Statement of CSPI Executive Director Michael F. Jacobson

February 7, 2012

Walmart's Great For You labeling program is an interesting way to identify many healthier foods. The symbol should help many shoppers choose healthier foods and should encourage some companies, starting with Walmart, to improve their products.

Great For You joins NuVal, Guiding Stars, Facts Up Front, Heart Check, and other approaches that seek to steer consumers toward healthier diets. That proliferation of sometimes-inconsistent nutrition symbols on store shelves and packages indicates the need for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to develop one excellent system that would replace all the voluntary approaches.

Walmart’s program does an excellent job of highlighting healthful foods in many food categories, but it is not fool-proof. Some distinctly not-great-for-you foods qualify for the symbol: cholesterol-rich eggs, salty canned vegetables and salt-water-injected fresh meat and poultry, nutrient-poor apple and grape juice, and grain foods that contain much more refined white flour than whole grain.

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