{"id":4119,"date":"2010-11-04T03:49:28","date_gmt":"2010-11-04T01:49:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.ultimatefatburner.com\/?p=4119"},"modified":"2015-02-16T09:06:04","modified_gmt":"2015-02-16T14:06:04","slug":"smart-choices-2-0","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/smart-choices-2-0\/","title":{"rendered":"Smart Choices 2.0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember the late, unlamented “Smart Choices”<\/a> front-of-package labeling system implemented by various players in the food industry?\u00a0The industry claimed it was\u00a0an initiative that would “…help consumers make more nutritious food and beverage choices that fit within their daily calorie needs.”\u00a0<\/em>Not surprisingly,\u00a0“Smart Choices”\u00a0turned out to be a total farce.<\/p>\n

Well, the industry is\u00a0making another run at it…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON, D.C. – America\u2019s leading food and beverage manufacturers and retailers joined forces today in the fight against obesity and announced their commitment to develop a new front-of-package nutrition labeling system. The unprecedented consumer initiative will make it easier for busy consumers to make informed choices when they shop.<\/p>\n

…\u201cAmerica\u2019s food retailers are proud to partner with manufacturers to combat obesity,\u201d said Ric Jurgens, chairman of the board, chief executive officer and president of Hy-Vee, Inc., and current chairman of the FMI board of directors. \u201cWe live in a fast-paced world that gets busier by the day. By placing clear and straightforward nutrition information on the front of our packages, we are furthering our industry\u2019s commitment to helping our customers make healthy choices.\u201d<\/p>\n

“This is a landmark step forward in the industry\u2019s commitment to help address the obesity challenge,\u201d said David Mackay, president and chief executive officer of Kellogg Company. \u201cIt represents the most significant change to food labels in the United States in nearly twenty years. And our commitment to an ambitious consumer education campaign will amplify the impact the labeling change will have in households across the country.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Think they’re serious? Consumer activist and nutrition author Marion Nestle certainly doesn’t:<\/p>\n

Forget the consumer-friendly rhetoric.<\/p>\n

There is only one explanation for this move: heading off the FDA\u2019s Front-of-Package (FOP) labeling initiatives.<\/p>\n

Only two weeks ago, the Institute of Medicine released<\/a> its first FDA-sponsored FOP labeling report.\u00a0 The IOM committee recommended that FOP symbols only <\/em>mention calories, sodium, trans fat, and saturated fat.\u00a0 This led William Neuman of the New York Times<\/a> to summarize its approach as: \u201cTell us how your products are bad for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

GMA and FMI would much <\/em>rather label their products with all the things that are good about them, like added vitamins, omega-3s, and fiber.\u00a0 If they must do negatives, they prefer \u201cno trans fat\u201d or \u201cno cholesterol.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m with Professor Nestle –\u00a0after the\u00a0“Smart Choices”\u00a0debacle,\u00a0I\u00a0doubt that\u00a0the industry\u00a0is interested in a truthful\u00a0front-of-package labeling\u00a0system.\u00a0 I’d like to be wrong, but I\u00a0expect it will simply be “Smart Choices 2.0.” Nonetheless,\u00a0we’ll see soon enough – the GMA press release states that consumers will start seeing the new label “early next year.”\u00a0 I’ll be looking out for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Remember the late, unlamented “Smart Choices” front-of-package labeling system implemented by various players in the food industry?\u00a0The industry claimed it was\u00a0an initiative that would “…help consumers make more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,13,23,24,28],"tags":[683,1200],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4119"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4119"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9830,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4119\/revisions\/9830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/ufb-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}