Actions | Sustainable Food

Don't Let Kellogg's Buy Scientists: Froot Loops Aren't a Healthy Breakfast

Victory - Oct 23, 2009

UPDATE 4: Score one for reason and honesty! Thanks in part to the intrepid efforts of Change.org and its awesome concerned citizens, the Smart Choices labeling scheme, which sought to peddle clearly unhealthy foods as wise eating choices, has been halted, reports MSNBC.

UPDATE 3: Tufts University is asking to have its name removed from the Smart Choices site because it "falsely implies a direct relationship." Will the Baylor College of Medicine be the only nonprofit organization not to back away?

UPDATE 2: The American Diabetes Association has also confirmed that it is not associated with or endorsing the Smart Choices program. Their name has been removed from the Smart Choices site.

UPDATE: The American Dietetic Association has asked Smart Choices to have its name removed from the Smart Choices media materials and Website! CEO Patricia M. Babjak wrote to clarify that the American Dietetic Association neither "participates in or endorses the Smart Choices program." We have now removed them from this petition.

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To: Dr. William T. Butler (Baylor College of Medicine President), Dr. Dennis Beir (Smart Choices Board Member) and Dr. Eileen Kennedy (Smart Choices Board President)

Started by: Robin Beck

The nation's largest food manufacturers, including Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, ConAgra and PepsiCo, want you to believe that Froot Loops and other unhealthy foods are "Smart Choices." And they have somehow convinced representatives from the Baylor College of Medicine to back them up.

The new "Smart Choices" program--an industry-backed marketing ploy--puts a green check mark on products that are determined to be "smarter food and beverage choices." But the choices selected are anything but healthy.

Dr. Eileen T. Kennedy, president of the Smart Choices board and the dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, said in a New York Times article that she supported giving Froot Loops the green check mark because compared to feeding your children doughnuts for breakfast "Froot Loops is a better choice."

Kellogg's Froot Loops Cereal is 41% sugar. There is nothing "smart" about Froot Loops or other foods packed with sugar.

The reality is that the food industry is using the Smart Choices program to deceive parents and other shoppers into buying the very food that has led to a costly epidemic of diabetes and obesity -- and researchers like Dr. Kennedy are abetting this deception by associating themselves and their respective institutions with the program.

This is outrageous.

Send a letter today and tell all four doctors supporting the Smart Choices program to stop shilling for Kellogg's. They, and the leaders of their respective institutions, need to hear that you think it is wrong for them to support any program that gives sugary cereals and other unhealthy foods a stamp of approval as healthy choices.

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Sign the Letter

There's Nothing "Smart" About Froot Loops

Dear Doctors Kennedy, Kahn, Hager, and Bier:,

I am writing to express my outrage that you are supporting the "Smart Choices" program. Any certification program that calls Froot Loops a "Smart Choice" doesn't deserve your support. Our children are already eating too much sugar and suggesting that parents should consider Froot Loops and other unhealthy foods packed with sugar a good choice is irresponsible given the dangerous and costly rise in childhood obesity we currently face. Froot Loops is 41% sugar. You should know better, as doctors and as public health leaders, than to promote eating sugary cereals for breakfast. I am appalled that any university or nonprofit organization that supports healthy eating would want to be associated with an industry-backed promotional gimmick suggesting that Froot Loops and other clearly unhealthy foods are a good choice for children. This is, simply put, unacceptable. I urge you to resign from the board of the Smart Choices program. Until you do, you not only cast doubt upon your own objectivity, but also on the credibility your institutions. I highly doubt that any of these institutions want to be associated with the idea that Froot Loops, or any of the other unhealthy foods manufactured by the program's sponsors are "Smart Choices." Thank you,

[Your name here]

Sorry, the time period for signing this petition has ended.

Andreea Tanase Riverside, CA

Sent letter to Dr. Eileen Kennedy (Smart Choices Board President) , Dr. Dennis Beir (Smart Choices Board Member) , Dr. William T. Butler (Baylor College of Medicine President) , Dr. Mary Hager (Smart Choices Board Member) and Dr. Richard Kahn (Smart Choices Board Member)

Oct 28
Ruth S. Kiel, Germany

Sent letter to Dr. Eileen Kennedy (Smart Choices Board President) , Dr. Dennis Beir (Smart Choices Board Member) , Dr. William T. Butler (Baylor College of Medicine President) , Dr. Mary Hager (Smart Choices Board Member) and Dr. Richard Kahn (Smart Choices Board Member)

Oct 26
berry lee durham, NC

Sent letter to Dr. Eileen Kennedy (Smart Choices Board President) , Dr. Dennis Beir (Smart Choices Board Member) , Dr. William T. Butler (Baylor College of Medicine President) , Dr. Mary Hager (Smart Choices Board Member) and Dr. Richard Kahn (Smart Choices Board Member)

Oct 25
michael genger honolulu, HI

Sent letter to Dr. Eileen Kennedy (Smart Choices Board President) , Dr. Dennis Beir (Smart Choices Board Member) , Dr. William T. Butler (Baylor College of Medicine President) , Dr. Mary Hager (Smart Choices Board Member) and Dr. Richard Kahn (Smart Choices Board Member)

Oct 25
Todd Albert Union City, TN

Sent letter to Dr. Eileen Kennedy (Smart Choices Board President) , Dr. Dennis Beir (Smart Choices Board Member) and Dr. William T. Butler (Baylor College of Medicine President)

Oct 25
Christiane Henker Bad Laer, Germany

Sent letter to Dr. Eileen Kennedy (Smart Choices Board President) , Dr. Dennis Beir (Smart Choices Board Member) , Dr. William T. Butler (Baylor College of Medicine President) , Dr. Mary Hager (Smart Choices Board Member) and Dr. Richard Kahn (Smart Choices Board Member)

Oct 25
Wendy White Saint Petersburg, FL

Sent letter to Dr. Eileen Kennedy (Smart Choices Board President) , Dr. Dennis Beir (Smart Choices Board Member) , Dr. William T. Butler (Baylor College of Medicine President) , Dr. Mary Hager (Smart Choices Board Member) and Dr. Richard Kahn (Smart Choices Board Member)

Oct 23
Lynda Johnson Kirkland, WA

Sent letter to Dr. Eileen Kennedy (Smart Choices Board President) , Dr. Dennis Beir (Smart Choices Board Member) , Dr. William T. Butler (Baylor College of Medicine President) , Dr. Mary Hager (Smart Choices Board Member) and Dr. Richard Kahn (Smart Choices Board Member)

Oct 22
Jessica Buck Azle, TX

Sent letter to Dr. Eileen Kennedy (Smart Choices Board President) , Dr. Dennis Beir (Smart Choices Board Member) , Dr. William T. Butler (Baylor College of Medicine President) , Dr. Mary Hager (Smart Choices Board Member) and Dr. Richard Kahn (Smart Choices Board Member)

Oct 22
Rebecca Young CA United States, CA

Sent letter to Dr. Eileen Kennedy (Smart Choices Board President) , Dr. Dennis Beir (Smart Choices Board Member) , Dr. William T. Butler (Baylor College of Medicine President) , Dr. Mary Hager (Smart Choices Board Member) and Dr. Richard Kahn (Smart Choices Board Member)

Oct 18