Revision of Article on Class Blog

Smart Choices” Food Labeling Program Halts over FDA Concern is an article on the Huffington Post website that discusses the FDA cracking down on food labels that may mislead consumers into thinking they are getting more health benefits from products than what they truly are. The Smart Choices program, which was started in August and includes major food giants: Kellogg Co., Kraft Foods Inc., and General Mills Inc., was intended to highlight foods that meet certain nutritional standards so that consumers would be more likely to make healthier choices when purchasing food products. The boxes of these approved food products are marked with a green check mark.

The Smart Choices program had seemed like a good idea until some of the products marked with these labels went under investigation and were found to be highly processed and to contain large amounts of corn syrup. Until the FDA conducts their own investigations, the officials associated with Smart Choices have, according to Nick Sabloff, agreed to “postpone active operations and not to encourage wider use of the logo while the FDA investigates labeling issues.” Also according to Sabloff, “The FDA said it is working to define the criteria manufacturers must meet to make certain nutrition claims on product fronts and will design a standardized system to help consumers select healthy foods.”

After reviewing the Smart Choices website, and seeing some of the foods marked with this label in grocery stores, I agree that some greater restrictions should be enforced on what products can and cannot be labeled as smart choices. However, I do think that the idea of the program as a whole is great because in this day and age consumers need to be led in the correct direction as far as the consumption of healthy food is concerned. Seeing that the Smart Choices program displays such things as calories, I believe it is a step in the right direction. The journey to a healthier lifestyle has to start somewhere, and this could be it.