The next target for the food conscious community

Posted by axavier on November 4, 2009 · Leave a Comment 

Immunity

UPDATE: Kellogg to ditch immunity statement after ditching Smart Choices program last week.

The food community is riding high after their recent victory over the Smart Choices food label rating system and turning their attention to front of package marketing claims as their next target – see Marion Nestles article on Cocao Krispies and ¨immunicty¨claim h ere.

Increasingly manufacturers are using various health claims such as ¨increases immunity¨ and  ¨organic¨ on front of package labelling to increase sales of products.  At times these claims are based on scant scientific evidence and lacking any regulatory oversight manufacturers are free to claim whatever they want.

Recently, in Europe the European Food Standards Agency (EFSA) rejected hundreds of health claims stating a lack of scientific evidence as the reason for their rejection.  At the same time here in the US, reports have come out about the increasing successful use of beauty claims to influence purchase.  A recent report on retailerwire.com summarises the findings published by Mintel states that using front of package claims related to beauty such Read more

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Smart Choices RIP

Posted by axavier on October 30, 2009 · 1 Comment 

exclamation-125x200Today it was reported in Just-Food that all 8 of the food manufacturers who had adopted the Smart Choices logo were now going to drop it from their packages in the face of cries that the logo could mislead consumers.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal requested that they drop the logo at least until the FDA had completed their investigations into the Smart Choices, and food rating systems in general.

The Smart Choices program shot into the public awareness largely due to the fact that they had labelled Froot Loops a ¨smart choice¨.  The community obviously took exception to this, fueled by influential critics such as Marion Nestle an d Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

This dramatic turn around and the resulting negative press will surely make manufacturers and retailers take pause before they next try to tell the consumer what is good or bad for them.  The next frontier will be front of label claims such as ¨increses immunity¨ etc.  see Marion Nestle article here

The community is voicing their opinion and calling for simpler food labelling…and they’re close to reaching critical mass in their mission.  Who will be the next victim?

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Nutrition Rating Systems – the problem and a solution

Posted by axavier on September 23, 2009 · 3 Comments 

foodlabelThe Situation

There has been a lot of attention given to nutrition rating systems of late, fueled by the launch of the controversial Smart Choices rating system.  The controversy of the smart choices program, in brief,  is that the criteria for what gets labelled a ¨smart choice¨ seem somewhat flimsy.  For instance Marion Nestle examines the ¨smart choice¨ Froot Loops in this post here.

In fact there is no shortage of concerned debate about this program, least of which is the fact that manufacturers pay for the smart choice tick.  Below I have provided links to some of the recent top hits.

NYT: Industry Backed Label calls sugary cereal a ¨smart choice¨

Letter from the FDA to Smart Choices Program

Marion Nestle: Reply from the American Society of Nutrition

In this post we explore the existing rating systems, the problem with these systems and propose a solution.  We are keen to hear your perspective on this. Read more

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FDA to study barriers to food label use

Posted by axavier on September 7, 2009 · 1 Comment 

extra-125x200The FDA recently announced the intention to run an internet study to exploer the barriers to Food Label use.  This, following findings that food label use declined in sharply between 1196 and 2002, particularly with young people.

The goals of the study are to:

  1. identify attitudes and beliefs among consumers toward health, diet and label usage
  2. determine relationships between those attitudes and beliefs, as well as demographics, with food label use and non-use
  3. and evaluate the relative importance of these attitudes between consumers of various age groups to determine whether barriers to label use differ between younger consumers and older consumers

source: http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#documentDetail?R=0900006480a10b64

Read more

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