“Soda and other sugary drinks are popping up on city and state dockets across the nation, as lawmakers attempt to curb America’s consumption of certain beverages,” writes Time reporter Katy Steinmetz in this February 20, 2014, article summarizing recent campaigns to limit sales of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and energy drinks while raising revenue for government-backed health initiatives. In addition to San Francisco’s efforts to impose a SSB tax, Steinmetz notes similar proposals under consideration in Illinois and Berkeley, California, as well as attempts by Maryland and Los Angeles legislators to impose age restrictions on energy drink purchases. According to the article, San Francisco’s latest measure has garnered broad support from the city’s board of supervisors, “effectively guaranteeing that it will be on the ballot,” where it will need to gain approval from two-thirds of voters. But opponents of SSB taxation and the age restrictions on energy drinks have claimed that…
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Contributors to a recent New York Times “Room for Debate” column have urged CVS Caremark Corp. to stop selling soda, energy drinks and high-calorie snacks in the wake of its decision to discontinue the sale of tobacco products. Noting in her debate response that “food is not tobacco,” New York University Nutrition Professor Marion Nestle nevertheless encourages the retailer to increase its sales of fruits, vegetables and healthy snacks while decreasing the availability of items like soda, ice cream and chips. “If CVS wants to counter obesity,” she opines, “dropping soft drinks is a good place to start. They have scads of sugars, and kids who drink them regularly take in more calories, are fatter and have worse diets than kids who do not.” In addition, a senior scientist at the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions calls on CVS pharmacies to prohibit the sale of caffeinated energy drinks…
According to Politico.com, an attorney who formerly represented cigarette manufacturers and served as in-house counsel for a major food company has written to the attorneys general (AGs) of 16 states seeking to interest them in bringing a lawsuit against “big food” to recover the financial Medicaid burdens associated with treating obesity-related diseases. Similar to AG efforts in the 1990s that culminated in a $246 billion tobacco industry settlement with 46 states, this initiative has its naysayers and supporters. A former AG, now directing Columbia Law School’s National State Attorneys General Program, claimed that the proposal will not gain traction because “[t]he food industry doesn’t deny that eating lots of food causes obesity.” On the other hand, Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy Dean Kelly Brownell said, “I don’t think it’s far-fetched at all. It’s probably not something that will happen immediately, but I don’t think it’s that far off.”…
A recent article published in Wired magazine has highlighted how Monsanto Co. is using its experience with transgenic crops “to create vegetables that have all the advantages of genetically modified organisms [GMOs] without any of the Frankenfoods ick factor.” According to author Ben Paynter, the agribusiness company has started investing in its own “novel strains of familiar food crops, invented at Monsanto and endowed by their creators with powers and abilities far beyond what you usually see in the produce section.” To this end, Paynter recounts how Monsanto scientists have extended the shelf-life of lettuce, created sweeter melons and endowed broccoli with three times the usual amount of glucoraphanin using techniques such as genetic marking as well as powerful computer models to accelerate the “good old-fashioned crossbreeding” process. “Monsanto computer models can actually predict inheritance patterns, meaning they can tell which desired traits will successfully be passed on,” explains Paynter.…
New York Times op-ed writer Mark Bittman has authored a commentary urging the federal government to adopt policies and incentives to benefit growers and consumers “with products that [are] less damaging to the environment and public health.” Focusing on three broad food categories—“industrially produced animal products,” “junk food” and “real food”—Bittman explains how certain policies can either promote their production and consumption or restrict their use, much as tobacco-control policies have changed over time and affected production, sale and use patterns. While acknowledging that such changes can be disruptive and that certain sectors can be harmed by new agricultural policy, Bittman claims that government action is more effective than efforts to change the industry and is desirable in the long run. “We can pressure corporations all we want, and what we’ll get, mostly, is healthier junk food. Really, though, as long as sugar is profitable and 100 percent unrestricted (and…
A recent New York Times article highlights how groups such as the Center for Science in the Public Interest as well as individual consumers have harnessed the power of social media to bring their concerns directly to food companies. Titled “Social Media as a Megaphone to Pressure the Food Industry,” the article describes several instances in which consumer-backed petitions circulated on Facebook, Twitter or other platforms have purportedly influenced food company policies, resulting in product reformulations or labeling changes. Speaking with one spokesperson for Kraft Foods Group, Times writer Stephanie Strohm specifically notes that one of the challenges facing companies “when confronted by consumers demanding change is getting them to understand how complicated that change can be ... Food companies must work with suppliers to determine what’s possible, then supplies have to make the new ingredient in bulk.” These changes can also involve regulators if replacement ingredients require approval for…
The public radio program Here and Now recently asked Corby Kummer, a food writer and senior editor for The Atlantic, whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) move to revoke the generally recognized as safe (GRAS) status for trans fat lays the groundwork for the agency to take a similar action against the use of added sugar in beverages and other products. During the November 18, 2013, interview, Kummer highlighted the history of the movement to prohibit trans fat, linking local restrictions such as those implemented by New York City to the growing public awareness that trans fats “were harmful at any level.” “I think it’s going to be a model for the way soda consumption can be limited in the public, which we certainly need to do,” explained Kummer. “It took a long time for scientific consensus to build. And at the beginning, the industry mercilessly exploited any trace…
According to New York Times food commentator Mark Bittman, Beyoncé Knowles has joined a list of celebrities who have entered endorsement deals for products “that may one day be ranked with cigarettes as a killer.” The singer has apparently agreed to “have the Pepsi logo painted on her lips and have a limited-edition Pepsi can bearing her likeness.” She will also be seen during the “Pepsi Super Bowl halftime show, where she’ll be introduced by 50 of her luckiest and best-gyrating fans who have been selected through a contest.” In his article titled “Why Do Stars Think It’s O.K. To Sell Soda?,” Bittman notes that Knowles supported first lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign by stating that she was “excited to be part of this effort that addresses a public health crisis,” but has now “become part of an effort that promotes a public health crisis.” He observes that product…
“A curious hurdle is threatening to complicate efforts by the United States to reach a major trade agreement with 11 Pacific nations by the end of the year: catfish,” reports New York Times writer Ron Nixon in a November 13, 2013, article describing how the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) new catfish inspection program has angered Vietnam, a member of the TransPacific Partnership and a major exporter of a catfish known as pangasius. Vietnamese trade officials have apparently written to Secretary of State John Kerry, the White House and Congress, criticizing the new inspection program as a trade barrier in disguise. “And it’s not even a good disguise; it’s clearly a thinly veiled attempt designed to keep out fish from countries like Vietnam,” Le Chi Dzung, the chief economic officer of the Vietnamese Embassy in Washington, D.C., told the Times. Intended to replace the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) catfish…
According to Wall Street Journal reporter Mike Esterl, products with the “natural” or “all natural” label represented $40 billion in retail sales in the United States in the preceding 12 months and market researchers have found that more than 50 percent of Americans seek the “all natural” label when they shop for food. Still, food and beverage companies have begun “quietly removing” these words from their product labels under pressure from dozens of lawsuits filed during the past two years challenging the terminology as false and deceptive. Esterl notes that the litigation is complicated due to the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) decision not to define the terms. He observes that courts have, in recent months, stayed several of these lawsuits and referred questions to FDA about whether the “natural” designation can be used on products containing genetically modified (GM) ingredients. Details about the latest referral by a federal court…
