NEW YORK — Some of the nutrition information listed in government-mandated food labels will be repeated on package fronts under a new system that food makers and major grocers are introducing. The Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute on Monday announced the industry's voluntary new "Nutrition Keys," which will list calories, saturated fat, sodium and sugars per serving. Manufacturers may choose to use only one or two of the figures in small, package-front icons, or all four.The icons replace a program the industry launched and canceled in 2009 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said was misleading. It was called "Smart Choices" and included a green check mark on foods that met some nutrition requirements set by the industry.
Most U.S. food makers and sellers are backing "Nutrition Keys," which the industry is launching with a $50 million marketing campaign.
Campbell Soup Co. said in a statement that it plans to add the icons to "appropriately-sized packages" of beverages, baked snacks and meals this year and next.
Most food makers will add Nutrition Keys icons to most of their packaging by the end of 2011 but also keep the mandatory black-and-white nutrition labels on package backs. The new labeling system includes ways for food makers to name ingredients consumers should emphasize and those best to limit.
Pamela G. Bailey, president and CEO of the Grocery Manufacturers Association, said in a conference call with news organizations that the program is "totally consistent with the existing FDA and USDA regulations" and was developed because consumer research showed shoppers wanted the information.
Industry representatives said the new labels respond to a request First Lady Michelle Obama made last March in her effort to fight childhood obesity.
The labels met some criticism, however.
Nonprofit advocacy group The Center for Science in the Public Interest said they could be confusing — and consumers are likely to ignore them.
"It's unfortunate the industry wouldn't adopt a more effective system or simply wait until the Food and Drug Administration developed a system that would be as useful to consumers as possible," the group said in a statement.
Kelly Brownell, Director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University, said in a statement issued by the university Monday that the new labels are a "sign" that the government must continue its regulatory effort.
"I see no reason the food industry could not have waited . except that the industry fears that government would suggest a system that reflects poorly on many of its products," Brownell said.
Food industry analyst Erin Swanson with the Wall Street research firm Morningstar praised the labels for making nutrition information more visible.
"Food companies have had a focus on improving the wellness profile of their portfolios," Swanson noted.
An FDA representative declined to comment.
15 comments:
What the article doesn't tell you is that is being forced on the industry by Michelle Obama. Whenever a Democrat is in the White House, the Mrs. tries to make a name for herself like when Hillary Clinton tried to force Socialized medicine in the 1990s.
the ou would never allow it with all of their coocoo heterim that arent even heterim and im not referring to the ones written up
There is no need for the Queens Vaad to comply with all these disclosures. We already do not do so on the form from NY State Agriculture.
Can you imagine the endless paperwork headaches involved for Rabbeinu Chaim Schwartz and Rashbeha"g R' Yoel Schonfeld?
Tel Aviv restaurant in Great Neck would say unofficially owned by mechalel Shabbos Jew & producer of treif meat. Owner on paper is also the chef of chazir and milk & meat dishes at another restaurant.
Max & Mina's ice cream would say no real separation of cholov Yisroel and stam and bad insect infestation. The pritzus goes without saying because it's in the framed pictures all over the wall.
The Turkish restaurant would say mechalel Shabbos owner and no mashgiach at all after he was harassed to the point that he quit and left without telling anyone.
You get the picture.
Welcome back Chayah Rah from your vacation.
It was nice and quiet while you were gone and all we got was REAL kashrut information.
Now we are back to the suffering of loshon horah, rechilus, motzie shem rah and stam lies that you clog this site up with.
All the information checks out. R' Yudel himself wrote about Max & Mina's where incidentally, children have gone into anaphylactic shock from allergies because just like they don't properly clean from cholov stam before cholov Yisroel, any allergens would also still be present.
Tue Jan 25, 12:45:00 PM 2011
Just more lies.
Kosher pizza in Hudson, NY?
http://www.parkfalafelandpizza.com/About.html
Hudson, NY is driving distance from Tannersville where R' Malkiel stays in the summer.
http://www.congregationansheemeth.org/rabbi.html
This rav hamachshir Rabbi Daniel Fried is a very suspicious character who tries to imply he is orthodox. He is a talmid of Mercaz Harav and used to be rov of the orthodox shul in Vineland, NJ but the place where he is rabbi now switched from orthodox to conservative in 1961. He has been giving hashgocho for years to places like summer camps where it was difficult to figure out exactly what his standards are. Now that he is giving to a pizza shop open on Shabbos that settles it.
http://www.thedailyjournal.com/article/20110105/NEWS01/101050319
Anyone know the latest here?
