FTC Proposes Voluntary Principles for Marketing Food to Children

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released its proposed voluntary principles for marketing food to children in an effort to encourage “stronger and more meaningful self-regulation by the food industry.” Designed by an FTC-led interagency working group with input from the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and U.S. Department of Agriculture, the guidelines seek “to improve the nutritional profiles of foods marketed directly to children ages 2-17 and to tap into the power of advertising and marketing to support healthful choices.”

To this end, the preliminary standards would require that, by 2016, all products marketed to this age group (i) “make a meaningful contribution to a healthful diet” and (ii) “contain limited amounts of nutrients that have a negative impact on health or weight (saturated fats, trans fat, added sugars, and sodium).” To meet the first principle, marketed foods must feature “at least one of the following food groups: fruit, vegetable, whole grain, fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk products, fish, extra lean meat or poultry, eggs, nuts and seeds, or beans.” With an exception for nutrients that naturally occur in these food groups, the principles would also require marketed foods to limit (i) saturated fat to 1 gram or less per reference amount customarily consumed (RACC) and 15 percent or less of calories; (ii) trans fat to 0 grams per RACC; (iii) added sugars to no more than 13 grams per RACC; and (iv) sodium to no more than 210 mg per serving. In addition, the proposal calls for further sodium limits by 2021 and includes “additional recommendations for foods with a small serving size and for main dishes and meals.”

FTC has requested public comments within 45 days and will hold a May 24,
2011, forum in Washington, D.C., before making its final report to Congress.
“To their credit, some of the leading companies are already reformulating
products and rethinking marketing strategies to promote healthier foods
to kids. But we all have more work to do before we can tip the scales to a
healthier generation of children,” said FTC Chair Jon Leibowitz. “This proposal
encourages all food marketers to expand voluntary efforts to reduce kids’
waistlines.” See FTC Press Release, April 28, 2011.

The announcement has drawn praise from consumer advocates like the
Center for Science in the Public Interest’s director of nutritional policy, Margo
Wootan, who helped craft the rules and said the standards “could take us from
having self-regulation be a nice idea to having self-regulation actually work.”
But some marketers have since voiced concern about extending marketing
restrictions to teenagers. “Once you’ve gotten past 12, we believe kids are fully
able to understand advertising and to deal with it,” one spokesperson for the
Association of National Advertisers was quoted as saying. See Advertising Age
and NPR, April 28, 2011.