Major Food and Beverage Companies Agree toFollow Uniform Nutrition Criteria
TheChildren’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI), a program of theCouncil of Better Business Bureaus, today announced a groundbreaking agreement thatwill change the landscape of what is advertised to kids by the nation’s largestfood and beverage companies. For the first time, these food and beveragecompanies, who do the vast majority of advertising to children, will followuniform nutrition criteria for foods advertised to children. These uniformnutrition criteria, designed by CFBAI and top food industry scientists andnutritionists, will further strengthen voluntary efforts to changechild-directed food advertising. Approximately one in three products currentlyadvertised to kids do not meet the new nutrition criteria. While individual companiesalready have strong nutrition criteria for the products they advertise, the newuniform nutrition criteria will require many companies to change the recipes ofthese products or they will not be able to advertise them after December 31,2013. The new criteria encourage the development of new products with lesssodium, saturated fat and sugars, and fewer calories.
“Theseuniform nutrition criteria represent another huge step forward, furtherstrengthening voluntary efforts to improve child-directed advertising. Nowfoods from different companies, such as cereals or canned pastas, will meet thesame nutrition criteria, rather than similar but slightly differentcompany-specific criteria. The new criteria are comprehensive, establishinglimits for calories, saturated fat, trans fat, sodium and total sugarsas well as requirements for nutrition components to encourage,” said ElaineKolish, Vice President and Director of the CFBAI. The result of a year-longeffort to further improve the nutrition composition of foods advertised to children,the new CFBAI criteria take into account food science, U.S. dietary guidelines,and the real world difficulties of changing recipes of well-known foods. Thenew CFBAI uniform criteria fill gaps that in the system of company-specificstandards. They also recognize the inherent differences in food categories andtheir role in the diet, and set calorie and nutrient requirements that are appropriatefor ten categories. Under the new CFBAI criteria, different foods such ascereals, peanut butter and dairy products have different nutrition criteriathat are appropriate to each category.
“The foodsupply is a critical component to health and wellness. These criteria aremeaningful, but practical, science-based standards that will further encouragehealthier foods to be developed and advertised to children. Having criteriathat are balanced for both nutritional significance and yet allows inclusion offoods that taste good and are affordable is critical because no matter howhealthy a food is, if it’s not consumed it will not improve health andwellness. These criteria strike that balance,” said Dr. Eric Decker, Chair ofthe Department of Food Science, at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, anda member of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on School Foods.
The tenproduct categories are: juices; dairy products; grains, fruits and vegetableproducts; soups and meal sauces; seeds, nuts, nut butters and spreads; meat,fish and poultry products; mixed dishes; main dishes and entrees; small meals;and meals. Each category has its own set of criteria, such as:
Juices. For juices, noadded sugars are permitted, and the serving must contain no more
than160 calories.
Dairy. This categoryincludes products such as milk and yogurt. For ready to drink flavored
milk,an 8 fluid ounce portion is limited to 24 grams (g) of total sugars. For yogurtproducts,
a 6ounce portion is limited to 170 calories and 23 grams of total sugars. Thesesugars
criteriainclude both naturally-occurring and sugars added for flavoring.
Grains, fruits and vegetable products (and itemsnot in other categories). This category includesproducts such as cereals, crackers and cereal bars. Foods with ≤ 150
calories,such as most children’s breakfast cereals, must contain no more than 1.5 g of
saturatedfat, 290 milligrams (mg) of sodium and 10 g of sugar (products with > 150−200
caloriesget proportionately higher limits). Foods in this category also must provide ≥½
servingof foods to encourage (fruits, vegetables, non- or low-fat dairy, and wholegrains) or
≥ 10%of the Daily Value of an essential nutrient.
Seeds, nuts, nut butters and spreads. Foods in this category, which includes peanut
butters,must have no more than 220 calories, 3.5 g of saturated fat, 240 mg of sodiumand
4 g ofsugar per 2 tablespoons. Foods in this category also must provide at least oneounce of protein equivalent.
Main dishes and entrees. Foods in this category, such as canned pastas, must have no
morethan 350 calories, 10 percent calories from saturated fat, 600 mg of sodium and15 g of sugar per serving. Foods in this category also must provide either ≥1 serving of foods to
encourageor ≥ ½ serving of foods to encourage and ≥ 10% of the Daily Value of two essentialnutrients.
“Thefoods advertised during kid’s programming are better now than before. CFBAIparticipants have stepped up to the plate and changed what’s on it. As aresult, the fat, sugar, sodium or calorie content of foods advertised to kidshas been reduced, and their nutrient density increased. During the last severalyears, the CFBAI participants have changed the recipes of or created more than100 products to meet their meaningful, science-based nutrition standards,” saidKolish.
Underthe current company-specific criteria, a limit of 12 grams of added sugars wasthe general standard for children’s cereals. This represented a significantimprovement from 16 or 15 grams of sugars in cereals advertised to childrenprior to the CFBAI. Now, under the CFBAI’s new uniform criteria, the limit formost children’s breakfast cereals is 10 grams of total sugars. Similarly, companies’sodium standards for canned pastas ranged up to 750 mg. Now, 600 mg of sodium,the level FDA uses in its definition of “healthy” claims for main dishes, willbe the maximum. The Council of Better Business Bureaus created the CFBAI in2006 to respond to the FTC’s and Institute of Medicine’s calls for greaterself-regulation of food advertising to children. As a result, advertisingprimarily directed to children through traditional and emerging media today arefor healthier products, and these new criteria will result in participantsimproving products even more.
Formore information on the criteria, visit: http://www.bbb.org/us/children-food-beverageadvertising-initiative/.
About the Children’s Food and BeverageAdvertising Initiative
The Council of Better Business Bureaus launched the Children’s Foodand Beverage Advertising Initiative in November 2006 to shift the mix ofadvertising messaging directed at children to encourage healthier dietarychoices and healthier lifestyles. The 17 participants of the Initiative areBurger King Corp.; Cadbury Adams USA LLC; Campbell Soup Company; The Coca-ColaCompany; ConAgra Foods, Inc.; The Dannon Company; General Mills, Inc.; TheHershey Company; Kellogg Company; Kraft Foods Global, Inc.; Mars, Incorporated;McDonald’s USA, LLC; Nestlé USA; PepsiCo, Inc.; Post Foods, LLC; Sara LeeCorporation and Unilever United States. For more information about the Children’sFood and Beverage Advertising Initiative and to view the current pledges of theparticipants visit:
http://www.bbb.org/us/children-foodbeverage-advertising-initiative