Med Mark — What Is It?

Med Mark is a new packaging symbol designed to help shoppers quickly identify healthy Mediterranean diet products in supermarkets. Please click here download the list of all products that carry the Med Mark.

Med Mark, a postage-stamp-sized packaging symbol, is dominated by an amphora, the pottery jug used for 3,000 years by all Mediterranean cultures to store and ship their foods and drinks. Med Mark will help shoppers rapidly identify the foods and drinks on supermarket shelves that are a part of the healthy traditional Mediterranean eating pattern.

The healthy traditional Mediterranean Diet – introduced by Oldways and colleagues from the Harvard School of Public Health and the World Health Organization in 1993 is consistently judged to be the gold standard in healthy eating. New confirming studies appear regularly in leading scientific journals, and this accumulation strengthens the overwhelming evidence supporting the healthfulness of the dietary pattern of the Mediterranean Diet. Most recently we’ve seen studies linking the Mediterranean Diet and decreased risk of illnesses such as lung disease and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as protection against allergies and asthma.

Oldways developed this new program specifically to help harried shoppers quickly identify healthy foods and drinks in their rush through the aisles and intersections of their supermarkets. Manufacturers whose food and drink products meet clear standards derived from the well-accepted definition of the traditional healthy Mediterranean diet can apply to Oldways for permission to license Med Mark. Med Mark will begin to appear on grocery shelves in late Summer 2007.