Category: Issue 527
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Bittman Cites Research on Corporate Involvement in Addressing Obesity
New York Times op-ed writer Mark Bittman, in a column titled “Parasites, Killing Their Host,” considers how “‘Big Food’ is unwittingly destroying its own market. Diet-related Type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease disable and kill people, and undoubtedly we’ll be hearing more about nonalcoholic steatophepatitis, or NASH, an increasingly prevalent fatty liver disease that’s brought…
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Consumer Goods Forum Pledges Changes in Food Advertising to Children and Nutrition Labeling
A consortium of more than 400 food manufacturers and retailers, the Consumer Goods Forum, has built on a 2011 pledge to clarify nutrition labeling and to advertise only those products fulfilling specific nutritional criteria to children younger than 12. The new pledge further defined the goals by setting deadlines; both reforms are to be completed…
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Five Guys’ “Kosher Style” Hot Dog May Violate Washington Law, Blogger Argues
The sale of hot dogs described as “Kosher Style” by Five Guys Enterprises LLC may violate a Washington state law that describes what food products may be labeled kosher, according to a blogger for George Washington Law Professor Jonathan Turley’s blog. Darren Smith, a former deputy sheriff in Washington, writes that Five Guys advertises one…
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New Report Claims Industry and Government Promote “Dairy Junk Foods”
Public Health attorney and author Michele Simon has issued a report titled “Whitewashed: How Industry and Government Promote Dairy Junk Foods.” According to Simon, dairy foods have gotten “a pass” as the public health community focuses on “obvious culprits such as soft drinks and fast food” to address the nation’s “public health epidemic due to…
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SSB Playbook Calls for Multi-Pronged Public Health Approach
During the second National Soda Summit held in Washington, D.C., in early June 2014, ChangeLab Solutions, which has been active in tobacco control, presented a “Sugar-Sweetened Beverages [SSB] Playbook” calling for a public information campaign that would include telling consumers “you’re drinking 16 packs of sugar in that cola.” Other “playbook strategies” include a progression of…
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Consumer Reports Launches Campaign to Ban “Natural”
Monthly magazine Consumer Reports has started a campaign to rid food labels of the word “natural” following a survey that found significant confusion over the term’s meaning. The Consumer Reports National Research Center, which conducts the research published in the magazine, conducted a phone survey of 1,000 people and asked them about their understanding of…
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Court Denies Black Farmers’ Intervention in Female & Hispanic Discrimination Suits
A federal court in the District of Columbia has denied the request of the Black Farmers & Agriculturalists Association, Inc. to intervene in lawsuits brought by female and Hispanic farmers against the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) alleging gender and race bias in the administration of farm loan and disaster benefit programs. Love v. Vilsack,…
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FSIS Previews July 2014 Codex Alimentarius Commission Activities
In advance of the July 14-18, 2014, 37th Session of the Codex Alimentarius Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has published a notice soliciting public comments to inform U.S. positions on various proposed commission standard-setting actions. No deadline for submitting comments has been specified. FSIS is…