Soda-makers plan more prominent calorie labels
The beverage industry says it wants to be more upfront with its calorie labeling. Michelle Obama wants kids to slim down and get healthy.
Sounds like a deal.
Drink-makers on Tuesday announced changes to drink labeling to make calorie information more obvious, getting in line with the First Lady’s call for businesses to help tackle childhood obesity. Coca-Cola and Pepsi, two of the fiercest competitors in the world, are teaming up in an effort to get out front on an issue that threatens both.
Starting this summer, calories will be more prominently marked on the front of all packages, vending machines and fountain machines, the industry trade group said. Also, total calorie counts for the entire drink will be displayed on the labels, up to and including 20-ounce products.
On multi-serve packages such as two-liter bottles, beverage makers will switch from an 8-ounce to a 12-ounce serving size to give a more realistic calorie count.
The American Beverage Association did not provide before-and-after examples, saying the labels are still being developed.
The plan is the result of behind-the-scenes meetings in recent months between the First Lady’s office and the Washington trade group.
Along with fast food restaurant chains, soda-makers have long drawn criticism from health advocates who say carbonated soft drinks fuel childhood obesity in America. The rate of severe obesity among children and teenagers in the U.S. more than tripled in the past three decades, according to a study published last year in the journal Academic Pediatrics.
Some critics were unimpressed by Tuesday’s announcement, saying the beverage industry needs to be reined in more aggressively. The nation’s response to childhood obesity has been underwhelming, said Margo G. Wootan, nutrition policy director at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
Congress should update the “disco-era national standards for school vending machines and get junk food and all sugary beverages out of schools once and for all,” Wootan said in a statement.
Beverage companies reasoned that they should take action rather than appear defensive.
“It’s a risky thing to not be engaged in meaningful solutions to fight obesity,” said Susan Neely, president of the American Beverage Association, which represents Coca-Cola, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, PepsiCo and Nestle Waters North America.
Society expects a lot from storied brands such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi, Neely said.
“Part of the expectation is that they will participate in meaningful solutions.”
Last summer, the ABA learned that Michelle Obama would make fighting obesity her signature issue. Her office let it be known that it would welcome voluntary commitments from industry.
The ABA’s board had already been discussing the need to launch a new corporate responsibility program after big soda makers eliminated full-calorie soft drinks from school vending machines, said Neely. It latched onto the idea of labeling.
“You can’t just be against things,” said Neely. “You can’t own some of the most important brands in the world and not be for solutions.”
Switching to a 12-ounce serving size to calculate calories per serving in a two-liter bottle could boost the figure by 50 percent for some drinks. For decades -- since the days Coca-Cola was sold in little eight-ounce bottles -- the industry has used eight ounces as its default serving size on labels.
“We are honored to play a role in this important action,” Coca-Cola chief executive Muhtar Kent told the AJC. “We are going to be seen as part of the solution.”
Given the concern over childhood obesity, the beverage industry is being realistic, said John Sicher, editor of Beverage Digest. “It may act to reassure people. The industry is going to help blunt the criticism and respond to the concern by doing this.”
