Dang, just when I thought I was getting the go-ahead to feed my kids Froot Loops for breakfast.

A new nutrition-labeling program designed to help consumers make "smart," healthful choices at the supermarket is coming under fire for its questionable endorsements of foods including cereals such Froot Loops, Cocoa Puffs, and Frosted Flakes, and pre-packaged Bagel-Fuls, Kid Cuisine, and Lunchables.

The Smart Choices marketing campaign, rolled out last month -- just in time for back-to-school -- "was developed by a diverse group of scientists, academicians, health and nutrition specialists and food industry experts," according to the Smart Choices Web site. The program is administered by the American Society of Nutrition and NSF International, a nonprofit public health organization, which evaluate the products selected as "Smart Choice" options.

Smart Choices came up with 19 product categories, from beverages to chewing gum, from cheeses and cheese substitutes to meals and meal replacements, from bread, grains, pastas and flours to snack foods and sweets. The goal was to promote foods within these categories that are low in trans and saturated fats, cholesterol, sugars, and sodium, and that contain healthful ingredients such as whole grains. More than 800 products have received the seal of approval, recognizable by a big green check mark on the front label of the anointed foods.

That check, according to the Smart Choices Web site, provides "at-a-glance assurance that a product has met strict science-based nutrition criteria derived from the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, reports from the Institute of Medicine and other sources of authoritative nutrition guidance."

Good to know that Fudgsicles and SlimFast Rich Chocolate Royale Shake (low in fat!) are considered healthful food choices. Apparently cereals such as Froot Loops also fit the bill because they contain added fiber, vitamins, and minerals, and -- miraculously --squeak by under the recommended sugar limit.

Actually, the endorsements make perfect sense, considering who is behind the campaign: 14 big food manufacturers, including ConAgra, General Mills, Kellogg, Kraft, PepsiCo, and Tysons Foods, among others. The companies together paid $1.47 million to finance the program, according to a story on Forbes.com.

Members of Smart Choice's board of directors include representatives from Kellogg, General Mills, Kraft, and Unilever, and (distressingly), nutrition experts such as Dr. Eileen T. Kennedy, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University, who is president of the Smart Choices board; Dr. Dennis Bier, a professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine; and Richard Kahn, Ph.D, the former chief scientific and medical officer for the American Diabetic Association.

Dr. Kennedy defended the program in an article in the New York Times, telling the paper: "You're rushing around, you're trying to think about healthy eating for your kids and you have a choice between a doughnut and a cereal. So Froot Loops is a better choice." (Which is how the program came to be dubbed the "better than a donut" program by critics.)

Is it really a better choice? Hard to say. Both Froot Loops and a Dunkin glazed doughnut have a long list of ingredients, which you can read for yourself here and here. However, the first ingredient listed in a Dunkin Donut glazed doughnut is enriched flour, while the first ingredient listed on a box of Froot Loops is sugar. To be fair, the first ingredient listed in the glaze for the Dunkin donut is sugar.

All I know is that the one time my son was given Froot Loops, as a toddler in day care, it turned his poop all sorts of weird colors and had me in a panic until I realized what the cause was.

In August, the Food and Drug Administration wrote a letter to Smart Choices, voicing concern that the program could potentially encourage consumers to choose highly processed foods over whole foods (like apples or bananas) and whole grains. I pulled the letter off the Web site of Dr. Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University, who has been instrumental in bringing attention to the shortcomings in the Smart Choices campaign.

Smart Choices has in turn defended the program, stating, among other things, that "pre-sweetened cereals have been demonstrated to be a good source of vitamins and minerals for children. Studies around the globe have consistently shown that kids who eat breakfast have more physical and mental energy than those who do not."

Whatever. Will somebody please pass the doughnuts?