The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) and Food Marketing Institute (FMI) have unveiled plans to create a front-of-package (FOP) labeling system that aims to “inform consumers and combat obesity.” According to an October 27, 2010, joint press release, the FOP system will display “important information on calories and other nutrients to limit . . . in a fact-based, simple and easy-to-use format.” The two industry groups have also pledged to consult stakeholders as they work to finalize the system and “provide consumers with information on nutrients needed to build a ‘nutrient-dense’ diet and on ‘shortfall nutrients’ that are under-consumed in the diets of most Americans.” The announcement followed the release of an Institute of Medicine report calling for FOP labels that highlight the nutrients of greatest concern to consumers—calories, saturated fats, trans fat, and sodium—as well as serving size. Co-sponsored by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Phase 1 report…
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Green Century Capital Management, an investment advisory firm focused on environmentally responsible companies, and As You Sow, an advocacy group that promotes corporate accountability, have issued a 2010 report that ranks packaged food companies on their efforts to address bisphenol A (BPA). Building on a previous effort published in April 2009, Seeking Safer Packaging 2010 seeks to analyze “how companies are responding to this critical issue by disclosing information, exploring substitutes and committing to phase out BPA.” The findings apparently indicate “that notable progress has been made toward commercializing substitutes to BPA epoxy can linings,” with the “overwhelming majority” of the 26 survey respondents acknowledging “some efforts” to mitigate potential risks. The report notes, however, that outside some industry leaders, “some of the largest companies are the biggest laggards in seeking substitutes to and phasing out BPA.” According to the authors, “New scientific and investigative reports on the potential health…
Corporate Accountability International Deputy Director Leslie Samuelrich contends in a recent AlterNet article that fast food companies “spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year marketing a dangerous product to America’s children.” She claims the companies deny putting children at risk and, instead, blame parents for their children’s obesity problems. According to Samuelrich, nonprofits and government agencies that promote healthy eating habits are not engaged in a “fair fight” with the industry, noting for example that the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation spends $100 million annually to address childhood obesity, while “major food and beverage corporations spend at least $1.6 billion in the United States every year—16 times more—to convince kids to eat unhealthy food.” Corporate Accountability International, describing itself as a corporate watchdog, says that it has been “waging winning campaigns to challenge corporate abuse for more than 30 years.” It has conducted campaigns against the tobacco industry, publishing materials…
The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has announced the pending eradication of a fatal cattle virus known as rinderpest, hailing the achievement as “the first time in history that humankind has succeeded in wiping out an animal disease in the wild, and only the second time, after smallpox in 1980, that a disease has been eliminated thanks to human efforts.” According to FAO, the global disease “does not affect humans directly, but its ability to cause swift, massive losses of cattle and other hoofed animals has led to devastating effects on agriculture for millennia, leaving famine and economic devastation in its wake.” Reporting that the last known rinderpest outbreak occurred in 2001 in Kenya, FAO attributed its success to the Global Rinderpest Eradication Program (GREP) launched in 1994. GREP led partnerships with international and domestic agencies that aimed to characterize the disease, promote vaccination and coordinate eradication campaigns. With the…
New York University Professor Marion Nestle has commented on an October 5, 2010, USA Today article that highlights the efforts of alcoholic beverage manufacturers to make financial contributions to breast cancer research efforts. According to USA Today, “Both the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute say even moderate drinking increases breast cancer risk,” but some companies have reportedly started “pink” product campaigns to raise money for research. The purported conflict of interest has led the Breast Cancer Network for Strength and other advocacy groups to consider refusing donations tied to alcohol sales. USA Today cites Dwight Burlingame, associate executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, as saying that “cause-related marketing is not about charity,” but rather serves as a product promotion. At least one beverage manufacturer, however, has disputed that interpretation, noting that its campaign honors an employee who lost her life to breast cancer and…
The Children’s Environmental Health Institute will conduct its “Sixth Biennial Scientific Symposium” on October 21-22, 2010, in Houston, Texas; the focus this year is “Prenatal & Early Life Exposures: How Environmental Toxins Affect the Course of Childhood.” The symposium will include sessions on “Improving Access to and Consumption of Healthy, Safe, and Affordable Food for Children and Families” and “Becoming Change Agents for Access to and Consumption of Healthy, Safe, Affordable and Accessible Food.” Among other matters, conference participants will “discover strategies for childhood obesity prevention efforts that have been implemented by local governments.” The symposium will also include a session on corporate best practices and responsible investing to prevent purported environmental health risks.
The New York Times reports that three-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador is blaming a steak he ate on a rest day during the race for a drug test positive for clenbuterol. Experts have indicated that the small amount to which he could have been exposed would not have boosted his performance; the drug is apparently sometimes given to cattle illegally to speed up growth and increase muscle mass. The amount of clenbuterol found in Contador’s samples was apparently very small, and the contaminated meat theory has been given considerable credence. Meanwhile, the Spanish cyclist has been provisionally suspended until race authorities determine whether he was using the drug. See The New York Times, September 30, 2010.
The Institute of Medicine’s (IOM’s) Food and Nutrition Board recently launched a new activity titled “Accelerating Progress in Obesity Prevention,” which aims to review IOM’s obesity-prevention strategies and make further recommendations. Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, an ad hoc committee of academic, industry and scientific experts will undertake a 21-month study intended for regulators, policy makers, foundations, and community-based organizations, and other health professionals. During this process, the committee will (i) consider the progress of previous IOM recommendations, using “available reports, articles, analyses, surveys, legislation and regulations, ‘report cards’, and other relevant literature”; (ii) “develop guiding principles for choosing a set of recommendations”; (iii) “identify a set of recommendations that the committee determines to be fundamental for substantial progress in obesity prevention over the next decade”; and (iv) “recommend potential indicators that can act as markers of progress and that can be readily evaluated through the use of current…
The Yale Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity has released a fall 2010 paper highlighting obesity prevention policies with “the potential for the greatest impact.” The center’s recommendations relate to preschools and schools, consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, marketing to children, weight bias, food deserts, and ongoing surveillance of these efforts. Among other guidelines, the paper urges legislators, regulators and other public health officials to (i) prohibit the sale of sugar-sweetened beverages and whole milk in preschools; (ii) restrict school sales of competitive foods to those which meet standards set by the Institute of Medicine, as opposed to the federal government; (iii) raise the cost of sugar-sweetened beverages by 10 to 20 percent; (iv) remove materials with branded foods from schools, preschools and all government properties frequented by children; and (v) require children’s meals to meet nutritional standards if they include incentives. According to the Rudd Center, “All of these strategies…
The National Institute for Animal Agriculture (NIAA) and the U.S. Animal Health Association (USAHA) have prepared a white paper based on the Joint Strategy Forum on Animal Disease Traceability held August 30-31, 2010, in Denver, Colorado. Responding to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) “new, flexible framework for animal disease traceability,” the forum reportedly included attendees from 43 states, four tribes, 33 state health agencies, 38 industry organizations, eight universities, and 34 food producers and companies. It focused on the Traceability Regulation Working Group’s preliminary directions “in the areas of official identification, exemptions, performance standards, compliance components, recordkeeping requirements, and proposed timelines.” According to a September 10, 2010, press release, the paper specifically covers forum discussions related to (i) “the inclusion of identifying feeder cattle after a workable system is in place for adult cattle”; (ii) “the use and relevance of ‘Brite’ tags, back tags and brands”; (iii) “reasonable timelines…
