CFBAI Announces Agreement to Strengthen Nutrition Criteria

The Council of Better Business Bureaus’ Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CFBAI) has announced an agreement among 18 companies to strengthen nutrition criteria for advertising to children under 12. Under the agreement, participating companies will not advertise food products to children unless the foods meet several updated standards, including reduced sodium levels. The standards will also limit “whole grain” labeling to those foods that “contribute a meaningful amount of whole grains” and limit nutrient-based qualifiers to “under-consumed” nutrients rather than “essential” nutrients. CFBAI also issued a white paper detailing the updated standards and the reasoning supporting each change. The implementation date is January 1, 2020, chosen to coincide with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s updated food-labeling regulations.