Press & News |

Press Release: Nutrition Guidelines Fact Sheet


  • Campbell Soup Company, Dannon, Kraft Foods, Mars, and PepsiCo have collaborated with the Alliance for a Healthier Generation to set nutrition guidelines that will lead to healthier food choices for millions of children in schools across the nation.
  • The new science-based and age-appropriate guidelines were developed in conjunction with nutrition experts at the American Heart Association and promote nutrient-rich foods, fat-free and low-fat dairy products and place limits on calories, fat, saturated fat, trans fat, sugar and sodium.
  • The guidelines cover foods offered for sale outside of the reimbursable meal program such as products sold in school vending machines, a la carte lines, snack bars, fundraisers and school stores.
  • While some states, municipalities and schools have adopted their own standards, this first-ever announcement brings together industry leaders and non-profits who together are demonstrating real leadership in the fight against childhood obesity.
  • This is a critical step that will change the food that children have access to at school. Companies will offer products that meet the new guidelines. The participating companies have committed to working with the Alliance to help encourage broad acceptance of these new guidelines by schools and food distributors alike, as well as to increase the range of qualifying products for schools, all with the aim to curb increasing trends in childhood obesity.
  • Over time – as schools, distributors and additional companies adopt these guidelines – millions of children will gain access to healthier foods, leading to healthier and more nutritious diets. The Alliance and the companies that have collaborated to set these new guidelines will work with schools, PTAs, school boards and food distributors to encourage their support of these guidelines.
  • The five participating companies are also demonstrating their commitment to the new guidelines in specific ways:
    • Campbell will promote the benefits of its products that are lower in calories, fat and sodium and will leverage its expertise with lower sodium natural sea salt to provide additional reduced sodium soup options in food service.
    • Dannon will reduce the sugar content of its Danimals yogurt cups for kids by 25 percent, even though the products already conform to the Guidelines before the reduction.
    • Kraft will add the Alliance’s sodium and calorie caps to its current vending guidelines and extend them to include all of its competitive foods sold in schools.
    • Mars will create a new line of nutritious snack products that are formulated with the specific needs of children and teens in mind and that meet or exceed the AHG guidelines.
    • In addition to its products like Baked Lay’s that already qualify, PepsiCo will reformulate several products and also encourage schools, distributors and vending partners to offer products that meet the new Alliance guidelines.
  • This is another important step on the long road to ensuring that our children have healthier diets and an overall healthy lifestyle. Earlier this year, the Alliance announced an agreement with the beverage industry to provide healthier drink options to children in school. Combating childhood obesity requires a comprehensive approach on behalf of industry, government and the non-profit sector.

# # #

Learn more about our work at https://www.clintonfoundation.org/about, on Facebook at Facebook.com/ClintonFoundation and on Twitter @ClintonFdn.