Kraft Foods First to Adopt Smart Choices Program Nutrition Criteria for Advertising to Children

The Smart Choices Program is a voluntary nutrition labeling system designed to help shoppers easily identify smarter food and beverage choices within product categories, regardless of the stores they shop in or brands they buy.

12 Aug 2009 Kraft Foods Inc. announced plans to become the first company to use the Smart Choices Program nutrition criteria to identify which products it advertises to children ages 6-11 in the United States.

The Smart Choices Program is a voluntary nutrition labeling system designed to help shoppers easily identify smarter food and beverage choices within product categories, regardless of the stores they shop in or brands they buy. The Smart Choices Program check mark will gradually replace similar logos, including Kraft Foods' Sensible Solution symbol, used by participating companies.

Today's announcement marks another milestone for Kraft Foods in the area of advertising to children. In 2005, Kraft Foods led the food industry in limiting kids' advertising to better-for-you products, an approach that most other food companies now follow.

"We were the first company to stop advertising products to children that didn't meet specific nutrition criteria," says Triona Schmelter, Senior Director Health & Wellness, Kraft Foods North America. "So it is a logical next step to use the Smart Choices Program criteria, which are uniform and consistent across many companies, to help consumers understand our advertising guidelines and make better-for-you product choices. This is part of our continuing efforts to ensure our advertising practices meet consumer expectations."

While the Smart Choices Program requires the transition to be completed within three years, Kraft Foods expects to complete the rollout in advance of the deadline. Some products featuring the new symbol, including Teddy Grahams and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Crackers, will appear on store shelves in the coming weeks.

As the Smart Choices Program rolls out, Kraft Foods will update its Pledge under the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative. Kraft Foods was a founding member of this industry-wide initiative, which is aimed at shifting the mix of advertising messaging directed to children under 12 to encourage healthier dietary choices and healthy lifestyles.