| The bogus corporate-funded "Smart Choices" labeling program is suspending its operations for the time being. That's the labeling program that marks Froot Loops and Diet Pepsi as "smart choices" because they are healthier than donuts. The program has gotten a lot of high profile bad publicity because it's just so obviously ridiculous. They say they are taking a break to better coordinate with the FDA's labeling efforts. (That's about as believable as when a Bush administration official would leave office, saying he was going to "spend more time with his family"... five minutes before either getting indicted or going to work as a lobbyist.)
The Smart Choices program notes the FDA's recent initiatives on labeling, saying:
This move follows an announcement by FDA Commissioner, Margaret Hamburg, M.D. on Oct. 20, 2009 which said that the agency intends to develop standardized criteria on which future front-of-package nutrition or shelf labeling will be based. In a letter captioned, "Guidance for Industry" and posted on its website, the FDA stated: "We want to work with the food industry - retailers and manufacturers alike - as well as nutrition and design experts and the Institute of Medicine, to develop an optimal, common approach to nutrition-related FOP ... that all Americans can trust and use to build better diets and improve their health."
What is not clear is whether we've seen the last of the BS Smart Choices labels on food packages. The press release promised the program "will voluntarily postpone active operations and not encourage wider use of the logo at this time by either new or currently enrolled companies." Apparently it is up to individual companies whether or not to remove the Smart Choices logo from their packaging.
Let's hope the Smart Choices program is dying a slow, quiet death and that this move came as a way to save face before the FDA shut them down. It may not be the case, but my fingers are crossed. |
