Category: Media Coverage
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Maddow Skewers PR Man and Lobbyist for Not Revealing Funding Sources
Rachel Maddow brought Rick Berman to her MSNBC-TV program on October 6, 2009, to find out how he funds the websites and other public relations initiatives he undertakes to challenge the science on issues ranging from trans fats and mercury in fish to high-fructose corn syrup. Berman claimed that his practice of nondisclosure, which is…
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Michael Moss, “E. Coli Path Shows Flaws in Beef Inspection,” The New York Times, October 4, 2009
One hundred three years after Upton Sinclair published his meatpacking industry exposé, The New York Times has published an article explaining how current food safety standards may be responsible for the 16 E. coli-tainted beef outbreaks that have occurred over the past three years. Revealing how failure to test all the scraps and trimmings and…
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Consumers Confused About “Natural” and “Organic” Food Labels
According to a recent Orlando Sentinel article, consumers do not understand the difference between food products labeled as “natural,” which, for the most part, is an unregulated term, and those labeled “organic,” which carries extensive government regulation and requires certification. Some food producers are apparently taking advantage of consumers’ mistaken belief that “natural” is a…
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Tara Parker-Pope, “Probiotics: Looking Underneath the Yogurt Label,” The New York Times, September 29, 2009
“Just as a doctor would prescribe different antibiotics for strep throat or tuberculosis, different probiotic species and strains confer different health benefits,” writes New York Times columnist Tara Parker-Pope in this article examining food-labeling claims that link Lactobacillus and other probiotic families to improved digestive health. According to Parker-Pope, some experts and scientific studies have suggested that…
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Rachel Maddow Takes Aim at Rick Berman and Center for Consumer Freedom
Noting that Washington, D.C.-based industry lobbyist Rick Berman will be on her MSNBC-TV program during the week of October 5, 2009, Rachel Maddow this week discussed the most recent campaign Berman’s Center for Consumer Freedom has undertaken on behalf of the producers of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Maddow showed viewers the clip of a new TV…
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Marion Nestle Discusses Sugar Policy with SFGate Readers
“Sugar is the most absurdly protected agricultural commodity in America,” according to health nutrition author and New York University Professor Marion Nestle, who answered reader questions about sugar policy during a September 20, 2009, online forum hosted by the San Francisco Chronicle’s website, SFGate.com. In explaining the so-called “sugar crisis,” Nestle stated that “Quotas allow…
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Slate Writers Challenge Effectiveness of Proposed “Fat Tax”
“It may take more than an analogy with tobacco to convince voters,” argues Daniel Engber in the first of two recent Slate articles questioning the effectiveness of a proposed federal tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and other “hyperpalatable” food products. Titled “Let Them Drink Water: What a Fat Tax Really Means for America,” the article asserts…
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William Neuman, “For Your Health, Froot Loops,” The New York Times, September 5, 2009
This article examines a new food-labeling campaign called the Smart Choices Program™, which uses the government dietary guidelines to identify “smarter food and beverage choices” for consumers. According to reporter William Neuman, the industry-backed system has apparently provoked the ire of some nutritionists who question the use of the green checkmark on “sugar-laden cereals like…