For people trying to manage their blood sugar, this can make interpreting nutritional labels a little tricky.
The logo would have appeared alongside a separate set of nutritional labels that are being phased in on British food packaging.
He is credited by lawmakers like Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, with helping to bring about federal legislation requiring nutritional labels in the early 1990's.
His studies of the relationship of salt to blood pressure were instrumental in Congress's passing a law on placing information on nutritional labels.
There are no nutritional labels on these foods in supermarkets, but the packaging should note whether salt water has been added.
Consumers are demanding a universal, single front-of-pack labelling scheme for food and drink products, according to research that shows they find the different nutritional labels used by manufacturers and retailers confusing and difficult to understand.
The Smart Choices checkmark is meant to take the place of similar nutritional labels that individual manufacturers began plastering on their packages several years ago, like PepsiCo's Smart Choices Made Easy and Sensible Solution from Kraft.
All the main supermarket chains and some of the biggest producers of snack foods, such as PepsiCo and Nestlé, have agreed with ministers to use front-of-pack nutritional labels coloured red, amber or green on some or all of their products in an effort to make it easier for consumers to choose healthier options.
When it analysed 275 big-name breakfast cereals from leading manufacturers on sale in UK supermarkets in 2006 it found that 75percentnt of them had high levels of sugar, while almost a fifth had high levels of salt, according to criteria drawn up by the food standards agency for its traffic light nutritional labels.
Campaigning in New Hampshire for the Democratic presidential nomination, he also said the government should create standards for food sold in public schools and for new nutritional labels to appear on food products and on menus and wrappers at national chain restaurants.
The two corporate executives were sitting in the East Room of the White House watching the first lady unveil the most radical overhaul of nutritional labels in 20 years and could be overheard comparing two versions: one which emphasised even more than the other just how unhealthy processed food can be.
