SYRACUSE -- Moms and dads take note: The nation's largest food companies say they will cut back on marketing unhealthy foods to children.
A coalition of companies - including General Mills, ConAgra, and Kellogg's - are proposing their own set of advertising standards, rejecting similar guidelines proposed by the federal government. The companies say the effort will vastly change what is advertised, forcing them to curb advertising on one out of three products currently marketed to children.
The new standards, which will allow companies to advertise food and beverage products to children if they meet certain nutritional criteria, could force some brands to change recipe to include less sodium, fat, sugars, and calories.
The group's proposal was pushed along by a government effort to do the same thing. The Federal Trade Commission and several other government agencies were directed by Congress to come up with voluntary guidelines for marketing junk food to children, and those were issued earlier this year.
The industry balked at that proposal, saying the voluntary standards were too broad and would limit marketing of almost all of the nation's favorite foods, including yogurts, cereals and even some whole wheat breads.
The government proposal is stricter than the standards the companies are pushing for themselves. While the government proposal puts broad limits on fats, sugars, and sodium that would apply to marketing of all foods, the industry has suggested different guidelines for different foods, saying that's a more practical approach.
The industry guidelines for children's cereals, for example, would allow them to be advertised if they have around ten grams of sugar a serving, while the formula used by the government would discourage advertising for cereals that have eight grams of sugars in an equivalent serving. That would mean General Mills would still be able to advertise Honey Nut Cheerios cereal under the industry guidelines but would be discouraged under the voluntary government guidelines.
Another difference between the proposals is where companies are allowed to advertise. While the government guidelines are broad, discouraging advertising of unhealthy foods on packaging and in stores, along with in the media, the industry guidelines would apply to media - television, radio, print, video games and the Internet - but not packaging. That means the little bee on the front of the Honey Nut Cheerios box would stay under the industry proposal and go under the government draft.
Even if the industry standards are not as strict as the government guidelines, they still represent progress on the part of the companies. Many companies now advertise any children's cereals that have less than 12 grams of sugar, down from 15 or 16 grams of sugars a decade ago.
Julie Mellen, a registered dietician at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, says although companies are making strides to provide healthier choices, parents still need to be aware when they go grocery shopping.
She says when shopping for snacks, it's a good idea for parents to stay on the perimeter of a store. That's where the healthiest options are, including fruits and vegetables. When reading labels for foods like cereal, parents should look for foods that offer less than ten grams of sugar per serving and more than five grams of fiber per serving.
Do you think there are too many unhealthy foods marketed toward children? What do you think of the new guidelines? Post your comments below!
Information from the Associated Press was used in this article.
