The NYT just ran an article called "While Warning About Fat, U.S. Pushes Cheese Sales." And oh yes it's true. As noted in the article, the USDA helped Dominoes Pizza increase sales... and increase the amount of cheese on the pizza. From the article:
Domino's Pizza was hurting early last year. Domestic sales had fallen, and a survey of big pizza chain customers left the company tied for the worst tasting pies.
Then help arrived from an organization called Dairy Management. It teamed up with Domino's to develop a new line of pizzas with 40 percent more cheese, and proceeded to devise and pay for a $12 million marketing campaign...
And Dairy Management, which has made cheese its cause, is not a private business consultant. It is a marketing creation of the United States Department of Agriculture - the same agency at the center of a federal anti-obesity drive that discourages over-consumption of some of the very foods Dairy Management is vigorously promoting.
Well, there's more. The article is worth reading in its entirety, but here are a few bits it doesn't tell you. Domino's also got help developing its "SmartSlice" pizza, which is formulated with whole wheat crust, low sodium toppings, and low fat mozzarella to sell in schools. AND Domino's is helping educators and students understand why pizza is a part of a healthy diet. Isn't that nice of them to educate kids about nutrition?
Along with the list of fast food chains mentioned in the NYT article, McDonald's is also a "customer" that gets USDA help in increasing the amount of dairy on its menu. (By the way, if you check my link above... it didn't require any investigative journalism for me to find this out... they're bragging about it.) |
