WASHINGTON (USA TODAY) The federal government is expected to propose new nutrition standards soon that could leave a bitter taste in the mouths of cranberry growers from Massachusetts to Wisconsin.

To address childhood obesity in America, an effort spurred by first lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" initiative, the Department of Agriculture is finalizing guidelines for what can be sold in school vending machines, stores and a la carte cafeteria lines. Sugar is widely viewed as a target, and sweetened beverages like cranberry juice cocktail could be deemed unhealthy.

That would be unfortunate and unfair, cranberry industry officials say, because the tart, deep red fruit is loaded with nutrients and health benefits. But for consumers to avail themselves of those benefits, cranberries must be sweetened.

"Cranberries can be sweetened with anything," said Linda Prehn, a cranberry grower in Tomah, Wis., citing apple juice as an example. "But you can't eat 'em raw. They're tough to eat straight up."

Prehn, chairman of United Cranberry Growers Cooperative, a collective of 85 growers in Massachusetts, Oregon and Wisconsin in the U.S. and New Brunswick and Quebec in Canada, was among cranberry industry honchos attending the recent inaugural meeting of the Congressional Cranberry Caucus on Capitol Hill.

Prehn and others are hoping the bipartisan caucus led by Reps. Reid Ribble, R-Wis., and Bill Keating, D-Mass., and Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Scott Brown, R-Mass., can help persuade agriculture officials to make an exception for cranberry products in its nutrition standards for added-sugar products.

"Given the beneficial and scientifically proven health properties of cranberries, we believe there is a need to establish clear standards that recognize cranberries as a part of a healthy diet," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "We ask that you consider including a variety of cranberry juice and dried cranberry products in USDA's food nutrition program so that children, seniors and adults served by these programs are not denied benefits unique to cranberries."

The lawmakers sent a similar letter to the first lady, pointing out cranberries "contribute to whole body health, particularly urinary tract health and the potential to fight cancer and other diseases."

At stake is exclusion from an estimated $2.3 billion school vending machine business and an image that could have a negative impact on the marketing of cranberry products worldwide, particularly cranberry juice cocktail, industry officials say.

"If we're put into a category that says these types of products are unhealthy, we think it would be inaccurate and unfair," said Tom Lochner, executive director of the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association. "Lumping us in with other beverages that don't have the health benefits associated with them that cranberries do is definitely going to affect our ability to sell cranberry products."

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Cranberry industry wary of upcoming nutrition standards