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| U.S. may weaken proposed junk food marketing guidelines |
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 Allowing colorful cartoon characters to remain on cereal boxes is just one of the concessions likely to be made by U.S. government officials as they develop voluntary industry guidelines to limit junk food marketing to children in an effort to halt rising child obesity rates. Proposed guidelines released earlier this year listed maximum levels of fat, sugars and sodium and asked food companies not to market foods that exceeded those levels to children ages 2 to 17, the Associated Press reported. The guidelines would apply to a variety of areas, including ads in stores and on television and the Internet. Food packaging and store displays were also included in the guidelines but have been removed, government officials said at a House hearing Wednesday. That decision comes after aggressive food industry lobbying against the proposed voluntary guidelines. The industry, which has the support of House Republicans, says the voluntary guidelines are too broad and would limit marketing of many of the nation’s favorite foods, the AP reported. While the proposed guidelines are voluntary, food companies say they’re worried the government will take action against them if they don’t cooperate. The coalition of government agencies drafting the guidelines are “in the midst of making significant revisions” to the original version, David Vladeck, director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said at Wednesday’s hearing. He said possible changes include focusing on children ages 2 to 11 instead of up to age 17, allowing marketing of unhealthier foods at sporting events and fundraisers, and not requesting companies to change the packaging or remove brand characters from food products that don’t meet the nutrition standards, the AP reported. (Source: childrenhealthwizard)   Socialize this Subscribe to our RSS feed to stay in touch and receive all of TT updates right in your feed reader
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