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Do you have the right to know what you’re eating? The food industry apparently doesn’t think so.
The prestigious Institute of Medicine issued a report today urging the Food and Drug Administration to clear the gobbledygook language off food labels and replace it with an easy-to-read rating symbol, like the Energy Star tag on your appliances.
The idea is to help busy shoppers make better choices with a simple icon with zero to three check marks rating how healthy a food is.
The industry does not like this idea. They’ve launched a new lobbying group called Facts Up Front, devoting a hefty $50 million budget to battling this simple labeling system. The industry wants to keep confusing matters by slapping on information about nutrient fortification even though most people don’t really know what that means.
The food industry is using an ethical argument, claiming consumers don’t want the government telling them what to eat to defend a lack of clarity, uniformity and simplicity in labeling.
Big government is an easy target but the industry argument misses the point. The government’s role is to get industry to give you trustworthy useful information. Telling you that Captain Crunch is fortified with iron does not make it healthy for kids to eat sugary breakfast foods.
The industry ought to embrace what consumers need and want — simple facts about their food.
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Those who have the money, make the rules.
They make more money by poisoning us and can sleep at night. Makes you wonder. They tried to say round-up was biodegradable, but it is not. Check out the videos on Mercola.com of Dr. Huber. You will be shocked.
Yeah, I think I'd like to have not only the ingredients (even though I can't pronounce even a quarter of those chemicals) and this kind of label. They used to put a skull and crossed bones on poison, why not put something like that on unhealthy food also?
I don't want some star rating on my food; I want to know exactly what's in it. Besides, what's healthy for one person may not be for another (allergies and diabetics come to mind).
I remember when weather people stopped showing us pressure systems and color-coded rainfall charts and just pasted suns or clouds or little rain drops in the general area you could expect the weather. It was far less accurate and conveyed no information about how reliable the data was.
I don't need my nutritional info dumbed down. If I don't know what something is, I can always google it.
So you are going to spend 3 hours in a grocery store with your iphone googling all the ingredients in your food? You're nuts.
Yes if necessary but, also I might do some research before the next time I go shopping. I found a good link with information on additives in foods
I think labeling does not go far enough as now foods can be GMO without our knowledge. I can tell when I eat gmo foods because it makes my gut hurt to eat it. I also get other symptoms that are more scary than my gut hurting. I avoid anything that has any derivative of corn, soy, and wheat and rice cause i know almost for certain that it contains gmo especially corn and soy. My dog won't even eat gmo foods. She is a picky eater though she likes organic chicken and such.
One thing is certain big agra is trying to stop the production of Organic and raw foods and some people are not happy about it and big pharma is doing everything it can to make natural medicine unavailable too.
Ron Paul gets a lot of support from the natural health and food people because of his standing on this very issue.
If I ate meat I would want to know what they feed the animals.
I'm going back to basics: growing a Victory garden, canning garden produce and buying basic ingredients in bulk (e.g. flour, rice, beans and corn) to create nutritional and affordable meals at home. I've already stopped buying anything that comes in a box. With the Food Industry continually fighting to hide cheap and unhealthy ingredients, it makes you wonder what is really in all of that processed garbage.
sadly in the US, flour, rice, beans and corn can be GMO, but not labeled....
True, I stick with organic only though to hopefully avoid any GMOs.......
Go through a CSA (community supported agriculture) group. Google one in your area and go meet the farmers that will grow your food. I found one and know that my farm uses heirloom varieties of produce and nothing GMO. Yes, you have to eat what is in season and some years certain crops don't do well, other years you end up with extra. I am a busy working mom and I have learned to can and dehydrate food to make sure that I can buy in bulk from my farm and afford to feed my kids healthy food year round. It's not easy, but it's better on my conscience than feeding my kids ingredients that I can't pronounce.
Boy this argument is pretty hypocritical. Food companies fight tooth and nail against any kind of nutritional labeling, lobby to make it more complicated so that no one can understand it, smack their own useless "high fiber, 0g FAT! (but 60g sugar...)" labels on their food, and now they claim they're "protecting" consumers from the government.
