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US Smart Choices Program is not part of the international Choices Programme
In the US, the implementation of the Smart Choices logo has been suspended, following the announcement of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that it plans to standardise criteria for nutrition labelling. Due to the similarity in names, confusion may arise with the international Choices Programme. However, the US Smart Choices Program is not part of the international Choices Programme, which is present in several countries in Europe and other regions.
The international Choices Programme
The Choices Programme is governed by the Choices International Foundation. Under the Programme, a positive logo can be assigned to food products that are considered to be healthy choices within the food category, identified by science-based product criteria version 2.3 (pdf).
These product criteria have been developed by an independent International Scientific Committee and are derived from dietary recommendations of the World Health Organization. The criteria are designed to be challenging and to stimulate the food industry to reformulate and innovate to produce healthy food products.
The Choices International Scientific Committee meets independently to define the food categories and establish the product criteria, which are regularly reviewed and updated to reflect current science. Industry is not involved in setting the criteria. Participating companies can apply the Choices logo on products meeting these criteria only after an evaluation by an accredited external certifying agency.
The Smart Choices Program
The US Smart Choices Program is the result of a collaborative process in which food and retail companies, government organisations, health associations and scientific institutions were involved. The criteria were derived from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.