WASHINGTON — Approximately 500 products from many of the nation’s top brands, including ConAgra Foods, Inc., General Mills, Inc., The Kellogg Co. and Unilever, now feature the Smart Choices nutrition labeling system. By May 2010, that number is expected to grow to more than 1,200.

Smart Choices includes a symbol that identifies more nutritious choices within specific product categories and provides calorie information that identifies calories per serving and servings per container on front-of-pack. The goal of the program is to help consumers stay within their daily calorie needs.

The Keystone Center, Keystone, Colo., a non-profit organization that helps create consensus solutions to public health programs, helped develop the program beginning with a meeting in January 2007. This past June, NSF International and the American Society for Nutrition (A.S.N.) announced they will work together to administer the Smart Choices Program by providing both scientific and technical expertise to a board of directors comprised of non-profit, scientific and industry representatives.

For more information on the program, visit www.smartchoicesprogram.com.