The Smart Choices Labeling Program is in full force, and products bearing the program’s green checkmark—which meet criteria designed to indicate a healthier product choice—have hit stores across the country. Since the program was designed to help remove confusion from the consumer’s perspective, manufacturers who participate in this program agree to remove any other similarly themed label indications on packaging. Several companies, including Kraft Foods, Unilever, Kellogg Company, ConAgra Foods, Tyson Foods, PepsiCo and General Mills, have joined the program.
However, The New York Times reports, some sectors of the industry and special-interest groups have criticized the program, suggesting that some of the products that meet the set list of approved criteria—which take into account relative nutritive value of a given food—should not be included in a healthy foods labeling program.