ConAgra Labeling Aligns with USDA's MyPyramid

21/02/08 ConAgra Foods, Inc., has announced simple and unique packaging enhancements designed to help consumers make better-informed food choices to improve their diet and health. The new nutrition guide, designed by ConAgra Foods, will be featured on the packages of such popular brands as Healthy Choice, Chef Boyardee and Orville Redenbacher's. The bold package graphics, which can be read and understood at a glance, will leverage the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) MyPyramid and use simple, clear facts to show consumers how the company's products can help them satisfy the government's dietary recommendations.

While USDA's MyPyramid is widely recognized, few consumers know if the foods they choose to eat provide them with meaningful amounts of the key food groups, including grains, fruits and vegetables. ConAgra Foods' unique label design will clearly show the amount of each key food group contained in each package, making it easier for consumers to build more healthful diets. For example, a Healthy Choice Fiesta Chicken meal that contains chicken, rice, fruit and vegetables will have a graphic indicating the product provides 15 percent of the grains, 30 percent of the vegetables, 15 percent of the fruit, and 40 percent of the meat and beans that a consumer should eat based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet. In a survey commissioned by ConAgra Foods, about 70 percent of respondents preferred product packaging that leveraged MyPyramid to help them understand and apply USDA's recommendations to their food choices.

ConAgra Foods also announced today that it will sign a memorandum of intent with USDA, affirming its support for promoting the MyPyramid through its packaging and other tools. "We're proud to bring consumers a unique tool based on USDA's MyPyramid that will help them lead healthful, balanced lives," said Gary Rodkin, ConAgra Foods CEO.

"ConAgra Foods' approach provides consumers with simple and clear nutrition information using the USDA's science-based dietary recommendations--rather than creating yet another nutrition standard," Rodkin said. "By utilizing MyPyramid in a unique and USDA-approved manner, we are providing consumers a transparent and easy-to-understand source of dietary information at the point of purchase. Our packaging information will complement the information available in the Nutrition Facts Panel, and help Americans know how their food choices contribute to a healthful diet based on MyPyramid."

Labels featuring USDA's MyPyramid will appear on more than 700 different ConAgra Foods packages. The company is using the MyPyramid graphic on all of its packaging for products that provide consumers with a meaningful amount of at least one of the key food groups. Specifically, a product must have one or more of the following to use this label:

-- 1/2 ounce equivalent of grains, which is 10 percent of the recommended daily amount;

--  1/4 cup of vegetables, which is 10 percent of the recommended daily amount;

--  1/4 cup of fruit, which is 15 percent of the recommended daily amount;

--  1/4 cup of dairy, which is 10 percent of the recommended daily amount; or

--  1/2 ounce of meat and beans, which is 10 percent of the recommended daily amount.

ConAgra Foods' products with the new, USDA-approved label design, will begin appearing in stores in May 2008.

ConAgra Foods' labeling innovation strengthens its Start Making Choices program, which provides consumers with advice on living a balanced life, including how to build a healthful, satisfying diet based on MyPyramid. Consumers will be able to use the new information from product packaging by applying it to the program's unique and customizable tools, such as the Balanced Life Index, that have been designed to help consumers reach and sustain their health goals.

As the cornerstones of Start Making Choices, these tools align with and complement the USDA's Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid. Consumers can trust these credible resources to help them live healthful lives. To learn more about the program and take the steps toward a more balanced life go to www.startmakingchoices.com.