harmful to the body, and these byproducts are trans fats. This is really important. They're trans fats. Trans fats in most countries, all of Europe, are banned and the reason why they're banned is because they cause coronary heart disease.
Both the Bragg and Apeel companies have published rebuttals directly addressing these false rumors on their websites.
On November 17, 2023, Bragg posted a six-frame slideshow (archived here) on their Instagram account that countered rumors that were circulating at the time. The six slides appear below in one composite image. The post was captioned:
Here's to spreading realness, inspiring transparency, and being absolutely unfiltered.
The caption of the fifth slide from the apple cider vinegar (ACV) company reads:
For that reason, our ACV recipe has never changed since Paul Bragg made it decades ago. That means 100% organic apples always bottled to 5% acetic acid in a tried-and-true process. (That also means no Apeel.)
(Source: Lead Stories composite image with Instagram screenshots taken on Tue Nov 26 21:14:16 2024 UTC)
Who owns Bragg?
The final question on the FAQ on the bragg.com website (archived here) answers this question:
Swander Pace Capital is the controlling owner of Bragg. They were chosen meticulously and purposefully by Patricia Bragg herself, as she sought out partners who could help spread Bragg's values into the world and inspire a new generation towards natural wellness. She found Swander Pace to be the partner who had a like-minded outlook and a real commitment to the values the Braggfamily believed in for over a century. Those values are a belief in the real benefits of holistic health and wellness from real foods. And since you're probably wondering, yes, Patricia Bragg's lifelong friendand neighbor, Katy Perry, is an investor in Bragg. She was also hand-picked by Patricia herself. Katy Perry is not involved with any of the day-to-day operations - that's the Bragg team.
Who owns Apeel?
On the FAQ page of apeel.com the company explains the extent of Gates' involvement with the company and links to an April 24, 2023, fact check article by PolitiFact. Another point in the FAQ acknowledges and links to the CEO's response to the disinformation campaign targeting the company.
Apeel is a privately held company run by our founders and CEO. We are not owned or operated by Bill Gates.
In 2012 and 2015, Apeel Sciences received research grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation totaling $99,995 and $985,161, respectively, to help reduce post-harvest food loss and waste in sub-Saharan Africa and improve access to food in this region.
For context, in 2012, the Foundation awarded 1,260 grants totaling $2.4 billion, and in 2015, 1,662 grants totaling $4.9 billion. Our grants represent a near-negligible fraction of the foundation's giving and do not signify any control or influence over our company.
Bill Gates has had zero involvement or ownership stake in Apeel Sciences.
What is Apeel?
The outlines for the two grants mentioned above (archived here and here), linking to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation website, have the described purpose of each:
- To develop a natural molecular camouflage to create a barrier that renders the foods' natural surfaces unrecognizable to bacteria, fungi, and insects.
- To extend the shelf-life of crops without refrigeration and protect them from being eaten by pests by developing a molecular camouflage that uses cutin from plant extracts to create an edible, ultrathin barrier on the crop surfaces.
Apeel is a plant-based protective coating that can be applied to some types of produce to prolong the shelf life -- and in doing so, reduce food waste in transport, at the market and after purchase by the consumer. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) affirms mono- and diglycerides as GRAS (Generally recognized As Safe). The Apeel Product Safety page (archived here) on their website says there are no trans fats on the product, which is made from "plant oil derived lipids":
Apeel is made of mono- and diglycerides, which are naturally occurring in all fruits and vegetables.The safety of this ingredient has a long history of safe consumption, and have been verified by regulatory authorities around the world. We also consistently test our product to confirm that impurities like pesticides, allergens and trans fats are not present.
Katy Perry and Oprah Winfrey are investors in the Apeel company, as reported in the LA Times (archived here) on May 26, 2020:
On Tuesday, the Santa Barbara-based company announced raising $250 million in new venture capital. Led by GIC, which manages investments for Singapore's government, the new funding round values the company at just over $1 billion and includes participation from local residents Oprah Winfrey and Katy Perry. Perry, who is also an investor in the alternative protein startup Impossible Foods, declined to disclose the size of her stake but called it 'the most substantial financial investment I've ever made in a company.'
Lead Stories fact check on claims that include the word vinegar can be found here. Lead Stories fact checks on claims regarding Apeel can be found here.
