Whatever you do, don’t call it a pie chart.

The Obama administration is about to ditch the food pyramid, that symbol of healthy eating for the past two decades. In its place officials are dishing up a simple, plate-shaped symbol, sliced into wedges for the basic food groups and half-filled with fruits and vegetables.

The circular plate, which will be unveiled Thursday, is meant to give consumers a fast, easily grasped reminder of the basics of a healthy diet. It consists of four colored sections, for fruits, vegetables, grains and protein, according to several people who have been briefed on the change. Beside the plate is a smaller circle for dairy, suggesting a glass of low-fat milk or perhaps a yogurt cup.

Few nutritionists will mourn the passing of the pyramid, which, while instantly recognized by millions of U.S. schoolchildren, parents and consumers, was derided by nutritionists as confusing and deeply flawed because it did not distinguish clearly between healthy foods like whole grains and fish and less healthy choices like white bread and bacon. A version of the pyramid currently appearing on cereal boxes, frozen dinners and other foods has been so streamlined and stripped of information that many people have no idea what it represents.

“It’s going to be hard not to do better than the current pyramid, which basically conveys no useful information,” said Walter Willett, chairman of the nutrition department at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Willettsaid he had not seen the new logo.

Pushing a new mantra

The new symbol was designed to underscore a central mantra of the federal government’s healthy eating push: Make half your plate fruits and vegetables. And it is expected to be a crucial element of the administration’s crusade against obesity, which is being led by the first lady, Michelle Obama.

“We need to get consumers’ attention,” said Robert Post, deputy director of the Department of Agriculture’s Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion.

He would not discuss details of the icon in advance of the official unveiling. But he said it was meant to be a “visual cue” that would prompt “consumers to say, ‘I need to be a little more concerned about what I choose to build a healthy day’s diet.’”

Some who have seen the logo compared it with a pie chart, although dessert is hardly the association that the administration would like to conjure up. Others likened it to a pizza cut into slices (equally unpalatable for officials).

One person said it called to mind a painting by Mark Rothko, an artist who was known for canvases with blocks of color. Those who had seen it would speak only on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized by the administration to discuss it.

Meant to educate

David Kessler, a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration who said he had heard descriptions of the new plate, suggested that if the symbol succeeded in getting people to eat significantly more fruits and vegetables, that alone would be an achievement.

“The reality is that very few of us eat like what has been suggested” in government guidelines, Kessler said. “There’s a world of difference between what’s being served and what’s on that plate.”

He called the plate a major improvement over the pyramid.

“It conveys the message simply in a way that we all can understand,” he said.

The plate symbol is meant to help educate consumers about the government’s latest dietary guidelines, which were released in January.

Post said the USDA had spent about $2 million to develop and promote the logo, including conducting research and focus groups and creating a website. Some of that money will also be used for the first year of a campaign to publicize the image.

He said the agency would use the plate to get across several basic nutritional messages, including urging consumers to eat smaller portions, switch to low-fat or fat-free milk and drink water instead of sugary drinks.

The food pyramid has a long and tangled history. Its original version showed a hierarchy of foods, with those that made up the largest portions of a recommended diet, like grains, fruit and vegetables, closest to the wide base.

Foods that were to be eaten in smaller quantities, like dairy and meat, were closer to the pyramid’s tapering top.

But the pyramid’s original release was held back over complaints from the meat and dairy industry that their products were being stigmatized. It was released with minor changes in 1992.