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Pressure Mounts For Controlling Food Marketing To Kids

Dannon, which declined to join the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative when it was launched in 2006, has become the 15th company to sign the agreement pledging that all of its advertising directed primarily to children will be for products that meet nutritional guidelines that the Council of Better Business Bureaus has reviewed and approved.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest, however, is again questioning the ability of the food industry to self-police. CSPI finds that 79% of the foods marketed to children are products like sugary cereal, candy, sugary drinks with little or no fruit juice, and fast food. When CSPI first analyzed Nickelodeon food marketing to children in 2005, it found that 88% of the touted products were nutritionally poor.

Meanwhile, Federal Trade Commission representatives testified before two subcommittees of the Senate Appropriations Committee this week. The FTC recommends that all food and beverage companies adopt and adhere to meaningful nutrition-based standards for marketing their products to children under 12. It also says companies should stop in-school promotion of foods and beverages that do not meet the standards.

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