The government is not forcing anyone to eat food that is unhealthy. KFC is still friggin' legal, for crying out loud. The hope with these new labels would be that consumers will CHOOSE to eat healthier if they understand what's really in their processed foods...some surely would, but some won't; some will still ignore labels completely, or won't be literate enough to understand it.
Even slight improvements in diet can make a huge difference; something I know personally very well. I've gone through phases where I care immensely what's in my food...and others where I don't. Personally, I'd welcome a little soft, FACTUAL criticism, government or otherwise, when I'm contemplating the instant potatoes au gratin at Safeway.
The same food industry that hires lobbyists to make sure that you will never be able to read the nutritional content of fast food that would actually be printed on the container or wrapper that the food comes in or with any menu at any restaurant unless the restuarant voluntarily prints it on the menus themselves...
It almost seems like they have something to hide. Go figure. *shrug*
And did you ever notice that just about everything in some restaurants has corn syrup in it? I do, because my husband (who has cancer) now cannot stomach it (there is nothing natural at all about how corn syrup is processed; it is not the same molecule with particles spinning the same way as other "fructose"). Some restaurants have trustworthy dinners, but buy their desserts from others (and cancer patients are supposed to eat anything they can, which is why the dessert menu even would come up). Often, the restaurant version of "homemade" is pouring several brands of barbeque sauce together; all with corn syrup; yuck. You can taste the difference too.
We've avoided the corn syrup as well. Especially in pop. We drink the Throwback Pepsi, and the Sierra Mist Natural. Both with sugar. And YES you can taste the difference! We've noticed that after drinking the real sugar drinks, we don't have a lot of digestive issues. No sour stomach like with drinking the ones with corn syrup. I hope the trend continues to go back to real sugar. I am more than willing to pay extra for it.
Apparently many of you are ignorant of food in general. You don't need restaurants to add labels. Just read what it says when you buy it at the store. They use the same brands and products. You can easily figure out what is in the little packets of Heinz ketchup, for instance; the same stuff that's in the large bottles! The bakery that furnishes the buns for the grocery store sells the same buns to the fast food places. This is not rocket science!
Come on Jimbo, if you and your cohorts have to see a label to know that 1/3 pound burger with ketchup and mayo and half a pound of french fries or that salad drenched in ranch dressing with fried chicken strips is calorie laden, then you obviously wasted your time in school.
The food industry is revolting. Most of what they produce can't even be considered food by any thoughtful standard...it's just a bunch of stripped down starches, salt, cheap oils, sugar, and chemicals.
No wonder they don't want us looking at the side panels.
Bad idea. I like having the ingredients listed so that I can make an informed decision on what I consume. It's bad enough most GMO's aren't labeled as such. Odds are, anything that has a byproduct of corn in it (Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Fructose, Sucrose) or Soy, come from GMO produce. Lets keep food labeling the same and FORCE producers of products using GMO's to label them. If they adopt the suggested system than the FDA and the food industry can go screw itself. I'll grow my own food. If they make it a crime I'll still do it. I have a right to make informed decisions about what I eat and a right to eat whatever I want.
This is not to replace the ingredients list Jwright, this is in addition to, on the front of the packaging, to give an easy to read way to measure how healthy a product is for you. Nowhere did they say they were removing ingredient lists. I personally don't have any problems with GMO's, but I agree they should be labeled to allow the consumer to know what they are buying is not something that occurs in nature.
It says right here in the above quote from the teeny tiny article, that they indeed DO INTEND to replace the ingredient list with their ”energy star” type symbol. That is what “replace” means.
Glad you don’t have any problems with ‘frankenfoods', but most people I talk to, and know DO want to eat real food, not something designed in the lab to resist Monsanto’s weed killers, and other such freaks that are more chemical than food. Our bodies NEED the trace elements found in small quantities in real food. Things that we may not even know exist in our food. Our Nation is dying and becoming so unhealthy and fat/obese because we aren’t getting real food anymore, but rather this stuff passed off as food by government agencies focused on their bottom line rather than humans’ health and nutrition.
