The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reportedly received “more than 30,000 comments” in response to its request for information about a petition filed by dairy-industry groups asking the agency to drop special labeling requirements for flavored milks that contain artificial sweeteners such as aspartame. The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) have asked FDA “to amend the standard of identity for flavored milk and 17 other dairy products (including nonfat dry milk, heavy cream, eggnog, half-and-half and sour cream) so that nonnutritive sweeteners are among the standard ingredients,” thus exempting the products from having to make nutrient content claims such as “reduced calorie” in a more prominent location. “If we granted the petition, a carton of chocolate milk made with nonnutritive sweeteners would simply say ‘chocolate milk,’ the same as a carton made with nutritive sweeteners, such as sugar,” said FDA Food Labeling…
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A proposal in the Obama Administration’s 2014 budget would prohibit the funding of horsemeat inspection, essentially eliminating the possibility that horse slaughter—which has reportedly been banned since 2006—will resume in the United States. Language in the budget specifies that no federal funds may be used to pay the “salaries or expenses of personnel” to inspect horses slaughtered for human consumption. A ban on horse slaughter has been in place since 2006, but a rider that prevented the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from financing the inspection of horsemeat expired in 2011. According to a news source, no horse slaughter facilities currently operate in the United States, but the USDA reportedly says it has recently received several applications to open slaughtering facilities. Animal and horse advocates claim that horse slaughter is cruel and poses serious food safety issues because horses are sometimes dosed with drugs that are allegedly harmful to humans.…
A recent study has reportedly claimed that “restricting larger-sized drinks may have the unintended consequence of increasing soda consumption rather than decreasing it.” Brent Wilson, et al., “Regulating the Way to Obesity: Unintended Consequences of Limiting Sugary Drink Sizes,” PLoS One, April 2013. Researchers apparently conducted a behavioral simulation in which 100 University of California, San Diego, students “were offered varying food and drink menus” that replaced larger drink offerings with bundles of smaller drinks. According to the study, the menus given to participants included: (i) an Unregulated menu offering 16-oz., 24-oz. or 32-oz. drinks for sale; (ii) a Bundle menu offering 16-oz. drinks, a bundle of two 12-oz. drinks, or a bundle of two 16-oz. drinks for sale; and (iii) a No Bundle menu offering only 16-oz. drinks for sale. The results evidently showed that participants bought “significantly more ounces of soda from the Bundle menu than from the…
A new study has purportedly linked a “Western-style” diet to a greater risk of premature death in middle-age adults. Tasnime Akbaraly, et al., “Does Overall Diet in Midlife Predict Future Aging Phenotypes? A Cohort Study,” American Journal of Medicine, May 2013. Using data from the British Whitehall II cohort study, researchers evidently examined the dietary patterns and adherence to the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI)—“a validated index of diet quality”—of 5,350 adults with a mean age of 51 years. After a 16-year followup that included screenings conducted every 5 years, the study’s authors apparently categorized participant outcomes into the following groups: (i) “ideal aging, defined as free of chronic conditions and high performance in physical, mental and cognitive functioning tests—4.0 percent”; (ii) “nonfatal cardiovascular event—12.7 percent”; (iii) “cardiovascular death—2.8 percent”; (iv) “noncardiovascular death—7.3 percent”; and (v) “normal aging—73.2 percent.” Based on these classifications, the study’s authors reported that subjects “with…
New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has reached agreements with several Fortune 500 companies, including Dr. Pepper Snapple group, to disclose their corporate political spending. The agreements apparently resolve shareholder resolutions that DiNapoli filed on behalf of the state’s pension fund, which holds more than 600,000 shares of Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, valued at some $26.1 million. DiNapoli stated, “Shareholders have a right to know how companies are using corporate money for political purposes. To date, eighteen companies have reached agreements with the New York State Common Retirement Fund to disclose their political spending—it’s time for more good corporate citizens to follow their lead.” Among the other companies that have reached similar agreements in past years are Yum! Brands Inc. and PepsiCo. Inc. See NYS Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli News Release, April 9, 2013.
