Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 01/26/2011 4:02:11 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
When the First Lady of the United States commits to an issue, she commits. And no issue has been closer to Michelle Obama's heart than childhood obesity.
Her desire to use her clout to spur nutrition prompted the First Lady to give a speech last March, in which she urged food manufacturers to create labels for their products that would help consumers do a better job of choosing the right foods.
In May, she announced Let's Move, a national anti-obesity campaign targeting children. In September, she urged the restaurant industry to step up. And last week, Mrs. Obama joined Wal-Mart corporate execs to launch the brand's healthy eating initiative.
Now the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute have worked together to answer Mrs. Obama's call, but the new labels they're introducing, dubbed Nutrition Keys, leave a lot to be desired, meeting with only "tepid" approval from the First Lady — and thus the White House and the Federal government.
Their proposed label system, reports the New York Times, met with "only tepid approval from Mrs. Obama," and the White House said it would "look forward to future improvement."
What happened? Apparently, food industry representatives held talks with the White House and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) but no consensus was reached on a new labeling strategy.
Reports the Times, "The Obama administration wanted the package-front labels to emphasize nutrients that consumers might want to avoid, like sodium, calories and fat. But manufacturers insisted that they should also be able to use the labels to highlight beneficial nutrients, including vitamins, minerals and protein."
In an effort to take the proverbial bull by the horns, the food industry preempted any further discussion and created their own labels, which display information on four "Nutrition Keys": calories, saturated fat, sodium and sugars. Manufacturers can also display two "nutrients to encourage" on each package, which are to be selected from this list: calcium, potassium, fiber, iron, protein, vitamin A, vitamin C, and vitamin D.
The new labeling strategy replaces a previous initiative from two years ago, Smart Choices, which was criticized by the FDA as misleading. The FDA said it wanted to see a system that more clearly identified "favorable" and "unfavorable" nutrient content.
The new system does nothing to call attention to any negatives, however. Former FDA commissioner David A. Kessler suggested that food manufacturers should follow government rules rather than launch their own labels. Kessler said, "What the industry is proposing can make something look healthier than it really is."
For the industry's part, however, damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. The Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute indicated that the new labels will begin appearing in a few months and, by late this year, an ad campaign would be launched to promote the labeling strategy.
Leslie G. Sarasin, CEO of the Food Institute, says they're moving ahead with the labels because "the First Lady asked us to do it." But if the FDA continues to question the strategy, the food manufacturing industry may be left with egg on its face.
Watch out MO will take away your heat if you eat too much.
I wish Moochelle would (to use a phrase) “Worry about her own backyard”...before telling regular americans what to eat!!
Isn’t this taking her crusade against obesity into a whole new arena—namely government-control of the food industry?
Disappoint Michelle Obama = Hell to pay
She doesnt want a label she wants to discontinue the food. Bottom line.
She doesnt want a label she wants to discontinue the food. Bottom line.
She doesnt want a label she wants to discontinue the food. Bottom line.
She doesnt want a label she wants to discontinue the food. Bottom line.
She was on the board of directors for Treehouse Foods for quite some time. I think the rest of the board hated her, but when your husband is a Chicago based state senator and then US senator, and your headquarters is in /chicago, you learn to bite your tounge.
If you don't want plump kids, go first lady Kenya. That place is full of starvin Marvins.
She wants labels that say "DON'T EAT THIS JUNK" applied to foods of her choice and enforced by the government.
Hypocrites!
when the wookie outlaws junkfood, only outlaws will have junkfood. I have a few things in my pantry that are junkfood. Am I now a criminal? /sarc
“Put the cheeseburger down and step away slowly. You are under arrest you fat bastard”.
“Put the cheeseburger down and step away slowly. You are under arrest you fat bastard”.
ha ha. I dont care who you are, thats funny stuff right there!
Just why is the grifter, mooch-elle, disappointed? Maybe because they didn’t under-the-table her $.01 for each label or maybe because her angry puss isn’t featured on each label? I think she should shut her America-hating pie-hole and go to some sort of party. What a total loser.
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