Healthier profits

Miss Markley said that while Pepsico is willing to work with the FTC, the effort to add healthier products to its portfolio is not driven by fear of greater regulation.

“I don’t believe that,” she said, adding that the healthier products combine business interests with the public interest. “There’s a committed effort to provide products that can contribute to healthier lifestyles.”

Kraft, maker of Kool-Aid and Velveeta cheese, has started selling a Sensible Solution line of more than 500 products with a green flag to alert shoppers that it has a nutrient such as protein, calcium or fiber, or that it has lower levels of fat, sugar or sodium than the regular versions of the product. Kraft says the standards differ from category to category.

And that’s part of the problem, Miss Wootan said, arguing for more uniformity in the industry standards. Self-regulation so far has been inadequate, she added.

“How is a parent supposed to look into and do research on nutrition criteria for each one?” she said.

Pepsico, Kraft, Kellogg and McDonald’s are among 11 companies that have banded together to self-regulate their advertising to children and minimize government interference.

The others are Cadbury Schweppes USA; Campbell Soup Co.; Coca-Cola Co.; General Mills Inc.; Hershey Co.; Unilever, maker of SlimFast and Country Crock; and Masterfoods USA, maker of Snickers, M&Ms; and Skittles. Announcements from several of those companies on ad policy changes are expected soon, said Linda Bean, a spokeswoman for the group.

“There’s a major confrontation that’s going to come up between the health industry and the food industry and that’s what we’re seeing,” Cornell’s Mr. Levitsky said.