But often they will say something like processed yeast or protein when they are trying to hide a glutamate such as MSG (monosodium glutamate) which children shouldn't eat. Remember that China tested for the presence of protein, which the plastic melamine imitated, and therefore poisoned many people? I think that there should be both a thorough ingredients lists, and real nutrition facts including presence and percentage of ingredients.
This editorial piece links to another article that explains how the proposed change would work. They are NOT replacing ingredients lists or nutritional information.
Rather, they want to replace the silly things the companies put on the front of packages, like "Now with whole grain!" or "Fortified with 100% of your daily B-12" and nonsense like that. These kinds of claims are relatively meaningless, but make the foods sound 'healthy'.
The new system would NOT remove the detailed information on the back. Rather, it would add a visual indicator of how "good" or "bad" the food is. I don't love it, as the govt can't seem to figure out what 'healthy' actually means, but it's better than gauging food healthfulness via marketing buzzwords.
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I think 'fiber" can mean wood but hey it goes good with the wood alcohol that aspartame turns into when it goes thru your system gotta keep the wood preserved don'ch know.
Let me make this clear and simple, for that that are not complex readers.
From the health and drug industry:
A patient cured is a customer lost.
From a great military leader many centuries ago:
You can not control a healthy [this article], educated [all your bluff], funded [money], and fearless population.
Suppress any one of the four and you win.
I for one am sick and tired of the food companies and government telling me what I should eat. My choices are becoming fewer and fewer. Whole grain in all cereals now, don't want whole grain, less salt in my cheeses I like salt in my cheese. I'm an adult I can make choices all on my own, has anyone cooked a hamburger at home lately? They taste like cardboard and not an hour after eating it you're consuming gallons of water. I don't know what the beef industry is doing but I'll bet it has some idiotic link to "lean" meat. I like FAT in my meat that's where the taste comes from. I smoke because I want to smoke, I'll eat fatty foods because they taste better. If your a family person fine make those choices you consider healthy for your family but don't force other people to do it.
OMG, I thought this was sarcasm - I was waiting fo the punch line! The reason your burgers taste like cardboard is that ground beef contains very little beef in the way we think of it. It is mostly filler. I agree with UnitedStates1776 (below) - watch "Food, Inc". I bought a quarter cow from a local organic farmer that was raised, slaughtered, and processed locally, and my burgers are delicious!
I'm not sure where you shop, but I have noticed no lack of high sodium, high fat foods at my grocery store.
Big Food is making more and more people sick in this country.
See the documentary film, "Food, Inc." for an in-depth look at the horrors in our industrialized food system.
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And when you're properly horrified, and think it can't get any worse, watch "The World According to Monsanto." Nightmare.
Actually this line from the article leads me to believe, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, that they do want to remove the ingredients from being listed:
I suppose they could be talking about other stuff on a label but knowing how these kinds of companies work I doubt it.
But they would have to put detailed ingredients lists; allergy sufferers don't just sneeze more or break out in hives, they can go into respiratory failure, shock, and death. I hope they mean "fortified with" sorts of things.
Based on the article it references, the "gobbledygook" is the claims they plaster on the front to sound healthier--25% less fat! Now with whole grain! Fortified with Vitamin A!
The other article specifically states the existing nutritional panels would NOT be removed.
This commentary, though, is pretty poorly written. I had to read it three times and click through to the referenced article to understand they weren't talking about stripping out the nutrition and ingredients info.
The FDA is sleeping with the health (read pharmaceutical) industry. The more junk we eat in our food, the sicker we become. The sicker we become, the more drugs we consume. Its such a tidy package that you almost can wrap it up in a big, shiny red ribbon.
