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Smart Choices Program (TM) put on hold
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There's been a lot of recent commentary running around the twitter-verse, the internet, print media, and even in the grocery store aisles. It surrounds the Smart Choices Program which was intended to create a front-of-the-package labeling program to help consumers identify those products that were purported to be healthier choices. The program created a set of nutritional criteria and then assigned checks on the front of the box indicating good choices. Companies participating in the Smart Choice Program included Kraft Foods, Kellogg, General Mills, and Pepsi-Co. No surprise, but only the companies who participated in the program got the healthy check marks, even if there were healthier choices available. In essence the companies voted themselves in. As Marion Nestle has said, “Research sponsored by food companies almost invariably favors health benefits of products sold by those companies.” By extension one can also figure that health labeling programs sponsored by food companies will almost invariably favor the products of those companies.
Even uninterested consumers are smart enough to realize that Froot Loops do not constitute a healthy choice by any standard. In addition to the Smart Choice check Kellogg's is trying even harder to keep it's share of the shrinking-dollar cereal market by proudly touting the fact that Froot Loops now has fiber; a whole 3 grams per serving. Unfortunately they say nothing about the rest of the ingredients in the package, and there is quite a list. The ingredients in Froot Loops are: sugar; whole grain corn flour; wheat flour; whole grain oat flour; oat fiber; soluble corn fiber; partially hydrogenated vegetable oil (one or more of: coconut, soybean and/or cottonseed oils); salt; sodium ascorbate and ascorbic acid (vitamin c); niacinamide; reduced iron; natural orange, lemon, cherry, raspberry, blueberry, lime and other natural flavors; red #40; blue #2; turmeric color; yellow #6; zinc oxide; annatto color; blue #1; pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin b6); riboflavin (vitamin b2); thiamin hydrochloride (vitamin b1); vitamin a palmitate; bht (preservative); folic acid; vitamin d; vitamin b12.
Since sugar is the first ingredient this means most of the cereal is sugar. It turns out that the sugar provides 41% of the calories with a recommended serving size is ¾ of a cup. Most children, actually most people, rarely eat only ¾ of a cup of cereal so you're getting a lot of sugar at one sitting. Although Kellogg's is pushing the fiber content it should be pointed out that the wheat flour, which is the fourth ingredient ahead of whole grain oat flour, is still not a whole grain. With high levels of sugar, refined wheat, hydrogenated oil, artificial colors, and preservatives Froot Loops never deserved to be given any sort of good nutrition status. Other over-processed foods that received approval included Frosted Mini-Wheats, Cracker Jacks, Minute Rice, Teddy Grahams, and Fudgsicles.
In addition to reporting on the food labeling programs designed to push parents into purchasing these products we now see media outlets publicizing the overwhelming amount of marketing that goes into convincing children (the primary targets of unhealthy cereal and snack foods) to eat unhealthy products like sugary cereals. Time Magazine has this article due in print soon while The Washington Post has it's own article about the situation. The negative press is even happening overseas with this article in the UK Daily Mail which points out that many firms now use the internet, popular children's television programming and cartoon characters to promote profitable but not healthy food choices.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has begun an investigation into the Smart Choices Program which has been “temporarily suspended” pending the investigation. In part the FDA is looking into the fact that there are so many different programs, each with their own criteria, that it presents confusion for the consumer. In addition to the wide variety of nutrition program, another problem is that there are large numbers of misleading claims on the front of packages as manufacturers compete for consumer dollars. The front of the box or package has become a colorful, confusing array of claims to try to convince the harried, rushed consumer to buy that particular product. Whole wheat, multi-grain, high fiber, these labels all sound good, however none of them are the same as whole grain, which is really the healthiest choice. Having more fiber or no preservatives is all well and good, but if the first ingredient is sugar, the product is still not a nutritious choice.
Although it is an admirable task for the FDA to try to come up with a single marketing scheme (one that is not run by the manufacturers) which provides accurate information about the relative healthiness of the products, at the end of the day it is the consumers who make the choice. Consumers need to learn to make better choices, to learn to purchase more whole foods. Those items which are less processed, will ultimately lead to better nutrition, but those aren't the ones the manufacturers want you to buy. So it's up to you, the consumer, to learn to be a savvy purchaser, to learn to read and understand the label.
for more information:
Smart Choices Program Nutrition Criteria
Guiding Stars nutrition choices program
UK Food Standards Traffic Light labeling program
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