Packaging
New Symbol Emphasizing More Nourishing Choices to Be Featured on Nearly 200 ConAgra Foods Products
Thursday 06. August 2009 - As part of its ongoing commitment to help Americans lead healthier lives, ConAgra Foods will feature the Smart Choice Program logo on many of its products.
The Smart Choices Program symbol, which is displayed on the front of qualifying food packages, aims to help shoppers make smarter food and beverage choices within 19 product categories that fit within their daily calorie needs, at-a-glance, throughout the supermarket. Nearly 200 ConAgra Foods products, including Healthy Choice meals, Orville Redenbachers SmartPop! microwave popcorn and Egg Beaters liquid eggs, meet the Smart Choices Programs stringent nutrition criteria and will feature the symbol on their packaging.
“Were pleased to have so many products qualify for the Smart Choices Program symbol because we think the symbol is the easiest way for consumers to understand more about the nutrition of the food they buy,” said Mark Andon, Ph.D., ConAgra Foods vice president of Nutrition. “Theres a significant amount of research, including our own, that shows the strong linkage between good nutrition and healthful, satisfying lives. But its not always easy to identify smarter food and beverage choices. The Smart Choices Program symbol can help; its stringent standards, plus the fact that it eliminates the need for multiple, often confusing symbols across the food industry, are unprecedented.”
The Smart Choices Program uses a single, green check mark on the front of food and beverage packages to quickly identify products that meet science-based nutrition criteria based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans and other sources of nutrition science and authoritative guidance. Products that meet these nutrition criteria will also display calories per serving and servings per container on the front of the packaging.
The American Society for Nutrition (ASN), the pre-eminent professional research society dedicated to nutrition science, and NSF International, a not-for-profit public health organization that certifies products and writes standards for food, water and consumer goods, jointly administer the Smart Choices Program and are responsible for evaluating products and ensuring they meet the nutrition criteria before receiving the Smart Choices Program symbol. The Smart Choices Program was developed by a coalition of the nation’s leading authorities on food, nutrition and health, including a diverse coalition of scientists, academicians, health and research organizations, food and beverage manufacturers and retailers.