
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 3, 1990                   TAG: 9004030360
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ASSOCIATION DROPS FOOD LABEL PLANS/ HEART

Besieged by stinging criticism and threats of strong government action, the American Heart Association announced Monday it was canceling its program to award a seal of approval, for a fee, to foods that meet certain low-fat, low-salt guidelines.

The sharply debated program, called HeartGuide, was made public only two months ago.

The retreat by the association appeared to signal the end of efforts by private organizations to rate the relative nutritional merits of various foods and left that burden to the federal government, which will now be under increased pressure to issue strong guidelines of its own.

The association was prompted to act after receiving a stern letter Friday from James Benson, the acting commissioner of the Food and Drug administration.

Benson wrote that his agency "believes that programs such as HeartGuide tend to increase consumer confusion and may also be misleading."

In an earlier letter to the association on Jan. 24, the Food and Drug Administration firmly stated its objections to the HeartGuide program and threatened to seize any products bearing the endorsement seal in cases in which it believed the labels were misleading.

The federal Department of Agriculture previously has announced it will forbid the use of HeartGuide seals on meat and poultry products, which fall under its regulation.

It also asserted the labels were misleading.

Dr. Myron Weisfeldt, the president of the heart association, said, "The FDA has told us clearly and absolutely that they do not want third-party endorsers on food products, because they intend to roll out a program of their own. They particularly didn't want us because we attempted to be the biggest and most obvious."

Part of the reason for the FDA's action against the association's program was that last month the agency initiated its own own major effort to require extensive labeling and nutritional information on all food packages.

The association stood to gain fees ranging from $15,000 to $640,000 per product, which it said would be used for evaluating the products and financing nutrition education.

The food industry had mixed reactions to the HeartGuide program.

Some trade associations opposed it out of concern about the cost and possible misinterpretations of what the label signified.

Individual companies supported it or opposed it depending on their financial and competitive circumstances.

by CNB