Industries lobby against voluntary nutrition guidelines for food marketed to kids

[alp227]

Source: The Washington Post

The food and advertising industries have launched a multi-pronged campaign to squash government efforts to create voluntary nutritional guidelines for foods marketed to children.

Calling themselves the Sensible Food Policy Coalition, the nation’s biggest foodmakers, fast-food chains and media companies, including Viacom and Time Warner, are trying to derail standards proposed by four federal agencies. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has also lent its lobbying muscle to the effort.

The guidelines are designed to encourage foodmakers to reduce salt, added sugars and fats in foods and drinks targeted to children. If their products did not meet the standards, foodmakers following the guidelines would refrain from advertising them to children.

The standards would be voluntary and not regulations; companies would not be required to meet them, and the government would have no way to enforce them.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/industries-lobby-against-voluntary-nutrition-guidelines-for-food-marketed-to-kids/2011/07/08/gIQAZSZu5H_singlePage.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Hey, it's not like the government is going to make Kellogg's put on their boxes

that they use GM corn for their Corn Flakes and Sugar Frosted Flakes . . . .

[DJ13]

2. They should treat Frosted Flakes like cigarettes

Reduce the label size and cover half the box with a picture of a morbidly obese kid.

[ChrisBorg]

3. I agree because nobody could possibly eat responsibly on their own.

[kestrel91316]

4. Innocent children are at the nutritional mercy of ignorant parents.

Anything that reduces the perpetuation of that ignorance is a GOOD thing.

Why do you hate children?

[kestrel91316]

5. BTW, do you eat Cheetos and drink Brawndo when you play pinball all day in

Mom's basement?

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

9. obviously, you are correct, because there is absolutely no

obesity problem in this country, and certainly not with our children.

[salin]

12. the corps dont want the free market to work

so some companies use the voluntary label - and consumers start choosing those goods because they like to know about the food value that they are feeding to their kids... the oh noes! Other companies have to reevaluate their foods. That free market thingy can be a slippery slope. :crazy:

[Karenina]

6. Too stupid to live...

:hi:

[BlueJazz]

7. If the Chamber of Commerce is in on this deal, there is something ....

...sleazy about it. Anything they have ever done is for the Rich.

[Ragnarok]

8. Fools Errand

"The standards would be voluntary and not regulations; companies would not be required to meet them, and the government would have no way to enforce them." Sort of sums it up right there, doesn't it? Either require it or don't. Four agencies to come up with unenforceable, non-required, non-regulations? There's a good place to spend time and money folks. When did we decide we need signs on everything anyhow? I suppose it works well for people who rear their kids based on whatever a burger wrapper tells them.

[saras]

10. They simply shouldn't BE marketing to kids - period.

Never mind voluntary. Never mind reducing sugar. They shouldn't be allowed to advertise to anyone who can't contract, independently, to buy their products.

[JJW]

11. Free-for-all

It's a freakin' free-for-all. The only thing that matters in the US is money. And every one wants more of it because without it, you die!