Yesterday, Michelle Obama gave a speech to the Grocery Manufacturers of America, as part of her campaign against childhood obesity. She told the assembled group -- executives responsible for products from Coca-Cola to ConAgra to McDonald's -- to stop hiding unhealthy ingredients behind health-claim labels and to start marketing healthy foods as effectively as unhealthy ones:
Mrs. Obama acknowledged that the changes she called for can't happen overnight, but said that it doesn't excuse attempts to disguise unhealthy food. “Adding a little bit of vitamin C to a product with lots of sugar, or a gram of fiber to a product with tons of fat, doesn't suddenly make those products good for our kids," she said.
The message represents what I like most about the campaign. While efforts include food education for parents and children, the campaign is also aimed at the people who make and market cheap, unhealthy food. Kids are bombarded with ads and candy displays, and parental involvement only goes so far, especially as they get older. And relying on parents to decipher labels that hide ingredients behind needlessly scientific names at the same time that ingredients like vitamin C are trumped on the front of processed foods boxes is somewhat unrealistic. More and more, healthy-food advocates are attacking the entire food system. Still, it remains to be seen if the splintered regulatory agencies can follow.
--Monica Potts
