Marketing Food to Children and Adolescents - Federal Trade ...

Assessment of Food Company Health Initiatives and Recommendations
effort is focused on developing a simple, front-of-package icon based on nutrition criteria to help
consumers make healthier choices. The outcome of this effort is expected to be announced in the
Fall of 2008.
Other private initiatives are underway to develop a single nutrition icon that would be
used across all food products. For example, the Yale Griffin Prevention Research Center has
supported the development of a 100-point ranking system that assigns a score to foods based on
their overall nutritional quality. The score provides the basis for a color-coded icon that would
be placed on front of packaging or on store shelves. The Overall Nutritional Quality Index
(ONQI) system is scheduled to be launched in the second half of 2008, with a cooperative of
grocery store chains using the icon on their private label food products.
In a similar vein, one regional grocery store chain, Hannaford, has developed and
implemented its own innovative nutrition rating system, called “Guiding Stars,” to help
consumers easily identify more nutritious foods. Nearly every food and beverage product sold
in the stores is evaluated for nutritional value and rated: “healthy” products get one star, better
choices get two stars, the best get three, and foods with no nutritional value get no stars. 127
Products get credit if they contain nutrients consumers need more of – vitamins, minerals, dietary
fiber, and whole grains – and lose credit for nutrients consumers need less of – saturated and
trans fats, cholesterol, added sodium, and added sugars. 128 Since the program’s launch in 2006,
less than a third of the store’s 25,000 products have earned any star at all. 129 Sales of many
“starred” products – such as cereals, soups, snack foods, and frozen dinners – have reportedly
increased at twice the rate, or more, of unstarred products. 130 Hannaford is expanding this system
to two subsidiary chains, Sweetbay and Food Lion.
d. oT h e R nu T R i T i o n la b e l i n g aP P Roa c h e s
Beyond icons and nutrition information labels, reporting companies use product labels in a
number of other ways to highlight particular nutritional attributes of their products. Some fruit
and vegetable marketers affix stickers and “hang-tags” to their products, informing consumers
that the products are “chock full of Vitamin C” or a “super food for your joints.” Another
produce company uses a Mickey Mouse thumb’s-up “Check It Out” symbol to highlight
benefits of its products – stating, for example, that the product is a “Good Source of Vitamin C.”
Similarly, other companies use product labels such as “0 Trans Fat,” “100% Fruit Juice,” “Made
with Whole Grain,” or “good source of calcium.”
Some companies have developed products or product lines whose names denote that they are
“better for you” by using words such as “Healthy,” “Fat Free,” “Sugar Free,” “Baked,” “Light,”
“Reduced” or “Less.” Products making many of these labeling claims must meet certain FDA
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