According to the National Advertising Division of the Council of Better Business Bureaus (BBB), Wrigley should modify or discontinue some of the claims it makes for its Eclipse® brand chewing gum. Following a challenge by Cadbury Adams USA, which makes competing products, the BBB’s advertising division examined Wrigley claims that its gum “kills germs and cures bad breath.” The division determined that such claims “convey the message that Eclipse with MBE [magnolia bark extract] is different from other gums based on its germ killing capabilities which is attributable to the addition of MBE.” Because scientific studies did not provide the support necessary to substantiate the claims due to purported methodological flaws, the division “recommended that the print advertising and packaging claims be discontinued or modified to indicate that there is emerging evidence as to MBE’s germ killing capability without expressly or by implication communicating that there is credible scientific evidence…
Category Archives Other Developments
The U.S. Food Policy blog has posted a response to the announcement that Disney Food, Health & Beauty would begin marketing a line of “farm fresh” eggs branded with a rotating cast of cartoon characters. According to Disney Food, the available products will include Large, Extra Large, 18-pack Large, Disney Cage Free, and Disney Organic eggs, all produced by hens raised without hormones, steroids or antibiotics and fed Eggland’s Best patented feed containing “healthy grains, canola oil, and an all-natural supplement of rice bran, alfalfa, sea kelp, and vitamin E.” But the marketing plan has drawn criticism from one blog contributor, who blamed the egg supplier for furthering “the agrarian myth that people’s food is coming from an idealistic farm with a red barn” and who questioned the motives behind Disney’s foray into food marketing. “I side with Marion Nestle on the point that kids don’t need special ‘kid-friendly’ foods…
Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC) has launched a letter-writing initiative to dissuade Burger King from using a “highly sexualized” television commercial to advertise its 99-cent SpongeBob Kids Meal. According to CCFC, the ad features Burger King’s mascot “singing a remix of Sir Mix-A-Lot’s 1990 hit song, ‘Baby Got Back,’ with the new lyrics, ‘I like square butts and I cannot lie,” intercut with images of Nickelodeon’s popular cartoon character dancing on a TV screen in the background. The consumer watchdog has also criticized Burger King for airing the commercial during the NCAA basketball finals. “It’s bad enough when companies use a beloved media character like SpongeBob to promote junk food to children, but it’s utterly reprehensible when that character simultaneously promotes objectified, sexualized images of women,” CCFC Director Susan Linn was quoted as saying. “That Burger King and Nickelodeon would sell kids meals by associating a beloved, male character…
The Farm Foundation recently hosted a public forum titled “The Future of Food Safety Regulation” to discuss agricultural, food and rural policies designed to revamp the current regulatory system. Held April 7, 2009, at the National Press Club, the forum featured a panel of experts that included Jim Hodges of the American Meat Institute, Carol Tucker Foreman of the Consumer Federation of America’s Food Policy Institute; Scott Horsfall of the California Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement; and Margaret Glavin, an independent consultant and former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official. Glavin reportedly identified the global food market as “the single biggest challenge” facing U.S. agencies and recommended modernizing laws to promote a uniform approach to food safety. Noting the high cost of legislative proposals that would create one umbrella agency, Glavin instead argued for increased FDA funding and the authority to enforce import requirements and conduct overseas inspections. “Our regulations and…
Investigative reporter Andrew Schneider has published an item on his blog about “popcorn lung” problems faced by workers in other industries, such as candy manufacturing, exposed to diacetyl, a butter-flavoring chemical. According to Schneider, five patients diagnosed with the sometimes-fatal lung disease worked at a now closed Brach’s candy plant in Chicago. While federal occupational health and safety inspectors cannot investigate conditions in a closed facility, International Brotherhood of Teamster’s officials are reportedly calling on them to inspect candy plants in Tennessee. The union is apparently concerned that workers outside the popcorn industry are also being exposed to disabling levels of diacetyl and are not aware of it. Schneider also reports that a trial against flavoring manufacturers began on April 6, 2009, for claims involving a woman who allegedly developed bronchiolitis obliterans while working at a plant that produced popular brands of popcorn. A physician who was expected to be…
In response to a shareholder resolution, McDonald’s Corp. this week reportedly agreed to take preliminary steps to reduce pesticide use in its domestic potato supply. According to a news source, the fast-food chain will survey its U.S. potato suppliers, compile a list of best practices in pesticide-use reduction and recommend those practices to global suppliers. The results, to be shared with investors, will be included in the company’s annual corporate social responsibility report. McDonald’s is the largest purchaser of potatoes in the United States and said in a statement that the process would support ongoing efforts to make its supply chain sustainable. “Our U.S. potato suppliers are already working with their growers to advance sustainable pesticide practices, such as reductions and alternative methods.” See Reuters.com, March 31, 2009.
Food & Water Watch has called on supporters to tell the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that they do not want milk protein concentrates (MPCs) in their dairy products. According to the advocacy group, unregulated imports of inexpensive MPCs “are driving down the price of domestically produced milk and putting American dairy farmers out of business.” Food & Water Watch also claims, “No one in the government is checking to make sure that they’re safe to eat, and now FDA is thinking about letting them be used to make yogurt.” FDA is apparently considering an industry proposal to change yogurt’s “standard of identity” to allow the use of MPCs. The organization explains in its call for action how MPCs are created and then used as an additive in processed cheeses, frozen dairy desserts, crackers, and energy bars. While most MPCs used in the United States are apparently imported, “MPCs have…
The Prevention Institute’s Strategic Alliance Healthy Food and Activity Environments has released a sign-on letter titled “Setting the Record Straight: Nutritionists Define Healthful Food,” which asks health and nutrition professionals to adopt the institute’s definition of wholesome food. The letter states that healthy food “is not limited to the nutrients that a food contains,” but also “comes from a food system where food is produced, processed, transported, and marketed in ways that are environmentally sound, sustainable and just.” “Many large food and beverage manufacturers distract the public from the dangers of the food system by deceptively marketing products as ‘green’ or ‘natural’ and by using misleading health claims that allow highly processed foods to masquerade as healthful,” opines Strategic Alliance, further criticizing the food system for its “heavy reliance on fossil fuels, pesticides and fertilizers, antibiotics, and intensive farming practices.” New York University Professor Marion Nestle recently lauded this endorsement…
In a letter to investors, a Sunoco spokesperson reportedly stated that the gas and chemical maker will not sell bisphenol A (BPA) to companies for use in food and beverage containers for children younger than age 3. Referring to the company’s plan to require customers to guarantee that BPA will not be used in this way, Sunoco’s head of public relations, Thomas Golembeski, was quoted as saying, “We will no longer sell BPA to customers who cannot make this promise.” Environmental advocates reportedly called the initiative a “sea change” for a company that once purportedly defended the chemical and appears now to be acknowledging concern about BPA’s safety. See Journal Sentinel, March 12, 2009.
The Union of Concerned Scientists recently criticized the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for failing to solicit public and scientific input before it approved “the first commercialization both of a drug from a genetically engineered [GE] animal and of the animal itself.” According to the Union, FDA has allowed a Massachusetts company to raise a herd of GE goats capable of producing milk that contains a human protein used to prevent blood clots. The consumer advocacy group has accused the agency of violating its promise to open a public comment period and to gather feedback from an FDA advisory committee before permitting the company to market the goats. “Under the FDA’s process, there were no discussions of the safety or ethical implications of the approval, nor were regulations developed to keep the goats and their milk from contaminating the food supply,” opined the Union in its March 2009 Food &…
