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Posted on Wednesday, July 30th, 2014 by Michele Simon
I recently attended the annual meeting of the School Nutrition Association, the trade group that represents the 55,000 food service workers who have the thankless job of feeding millions of schoolchildren every day. While there, I tweeted out a few photos I took on the expo floor and I’ve uploaded all 82 of them to Instagram here.
The images are more or less organized by either food category or company. Several of the event’s official sponsors, including Tyson, PepsiCo, and Domino’s were listed on prominent signs here and here.
First is a series of mascots, including Smuckers, Chester the Cheetah, and the State Fair hotdog. At the National Dairy Council booth, attendees were lined up to have their photo taken with a statue of a cow. Why? Because (I was told) they would get a plush toy cow. The booth was promoting “Fuel up to Play” a nutrition program in schools that emphasizes dairy.
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Posted in Big Food, Child Nutrition, Industry Tactics, Marketing to Children | | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (1)
Posted on Tuesday, July 29th, 2014 by Michele Simon
Last week I attended the School Nutrition Association’s annual meeting in Boston, a gathering of the nation’s school food service workers. While most of the controversy lately has focused on the federally-required improvements to nutrition standards for school lunches, getting lost in the shuffle are new standards coming online this fall for school snacks and beverages. Read rest at TIME.com …
Posted in Big Food, Child Nutrition, Marketing to Children | Tagged: school food, USDA | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (1)
Posted on Thursday, July 10th, 2014 by Michele Simon
Industry and government work together to promote everything from fast-food pizza to sugary milk in schools
People often ask me, “How does lobbying work?” Last week it was with fat and sugar, when the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) hosted its 32nd annual Capitol Hill Ice Cream Party. Some 6,000 bowls of ice cream were served up to Sen. Tom Harkin, Reps. Pete Sessions, Robert Aderholt, Jeff Denham, John Shimkus, Ron Kind and Lamar Smith, among others, according to Politico. Dairy lobbyists are ever present in Washington, and their efforts usually pay off. For example, last year when the IDFA implored the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to give dairy foods a pass in the new snack food guidelines for schools, the agency capitulated, opening school doors to even more junk food, such as YoCrunch Lowfat Yogurt with M&Ms.
This is just one of many examples I uncovered in a report I published last month, “Whitewashed: How Industry and Government Promote Dairy Junk Foods” (PDF). The dairy industry, propped up by government, has convinced us of the health benefits of milk and other dairy products. The assumption that eating dairy is essential to the diet has obstructed our ability to criticize federal government support for unhealthy dairy products, of which there are many. Read rest at Al Jazeera America …
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Posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2014 by Michele Simon
School Nutrition Association includes such Big Food sponsors as PepsiCo, Domino’s and Muffin Town.
Perhaps the most visible advocate for improving school food, Michelle Obama is now defending what shouldn’t be such a controversial idea: adding fruits and vegetables to public school lunches. Ask any nutrition expert what foods Americans — especially kids — need more of in their diet, and the answer would be the same: fresh produce. But some Republicans, such as Rep. Robert Aderholt of Alabama, never seem to miss an opportunity to turn a no-brainer into a political battle, particularly when it comes to school food. (Who can forget the pizza as a vegetable debacle?) And just in time to give them the necessary cover, they got a gift from an unlikely source. The School Nutrition Association (SNA) has asked Congress to approve waiver requests for schools that are struggling to comply with federal nutrition regulations aimed at improving children’s health.
Read rest at Al Jazeera America …
Posted in Big Food, Child Nutrition, Industry Tactics, Marketing to Children | Tagged: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, child nutrition, childhood obesity, junk food, Let's Move, lobbying, Obama, school food policy, USDA | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (0)
Posted on Wednesday, June 11th, 2014 by Michele Simon
The United States is in the midst of a public health epidemic due to poor diet. While much of the focus has been on obvious culprits such as sugary soft drinks and fast food, dairy foods often get a pass. The dairy industry, propped up by government, has convinced us of the health benefits of milk and other dairy products. But the context of how people consume dairy matters.
