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COMING in 2009: a new food labeling system designed to help us better understand what's in our foods.

Although it's not perfect, the Smart Choices Program is a groundbreaking effort to find consensus among scientists and food companies about what foods deserve to be promoted as healthy choices.

The voluntary labeling program would allow foods that meet certain nutritional benchmarks to use the Smart Choices logo on the front of food packages. The logo is a thumbnail-size green check mark with the words "Smart Choices Program: Guiding Food Choices" and a square containing the number calories per serving and servings per package.

The goal of this independent program is lofty: to help an overweight nation avoid excess and to promote healthy foods. The program aims to promote foods that limit fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, added sugars and sodium, following the government's Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

It also requires most foods to either be high in nutrients or include specific food groups if they are to get the Smart Choices logo. For example, a food should have at least 10 percent of the recommended daily value of any one of the following nutrients: calcium, potassium, fiber, magnesium or vitamin A, C or E. If a food is not high in any one nutrient, it may still qualify if it provides a half-serving of fruits, vegetables, whole grains or low-fat or fat-free dairy products.

MARKETING PLOY?

It remains to be seen whether the program will be used to promote whole foods, or twisted to market things like vitamin-fortified sugar-free gelatin as a health food equal to fresh fruit.

The rules, which are expected to take effect by the middle of next year, apparently are very loose regarding sugary cereals. That may mean cereals such as Frosted Flakes and Reese's Puffs could end up with the Smart Choices logo.

Concern about those rules prompted nutrition watchdog Michael Jacobson to resign from the Smart Choices coalition, according to several media reports. Jacobson leads the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. I called Jacobson to talk this over, but didn't reach him.

General Mills is among those planning to participate in the program, which company officials believe will benefit consumers.