Hello everyone. Marty Richardson here from chefmartyrich.com. Welcome back to our daily tip series. Today I have a News Flash for you! So I am not going to talk about the holiday preparation until tomorrow.

Government Intervention

Last week the FDA decided that they were going to start investigating front of the package labeling. Now, if you have been watching, you would know that a couple of weeks ago, I was in the grocery store (doing my little undercover 60 Minutes style investigation), shooting video in the grocery store. They were not too happy about that, and told me to leave! I don’t know how the FDA got wind of it, (maybe they have been watching the tip series too.)

Smart Choices Program Suspended

But it turns out that on Friday, the Smart Choices Program has suspended recruitment of other companies into the program and they are not going to promote their Green Check Rating System any more. So there you have it! I was actually on the edge of breaking a news story before I abandoned the story to start the holiday tip series. So much for my journalism career.

Decipher Nutrition Labels

Anyway, if you haven’t subscribed to my email list, go to my website now at www.chefmartyrich.com and sign up. I have a lot of information there about food labeling and some links to the FDA site that will help you decipher the current nutrition label that is on the back of most processed foods. Nutritionists started criticizing the Smart Choices Program when it was first published because the criteria was far too lax. They had a Green Check mark on Fruit Loops. And Fruit Loops, as I showed you in the video, lists the number one ingredient as sugar. And mayonnaise, that is just full of fat (egg yolks and oil) also got a Green Check mark on the label.

Not So Smart Choices

So the FDA and these nutritionists (and I hopped on the band wagon too) we are all basically saying that these Smart Choices were not actually smart after all for the consumer. So, now the FDA is going to step in and write new criteria for front of the package labeling. This doesn’t effect the nutrition label that is typically on the back of most processed food packages. You have to remember that when you are looking at the front of the package, that’s advertising. The information that you need to know is on the nutrition label generally hidden somewhere on the box.

Advertising vs. Consumer’s Rights

You have to learn how to read those labels if you are going to eat processed food. You have to know how to read the chart. As I showed in the video, there is a significant difference between Fruit Loops and I think it was Smart Start. You would think “Smart Start” sounds like a better, more nutritious product than “Froot Loops”, but the nitritional profile was even worse than the Fruit Loops.

So take control of your diet by understanding how to read the labels. Make your own Smart Choices! Thanks very much for watching. I’ll get back to the holiday tip series tomorrow. Have a great day.

Hi it’s Marty Richardson, chefmartyrich.com, welcome back to our daily tip series. Today I am back to food labeling. I was at the grocery store this morning and they are just not taking too kindly to my shooting video inside the store. So I am back at home. Today I want to talk about Sensible Solutions. This is a label you will find on Kraft’s food products. Now it is not quite the same as the Start Making Choices Program for Conagra foods. Their site is much more food oriented. It is not as holistic, I’ll just say as the Conagra site. This is mostly product promotion. There are a lot of interesting tabs. They have got some for dinner, budget, tips, entertaining, cooking, cooking school, kids tab, community tab. It ahs to do with food, food products, recipes and cooking videos (which are very good) but don’t go into too much detail about the nutritional value of their foods. Or how this Sensible Solution’s label is going to make your life better. So in comparison to the two sites, not as much, like I said in terms of backing up with the Sensible Solutions are I can tell you this that Kraft foods is a part of the Smart Choices Program and they have much fewer items registered there than they do for the Sensible Solutions. The Sensible Solution products have slightly less rigorous guidelines to be exempted so it is their own little label, it is still green. But I couldn’t say that you could look at a Sensible Solutions product and say, “Oh yea, that’s something I should buy because it meets certain criteria”. Of course they do mention that they have gone to several independent scientific labs and they go by the United States, USDA nutritional guidelines and whatnot. But again I think it is more promotional than anything. But that is my two cents on it.

Ok, we will wrap this up today and hopefully we will see you again tomorrow. Thanks very much for tuning in. Bye now.