Just tell me what's in the food. If the government labels food as healthy or not, you can bet more unhealthy food will be labeled as healthy. This is what happens when the government is controlled by big business.
It's time for Monsanto to announce whether their is and how much nutrient value in their genetically modified foods.
Fresh and even Organic Foods should be dated. Freshness doesn't last forever.
The percentage of potassium to salt could also be mentioned, although I think most consumers are aware now.
Monsanto is fighting tooth and nail to keep foods grown with their chemically laden gmo seeds from being labeled.
Organic food do have freshness dates on them. People who buy Organic foods can tell by looking at the fresh foods if they are going bad smell tells a lot too. What is so disturbing about non organic dairy especially is that people cannot tell it is rotten. If you could smell the milk that is sold you would never buy it again. As long as you drink it you cannot taste that it is rotten if you cleaned out your body and did not eat big agra dairy for a while the smell would be so repelling that you would never want to put it in your body again.
People who do not eat processed sugar and sweeteners can only taste the chemicals when they get it in their mouths. If people who eat that stuff would go without it for a year they could taste the chemicals and could pin point the way it makes them sick. My family thinks i am being rude when i do not eat their junky foods but it taste terrible to me because of all the chemicals and it makes me feel sick.
Many people in my family over eat and are obese and they always feel bad and i know it is because not only are they over weight but they get no real nutrition. They are in a cycle that doctors do not seem to know how to help them with. Their doctors keeps telling them they need to loose weight. They go often to the doctor with their complaints and get all kinds of medicine and the just keep getting sicker.
Wow, if this author was trying for neutral reporting he failed miserably, the entire article has more spin than a politician on election day
I try to eat local and fresh as often as possible, and hardly ever eat prepared foods. I avoid fast food like the plague. Now these prepared food companies want to put more crap in our food and not be clear about it? That's the equivilant of a used car car salesman sweet talking you into a lemon. Don't eat synthetic. Eat real.
Question: What has corn syrup solids, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, sodium caseinate, dipotassium phosphate, titanium dioxide, Mono and diglycerides, silicon dioxide, artificial flavor and colored with annato?
Answer: Non-Dairy creamer. But several of the ingredients are also used in paint. I'll stick with cream, thank you. And If I had an allergy to milk- I'd take it black.
P.S. Non dairy creamer is also flamable. Cream- not so much.
@Snappa
It is certainly your 'right' to smoke, eat whatever foods you want to and die an earlier death, or not. My great gran lived to be 99, even though she had diabetes, fought throat cancer, had gastrointestinal issues and various other maladies throughout her life. Her health choices cost her an average of $1500 a month.
But see, you don't have the right to smoke in public around kids, or people who are allergic to smoke, or people who don't want to be forced to be around your smoke.
As far as food, sure -- eat that big mac, fry up at super tasty fat laden burger, eat all the sugar and processed foods you want. Go for it. Someone has to fund obesity studies and big pharma.
It may as well be you.
You may very well be one of those people who moan about medicare and people who use it /actually need it -- well, just you wait.
You and people like you will suddenly loose the high-horse battle, find yourself too sick to work because of your choices. You might get cancer, you might have a heart attack.
Who knows, BUT -- The way you eat WILL cause some issues, be it diabetes or heart problems: Will you able to afford your $60 - $100 diabetic strips, your $200-$400 dollar combo diabetic medication, your $275 heart pills and the numerous doctor bills a year to stay off the damage your choices have caused you?
I hope so. Because, under the current 'old' healthcare system -- no insurance company will keep you on or touch you with a 100 foot pole, afterwards.
Nomam, you are so right! We use to eat pretty much whatever we wanted (whatever tasted good) until my husband developed high cholesterol and lots of related medical problems earlier this year. We have spent so much money on doctors, test and medication! We've completly changed our diet to mostly low fat, natural foods. We've cut out most animal fat and don't eat anything from boxes. It's a little more work but we like it and hopefully our health will improve enough that we can cut back on all of the medical expenses our poor eating habbits have racked up!