• by Thom Forbes  @tforbes, April 1, 2015

Kraft and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND) have put the wraps on their short-lived and highly controversial agreement to raise awareness of dairy, vitamin D and calcium deficiencies in kids — starting with a “Kids Eat Right” label on Kraft Singles processed cheese products that generated ire from consumers and a “#RepealTheSeal” Change.org petition from rank-and-file members of the 75,000-member professional organization.

“That collaboration is not going to be happening,” Kraft spokeswoman Jody Moore tells the Associated Press’ Candice Choi. She also said Kraft and the AND “are still working out the details of ending their three-year agreement, which would have included a website and other to-be-determined elements,” Choi reports. The label, which has been already printed on an undisclosed number of packages, will appear for some time. 

“Although we stand by our decision to work together to shine a light on this issue, and not to serve as a product endorsement, we believe misperceptions are overshadowing the campaign,” Kraft formally said in a statement. “As such, both organizations have agreed it is best not to proceed as originally planned.”

The AND has apparently not yet responded to requests for comment but AND president Sonja Connor wrote that it “deeply regrets the circumstances that have led to the pending termination of this initiative,” in a letter to her members on Monday.

“The episode is the latest example of how processed-food makers are struggling to adjust to shifts in consumer attitudes toward health and nutrition and growing distrust of established companies in the industry,” is how Jacob Bunge puts it in the Wall Street Journal. 

“Big companies like Kraft are increasingly under pressure to detail the ingredients and methods used to make their products, and are facing intensifying competition from sales of natural-and-organic foods whose sales growth in recent years has outstripped overall grocery sales, according to data from Nielsen NV,” Bunge points out.

“When Jon Stewart puts you in his cross-hairs, you know you’ve messed up,” is how Steve Dorfman puts it in the Palm Beach Post, referencing the kicker to “The Daily Show” host’s “The Snacks of Life” segment on March 17 that began by excoriating Big Agra and the food lobby in general, then moved to the likes of Olive Garden, McDonald’s, Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts in particular for peddling “the typical American diet [that’s] rich in essential poisons.”

“I was horrified [by the deal with Kraft],” former AND media spokesperson and Miami-based dietitian Lisa Dorfman told the PBP’s Dorfman (no relation). “I understand the realities of being in partnerships with sponsors, and I have nothing against Kraft. But, of all the products to put the Kids Eat Right seal on …” 

The collaboration was adrift in dissension just about as soon as it was launched, which was about five days earlier than Stewart’s takedown of the American takeout diet.

“As part of the original deal, Kraft agreed to pay for scholarships, research and public awareness campaigns in exchange for the right to use the academy’s Kids Eat Right label and website address on packages of Kraft Singles,” The New York Times’ Stephanie Strom reported Monday in a piece revealing the negotiations between the parties to end the deal.

Strom had broken the story about the academy “[lending] its imprimatur to a highly processed food,” as she put it yesterday, in a story on March 12 that pointed out that “Kraft is a frequent target of advocates for better children’s nutrition, who contend that many of its products are over-processed, with too much fat, sodium, sugar, artificial dyes and preservatives.”

An academy press release announcing the educational campaign on March 13 stated: “Contrary to recent published reports, this collaboration does not constitute any endorsement or nutritional seal of approval by the Academy, its Foundation or Kids Eat Right,” explaining that it merely supported the notion of its own initiative and sought “to drive broader visibility to www.KidsEatRight.org, a trusted educational resource for consumers.”

“We wholly reject the rationale that the Academy used in their formal press release to defend the nature of the relationship between Kraft and the Academy,” the Change.org petition, which was signed by more than 11,000 people purporting to be dietetics professionals, declared. “A logo on a product label is an endorsement, an alignment, and recognition of a paid relationship. Simply stating otherwise in a press release, no matter how emphatically, doesn’t change this fact.”