I was always the one who made the joke after that statement that yeah, it was part of a nutricious breakfast - the orange and piece of toast sitting around the box of the cereal the comercial was about. Well it looks like we might have seen that tagline for the last time. Following the EPA's example, the FDA is actually doing something! They plan to crack down on the companies who sport a healthy label while ignoring clear health threats. As a person who often looks at certain products that are labeled healthy and scoffs because although their calories are low their sugar content is huge, I was happy to see that consumers would be brought back to reality. Healthy food shouldn't mearly be about the label - our country depends greatly and is often duped (as shown in this article) by the labels placed on pretty much everything. Healthy food is about where it comes from, its level of naturual sugar versus its level of added sugar, its level of saturated fats etc. Hopefully this will spurn companies to actually change some of their ingrediants to really be a nutricious breakfast on its own. But probably not. Anyways, its a start!
-Elise
http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=fda-to-beef-up-standards-for-health-2009-10-21
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
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4 comments:
I'd be interested to know whether the FDA plans on taking any actions towards companies that label their foods as "all natural" -- a label which implies that the food is organic while it actually signifies nothing.People tend to have very little idea about what is in the food they eat, and it is irresponsible for companies to exploit this fact to make a profit off of people who wish to eat more healthily but have not done any proper research.
I've always believed that the FDA/USDA is in bed with all of the mega-food corporations, and I doubt that's going to change significantly anytime soon. It's actually laughable what the government allows these companies to get away with, such as making up labels to put on their food that don't require any actual evidence to back them up. While I agree that it's about time the FDA starts cracking down on corporate BS, I think it would be more effective to include more nutritional education in the school system. The nutritional instruction that kids get currently is obviously inadequate given the current rate of childhood obesity. Teaching people how to make informed choices instead of picking products based on deceptive packaging is something that needs to be taken much more seriously.
I agree with Amelia and I think that it will be interesting to see if they change the "all natural" and "organic" labels. Something can say organic if at least 75%(I think. It is fairly low) of the ingredients are organic. 100% organic means something around 97% is organic. I can't remember the exact numbers, but there is a lot of false advertising for organic foods.
People will believe almost everything they read on a label that they think means that the food is healthier.
Hopefully the FDA can take some more steps towards eliminating false advertising so the US can become a healthier nation. And hopefully cut down on obesity.
I'm with Mary Morgan on this issue. The state of food regulations in this country is completely ridiculous. I know that in Europe for instance many things are outlawed that aren't here, and when confronted with this fact I always ask myself why. Then again, maybe the lack of interest from consumers has also caused this to happen, both in the government's lax response and in the explosion of non-food marketed as food. Let's face it, this is the way Americans eat, and they (we) like it that way. And in the end, the government has its job to fulfill in protecting its citizens, but we are also the ones who make the choices, and there are plenty of resources when it comes to learning how to make better ones (for instance, the library). As long as we eat this way these products will thrive, and nothing has changed. Not to say that I'm defending the FDA, just that they are not really the root of the problem. In a way it's very strange because this country is one of the most powerful in the world, yet in terms of health (the lack of universal healthcare is another example) we are consistently behind so many other countries. Apparently it's not our priority.
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