The oylam seems to have missed the scandalous news last week that Dokter Rabbiner Stephen (Simcha) Katz was installed as the new President of the OU. This is the lowlife friend of Menachem Genack who was caught selling treif veal in the 1980s, subsequently failed to respond to hazmonos from R' Moishe Feinstein and sued the Jewish Press newspaper for defamation when they reported it. Shortly after the veal scandal, Genack brought Katz on board as Chairman of OU Kashrus in an attempt to rehabilitate his name.
How can anyone really trust a hashgocho run by these types of people?
http://matzav.com/dr-simcha-katz-becomes-president-of-the-ou
He even got a boost from the shameless Pinchos Lipschutz who found a picture of the modern orthodox Katz in a black hat.
The installation ceremony was part of a one day conference featuring a session chaired by the OU's Rabbi Efrem Goldberg who was once arrested for lewdness in Florida for exposing himself to people in a public place.
http://www.thejewishweek.com/features/new_york_minute/high_tech_biz_heksher_biz
Simcha Katz
The Jewish Week caught up with him this week.
Q. With your expertise as chair of the OU’s Kashrut Commission, what unique challenges do your kashrut supervisors face in inspecting the growing number of plants in China, a huge country where Jewish dietary practices are virtually unknown?
A. There is an absolute need for the OU to certify ingredients manufactured in China. China continues to grow as a leading manufacturer of many products, and the food industry is no exception, particularly in the area of raw materials used by kosher-certified companies around the world. However, the Chinese have a very weak understanding of religion and religious dietary laws. Moreover, their understanding of certification and what is entailed is extremely limited. We, therefore, > try < to limit certification in China to plants where the probability of violation of these rules is less likely to occur.
Tue Jan 25, 03:09:00 PM
Just more denials from Chaim Schwartz & company. You can bring all the proofs in world but they are programmed to deny.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/26/business/26milk.html?hp
Each year, federal inspectors find illegal levels of antibiotics in hundreds of older dairy cows bound for the slaughterhouse. Concerned that those antibiotics might also be contaminating the milk Americans drink, the Food and Drug Administration intended to begin tests this month on the milk from farms that had repeatedly sold cows tainted by drug residue.
But the testing plan met with fierce protest from the dairy industry, which said that it could force farmers to needlessly dump millions of gallons of milk while they waited for test results. Industry officials and state regulators said the testing program was poorly conceived and could lead to costly recalls that could be avoided with a better plan for testing.
In response, the F.D.A. postponed the testing, and now the two sides are sparring over how much danger the antibiotics pose and the best way to ensure that the drugs do not end up in the milk supply.
Regulators and veterinarians say that high levels of drugs can persist in an animal’s system because of misuse of medicines on the farm.
That can include exceeding the prescribed dose or injecting a drug into muscle instead of a vein.
correction:
The Holocaust Soap was given to VHQ cheverah Kadishe not to Misaskim.
The impersonator 10:09 pm working on behalf of the Queens Vaad must be a very disturbed person. What kind of lowlife would make jokes about Holocaust soap made from human flesh?
Someone has brought to my attention that an apology may be owed to the OU's Rabbi Efrem Goldberg in what may be a case of unbelievable coincidence.
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2003-06-26/news/0306260117_1_jewish-federation-police-officer-restrooms
It's still not clear if there are two Efrem Goldbergs. If there are I apologize to the one from the OU. They would both be living in the same city and both affiliated with the Young Israel movement. Efraim was the rabbi of Young Israel of Boca Raton at the time of his arrest. Efrem is currently the rabbi of the Boca Raton Synagogue and an official of YICR, a division of National Council of Young Israel.
Regardless, the Efrem Goldberg of the OU and Boca Raton Synagogue is an enabler of child molester Baruch Lanner.
I think it should also tell us if the mashgiach puts on Rabeinu Taam tefilin or not, and whether yoshon means probably yoshon or definitely yishon. And if it is cholov yisrael cheese does that mean one mashgiach driving back and forth between 10 farms or actually present throughout the milking. And details about whether they use fresh ingredients or canned. It would be much easier to require that every product should have a web page with all the details, but the daas Torah proclamation signers don't want us to have internet!!!
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