Sorry Froot Loops - Your Smart Choices Days Are Numbered

Smart Choice Label It was fun while it lasted, we all had a good laugh, but now it looks like the concept of calling Froot Loops a Smart Choice has come to an end!

Smart Choices Label Program Has Been Suspended

Guess what? Just days after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said it would examine whether front-of-pack nutrition claims are potentially misleading, the fine folks at Smart Choices decided to suspend their label and logo program. Smart Choices has said that it “will voluntarily postpone active operations and not encourage wider use of the logo at this time by either new or currently enrolled companies.”

What Is Smart Choices?

Smart Choices is an industry funded and sponsored labeling program that was supposed to help consumer make better choices about food, based on nutritional content. Kellogg’s, General Mills, Kraft, Unilever, ConAgra, and PepsiCo’s Quaker Foods all took part in the Smart Choices program.

While there were many questionable products that got to display the Smart Choices logo, Froot Loops may have been the one that finally pushed the FDA to investigate. Why isn’t Froot Loops spelt Fruit Loops? Because there is no fruit in there – they had to make up a word because it was a lot better than saying Sugar Loops. Many people were outraged that a ceral filled with sugar could “earn” the Smart Choices logo.

The Secrets are Not Just With Supplements

We spend a good deal of time on this blog giving the supplement industry a hard time for misleading the public (see our countless articles on acai scams and resveratrol scams). It is important to note that deception is not reserved for the supplement industry, here you have some of the largest consumer brands in the world misleading the public into what is a smart choice for breakfast.

Well, I will say they made one Smart Choice – closing the program down.