'Smart Choices' program on the run from the law in Connecticut

You mean Pop Tarts don't count as a fruit? The food-marketer-backed Smart Choices labeling program didn't go quite that far, but the Connecticut attorney general says he's now looking into this much-criticized program, suggesting it's "overly simplistic, inaccurate and ultimately misleading." After all, it gives a thumbs-up to Froot Loops, Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs, and that's just the first meal of the day. Richard Blumenthal says he's spoken to attorneys general in other states who may want to piggyback onto his investigation, which aims to find out if the labeling flouts his state's consumer protection law guarding against false and misleading product claims. Kraft, ConAgra, Kellogg, PepsiCo and a handful of other companies are behind Smart Choices, distinguished by its green checkmark on packages. Critics say there's a lot of fake science in a program that puts a healthy label on Kid Cuisine Magical Cheese Stuffed Crust Cheese Pizza, and they question the professional food nutritionists who participated in the process. Maybe any new labeling plan should just defer to my mom, who always shot down my pleas for sugary, empty-calorie breakfast cereal with a curt, "That stuff will rot your teeth out!" How's that for a catchy on-pack marketing message?

—Posted by T.L. Stanley