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Posted in Big Food, Child Nutrition, Food Policy, Industry Tactics, Marketing to Children, Public Health | Tagged: child nutrition, childhood obesity, dairy, deceptive health claims, junk food, school food policy, USDA | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (79)
Posted on Tuesday, June 10th, 2014 by Michele Simon
The East Coast has been getting most of the attention lately on the state by state effort to label genetically-engineered food. Vermont recently passed a bill and New York State’s bill is now moving. But let’s not forget about the western states, which are also critical to this fight. Right to know advocates in Oregon and Colorado are currently gathering signatures to place measures on the November ballot. Both of these states have a good shot at convincing voters to pass GMO labeling.
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Posted in Big Food, Food Policy, Industry Tactics | Tagged: California Prop 37, GMO labeling, GMOs, I-522 | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (0)
Posted on Sunday, May 18th, 2014 by Michele Simon
I have a feature story in the current issue of Experience Life magazine. Here is how the editors introduce the article:
It’s no wonder that most of us are confused. Combine this with dubious ads from the food industry — and the fact that some media outlets may not want to alienate food companies that advertise with them — and we end up with even more muddled information. Overwhelmed, frustrated, and resigned, many of us throw up our hands and eat whatever we want. The good news, however, is that understanding where biased health information comes from can help us sift through the latest headlines and become more intelligent news consumers and smarter shoppers.
You can read the entire article here and listen to the podcast interview here.
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Posted on Sunday, May 11th, 2014 by Michele Simon
Am thrilled to be featured in a new powerful film by Laurie David and Katie Couric that features an all-star line-up.
If you search for “Fed Up movie” on Google, the first link you see is not the film’s website, but rather a page from the Grocery Manufacturers Association called “Fed Up Facts“. It’s a silly and desperate attempt by Big Food to respond to the star-power that has Katie Couric appearing all over the mainstream media spreading a message that the food industry doesn’t want you to hear. (GMA denies that “the food industry purposely advertises unhealthy foods to children”. It must happen by accident.)
The film really pulls no punches aiming to dispel the junk food industry’s strongest talking points: it’s all a matter of personal responsibility; we can just exercise our way to health; and we don’t need government regulation. Even Let’s Move is criticized for placing too much emphasis on physical activity and industry partnerships. But as I told the filmmakers, the first lady is in the wrong wing of the White House. (That quote didn’t make the final cut, alas. See this review saying the film lacks policy solutions, which I mostly agree with.)
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Posted in Big Food, Child Nutrition, Industry Tactics, Marketing to Children, Media, Public Health | Tagged: Big Food, childhood obesity, Grocery Manufacturers Association, junk food | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (5)
Posted on Sunday, April 27th, 2014 by Michele Simon
Today I am releasing a new report with Friends of the Earth, to bring attention to the dire situation of declining bee populations caused by pesticides. You can find the report here, and read a summary below.
If you like to eat, then you should care about what’s happening to bees. Did you know that two-thirds of our food crops require pollination – the very foods that we rely on for healthy eating – such as apples, berries, and almonds, just to name a few. That’s why the serious declines in bee populations are getting more attention, with entire campaigns devoted to saving bees.
A strong and growing body of evidence points to exposure to a class of neurotoxic pesticides called neonicotinoids—the fastest-growing and most widely used class of synthetic pesticides—as a key contributing factor to bee declines.
The European Union banned the three most widely used neonicotinoids, based on strong science indicating that neonics can kill bees outright and make them more vulnerable to pests, pathogens, and other stressors. Enter the corporate spin doctors.
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Posted in Big Food, Food Policy, Industry Tactics | Tagged: bees, Big Food, food safety, lobbying, Monsanto, pesticides | Michele on Google+ | View/Add Comments (6)
