Retailers and food manufacturers in the U.S. launched a national effort on Monday aimed at helping to reduce obesity, especially in children, by 2015.

More than 40 retailers and companies aim to encourage consumers in the marketplace, at work and in school to achieve a healthy weight.

The project is focused on helping children and adults achieve better energy balance between calories taken in from a healthy diet and calories that go out from physical activity, said David Mackay, president and chief executive officer of Kellogg Company, and chairman of the board of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation.

Members have so far committed $20 million US to raise awareness about the importance of this balance, particularly among children aged six to 11 and their parents and caregivers, including a national public education campaign that is set to launch soon.

The three parts of the campaign include:

• Marketplace: Product changes, smaller portions, redesigned packaging and labels, placing calorie information on the front of packages, providing consumers with information, and in-store promotion of the project.
• Workplace: Calorie information and healthier options in cafeterias and vending machines, access to exercise and weight management programs at work, implementing health-risk appraisals to track performance.
• Schools: Expanding a program that integrates nutrition education and physical education through a school-based curriculum to help children develop lifelong healthy habits.

Some of the companies participating include Campbell Soup Company, ConAgra Foods, General Mills, Kraft Foods, Nestlé USA, PepsiCo, Sara Lee, Coca-Cola, Hershey and Unilever.

The project is currently focused on the U.S., said Scott Openshaw, director of communications for the Washington, D.C.-based Grocery Manufacturers Association.

In 2007, many of these companies also pledged to use half of their advertising funds to promote healthy eating and active living among children in Canada.