The Seattle City Council has unanimously adopted a bill requiring 50 percent of the food and beverage offerings in vending machines operated on city property to be those deemed “healthier” and “healthiest” as defined by Public Health Seattle & King County’s “King County Healthy Vending Guidelines.” According to the guidelines, “healthier” items include baked potato chips, frozen fruit juice bars, whole grain crackers, and pretzels, while the “healthiest” category includes fresh or dehydrated fruit and vegetables, whole grain cereals, low-fat popcorn, unsalted nuts or seeds, and fat-free or low-fat plain yogurt. See Q13Fox.com, March 4, 2013. Meanwhile, Oregon state legislators have proposed legislation (H.B. 3403) that would establish nutritional requirements for the food and beverage offerings in vending machines in public buildings. Among other things, the proposal would limit vended items to those not containing (i) more than 200 calories per package; (ii) more than 35 percent of total calories…
Tag Archives snacks
According to news sources, a New York woman is seeking $5 million in damages in a putative class action against General Mills, alleging that the company falsely promotes its Fruit Roll-Ups® and other fruit snacks as nutritious and healthy while failing to properly disclose to consumers that partially hydrogenated oil is a product ingredient. McClure v. General Mills, Inc., No. 10-05015 (S.D.N.Y., filed June 29, 2010). Plaintiff Payton McClure, who reportedly describes herself as a “lifelong consumer” of General Mills products, contends that partially hydrogenated oil is “dangerous” and “unhealthy.” She apparently seeks compensatory and punitive damages, among other remedies. See Reuters and NYDailyNews.com, June 29, 2010.
Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity has published a study purportedly showing that children “significantly preferred” snack foods branded with popular cartoon characters. Christina Roberto, et al., “Influence of Licensed Characters on Children’s Taste and Snack Preferences,” Pediatrics, June 2010. Researchers apparently asked 40 children between 4 and 6 years old to sample three identical pairs of graham crackers, gummy fruit snacks and carrots “presented either with or without popular cartoon characters on the package.” The children described whether the two items in each pair tasted the same or whether one tasted better, and then selected “which of the food items they would prefer to eat for a snack.” The results purportedly indicated that participants not only preferred the taste of the branded foods, but that the majority “selected the food item with a licensed character on it for their snack.” The influence of cartoon characters also…