In a Spring 2013 Breakthrough Institute paper, social policy research associate Helen Lee suggests that public health advocates have gone astray in modeling anti-obesity efforts on anti-tobacco efforts that have done little to address either overeating or smoking in any appreciable way. Titled “The Making of the Obesity Epidemic: How Food Activism Led Public Health Astray,” the paper argues that research does not support a link between obesity and increased mortality, unless the obese are also poor and lack access to adequate health care. In fact, Lee notes that mortality from diabetes and cardiovascular disease, often associated with excess weight, has decreased significantly because these diseases are treatable. Lee believes that “embracing obesity strategies that reinforce the notion that the poor are victims of an environment that is rigged against them” will not help them in the long run and that the better strategy would be to focus on “policy…
Harvard School of Public Health Chair of Nutrition Walter Willett recently published an editorial in BMJ, urging policy makers to consider a range of strategies to curb obesity rates and thereby reduce the incidence of diabetes and cardiovascular mortality. The April 9, 2013, editorial responds to a study concluding that population-wide weight loss in Cuba between 1980 and 2010 “was accompanied by diabetes mortality falling by half and mortality from coronary heart disease falling by a third,” while a rebound in body weight “was associated with an increased diabetes incidence and mortality, and a deceleration of the decline in mortality from coronary heart disease.” Manuel Franco, et al., “Population-wide weight loss and regain in relation to diabetes burden and cardiovascular mortality in Cuba 1980-2010: repeated cross sectional surveys and ecological comparison of secular trends,” BMJ, April 2013. “The current findings add powerful evidence that a reduction in overweight and obesity…
According to an Environmental Working Group (EWG) analysis, more than one-half of meat and poultry samples tested in 2011 contained antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Using findings from the federal government’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System, the report asserts that “store-bought meat tested in 2011 contained antibiotic-resistant bacteria in 81 percent of raw ground turkey, 69 percent of raw pork chops, 55 percent of raw ground beef and 39 percent of raw chicken parts.” “Consumers should be very concerned that antibiotic-resistant bacteria are now common in the meat aisles of most American supermarkets,” said EWG nutritionist Dawn Undurraga. “These organisms can cause foodborne illnesses and other infections. Worse, they spread antibiotic-resistance, which threatens to bring on a post-antibiotic era where important medicines critical to treating people could become ineffective.” See EWG News Release, April 15, 2013.
Vermont Attorney General (AG) Bill Sorrell will reportedly join other state AGs for a conference on “the current state of food industry marketing to kids,” scheduled for May 2013 at Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity. After introducing a Dartmouth College pediatrics professor to the Vermont House Committee on Health Care to address youth marketing by the food industry, Sorrell noted that the state AGs will consider “labeling, advertisements and the like, and look at what, under existing authority, we might be able to do, and how we might be in a position to espouse change within our state legislatures.” Sorrell was able to insert a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages into legislation pending before the committee in March, fulfilling a recommendation in an obesity report issued by his office in 2010. According to Sorrell, “The food industry marketing to kids these nonnutritious, high-sugar and fat content fast-food…
According to a news source, a Michigan state court has approved a settlement of claims that a McDonald’s franchisee falsely advertised some of its chicken products as halal, or prepared in accordance with Muslim dietary restrictions. Ahmed v. Finley’s Mgmt. Co., No. 11-014559-CZ (Mich. Cir. Ct., Wayne Cty., settlement approved April 17, 2013). The settlement was approved despite objections that the $700,000 settlement fund would be unfairly distributed, for the most part, to two charities without compensating those harmed by the purported fraud. Additional information about the litigation appears in issues 468, 471, 473, and 475 of this Update. The attorney who was a member of the class, posted objections to the settlement on his Facebook® page and successfully defeated a gag order imposed by the court has reportedly indicated that he does not plan to appeal after plaintiffs’ counsel assured him that some of their $233,000 in fees would…
