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Smart Choices Postpones Active Operations; Symbol Use Still Allowed

WASHINGTON — The Smart Choices Program announced here Friday that it will not encourage wider use of its front-of-pack nutritional logo by either new or currently enrolled companies. Its decision was prompted by the Food and Drug Administration’s plan to review nutrition rating programs and set forth uniform shelf labeling criteria.

WASHINGTON — The Smart Choices Program announced here Friday that it will not encourage wider use of its front-of-pack nutritional logo by either new or currently enrolled companies. Its decision was prompted by the Food and Drug Administration’s plan to review nutrition rating programs and set forth uniform shelf labeling criteria.

Although wider use of the program will not be encouraged, products currently bearing the Smart Choices symbol will not be pulled from shelves, and food companies with products enrolled in the program can continue to use the symbol if they choose, Dr. Eileen Kennedy, president of the Smart Choices board and the dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science Policy at Tufts University, told SN.

“If the guidance that comes out of the FDA indicates that our criteria needs to be tweaked, we will do that,” she said.

Approximately 500 products from brands including ConAgra Foods, General Mills, Kellogg, Kraft Foods, PepsiCo, Sun-Maid, Tyson and Unilever are enrolled in Smart Choices.

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