Food Industry to Obama: Don't Regulate Us

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Apr 09, 2010 at 18:54:14 PM PDT

The U.S. food industry is willing to let the White House take the lead on making foods healthier in schools, but said on Friday it could improve what is sold on store shelves without government intervention.

Recently, industry made a deal with public health groups that will give the government more say in what foods are sold in schools. They are clearly trying to stave off government regulation outside of the schools while simultaneously getting good press for themselves. See?

"They respect our ability to find ways to produce more products that offer consumers more choices including choices with less sodium, less sugar, less fat," said Faber [vice president of the Grocery Manufacturers Association].

The food industry group said its members improved the nutritional value of more than 10,000 products between 2002 and 2006 and plans in May to update that total to include changes through 2009.

A separate initiative called the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation -- which includes many GMA members -- will announce pledges to improve the health content of its products later this month.

But food manufacturers are businesses. Their goal is making money any way possible. In this case it serves them to make just enough changes to their products to maintain or even increase sales while keeping the government off their backs. And they aren't going to make truly healthy products. If that was a profitable thing to do, they would have done it already. What you can expect from this is more of the same - Whole Grain Chips Ahoy, Reduced Sodium Velveeta, etc.

Also, note the focus on weight (as opposed to health). The two are not synonymous. Industry wants to give us foods that can play into whatever diet fads are trendy (calorie counting, Atkins, South Beach, etc) without necessarily giving us foods that provide for good health. And, unfortunately, the methods our society often adopts to lose weight are not necessarily healthy and frequently don't even result in losing weight. In other words, packaged foods with 1/3 fewer calories or 20% less fat or whatever isn't going to help very much. The only thing it WILL accomplish, in fact, is to put off any government regulation of the food industry. And that's precisely industry's goal.

Junk Food Companies Make Tiny Changes, Get Good Press

by: Jill Richardson

Mon Mar 29, 2010 at 16:57:20 PM PDT

More below. (And for a lot more on this, I recommend reading Michele Simon's book Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back!)

American Beverage Association Lobbying

by: Jill Richardson

Sun Nov 08, 2009 at 21:42:08 PM PST

The 33 Healthiest Foods Aren't Sold By ADM or Kraft

by: Curtis Abbey

Mon May 25, 2009 at 15:43:45 PM PDT

Pineapple, Blueberries, Spinach, Red Bell Pepper, Broccoli, Tomato, Apple, Artichoke, Arugula, Asparagus, Avocado, Blackberries, Butternut Squash, Cantaloupe, Carrot, Cauliflower, Cherries, Cranberries, Green Cabbage, Kale, Kiwi, Mango, Mushrooms, Orange, Papaya, Plums & Prunes, Pomegranate, Pumpkin, Raspberries, Strawberries, Sweet Potato, Watermelon, and Banana.

Sampler Platter

by: Jill Richardson

Fri Apr 10, 2009 at 17:00:00 PM PDT

• Mars - as in the chocolate company - wants to buy more sustainable cocoa. Is this good news or greenwashing? I'm a skeptic.

• The First Lady plants the First Garden along with a class of 5th graders. We might be hearing reports of eating the First Salad in as little as two weeks! (A neat thing to note about the garden is that it has a "Thomas Jefferson" section inspired by Jefferson's estate, Monticello.)

• The Internet Food Association is ranting about Matzoh brei. I must admit, I grew up Jewish and never heard of Matzoh brei until college. So now, after a Bat Mitzvah and all of those years of Hebrew School and BBYO and eating Matzoh brei - am I officially Jewish? (To the goyim reading this, it's basically Matzoh French toast. And if you don't celebrate Passover, my recommendation is to just use a nice loaf of challah to make your French toast.)

• The Ethicurean points out a scary fact about human technology - we can nearly wipe out an entire species (like the Chilean Sea Bass) in only a few years. I hope nobody considers that an accomplishment.

• Pepsi/Frito Lay is now targeting products specifically to women. This bugs me! Please, ladies, don't be stupid enough to fall for cheap marketing tricks like this.

• Marion Nestle says that consumers like traffic light rating systems for food. Green means eat it, red means don't. As you can guess - food companies don't like this idea so much.

• Another cheap marketing stunt? Probiotic ice cream. Umm... don't we already have something like that called yogurt?

• Fascinating stats courtesy of Mark Bittman: When it comes to salmon, consumers are clueless.

• Interesting tidbit from Scientific American: Avoiding sugar is key to ending "senior moments".

• Ashley at U.S. Food Policy talks about Disney characters on egg cartons.