Food Industry Sets Standards for Advertising to Kids
A coalition of the nation’s largest food makers on Thursday unveiled a plan to set new nutrition standards for foods that can be advertised to children.
The standards include reducing sugar, salt, calories and trans fat and saturated fat.
But, they still fall short of recommendations proposed by the Obama administration in April.
“We have established uniform criteria for participating companies’ child-directed advertising,” Elaine Kolish, vice president and director of the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, which includes such companies as ConAgra, General Mills and Kellogg, said during a Thursday morning press conference.
“These new criteria are challenging, but realistic, goals for further improving the products advertised to children,” she said.
According to Kolish, about one-third of products currently advertised to kids don’t meet the new nutrition criteria. By Dec. 31, 2013, products must meet the new standards or they can’t be advertised to kids.
The standards affect foods in the following categories: dairy; grains; fruits and vegetables; soups and meal sauces; seeds; nuts, nut butters and spreads; meat, fish and poultry; mixed dishes; and prepared main dishes and meals, such as macaroni and cheese. Each category has its own criteria, Kolish said.
For example, juices can’t have added sugars and no more than 160 calories per serving. For flavored milk, an 8-ounce serving will be limited to 24 grams of sugar. Cereals with about 150 calories per serving can have no more than 1.5 grams of saturated fat, 290 milligrams of salt and 10 grams of sugar.
Also, peanut butter can have no more than 220 calories per 2 tablespoons, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, 240 milligrams of salt and 4 grams of sugar.
The criteria also call for specified amounts of fruits, vegetables, low or non-fat dairy, whole grains and some products to be supplemented with calcium and vitamin D, Kolish said.