Kraft Foods Inc., the largest food company in the world, announced last Tuesday it is “initiat[ing] a new series of steps to further strengthen the alignment of its products and marketing practices with societal needs” in light of the worldwide surge in obesity.
In other words, your macaroni and cheese won’t be so cheesy, your Oreos magical and your Altoids so curiously strong. The company plans on possibly reducing sugar and fat content in their products, as well as reducing portion sizes.
“The rise in obesity is a complex public health challenge of global proportions,” Betsy D. Holden, Co-CEO of Kraft Foods, said on the company’s Web site. “Just as obesity has many causes, it can be solved only if all sectors of society do their part to help. Kraft is committed to product choices and marketing practices that will help encourage healthy lifestyles and make it easier to eat and live better.”
Kraft, of which Philip Morris (the name change to Altria Group is too disgusting for me to implement) owns 88 percent of, is committed to helping people live better? Is that a joke?
The New York Times reported a San Francisco lawyer sued Kraft in May, seeking a ban on Oreos because the cookies contain trans fatty acids, which doctors believe lead to high cholesterol and heart disease.
Many believe Kraft’s new social conscience was found in order to curtail lawsuits (such as the one against McDonald’s) and legislation involving food.
According for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two-thirds of adult Americans are overweight. Dr. Donna Ryan, associate executive director at Pennington Biomedical Research Center, told the Associated Press that Louisiana leads the country in deaths from heart disease.
Blaming the food industry for America’s obesity problem is ludicrous. This is yet another example of the culture of blame emerging in America that is eating away at our moral fabric.
Let’s face it, eating is a personal decision. “Girlie magazines” didn’t make Ted Bundy kill 16 women, nor did Burger King make any obese person eat another Whopper with extra bacon and mayonnaise.
Instead, people see words such as “light” and “low in calories” or “no fat” and decide they can eat more since it’s more healthy, often disregarding the nutritional value of what they are eating on the whole.
Even if Kraft makes a serving of Cheese Nips smaller, it still won’t stop people from eating the whole box. It is also a personal decision to eat Teddy Grahams and watch “Young and the Restless” instead of exercising.
The public has the opportunity to eat healthy if they chose to do so. Modern technology has made a plethora of fruits and vegetables available practically everywhere in the country year round. The problem is not many people want to eat celery when they can instead eat Chips Ahoy chocolate chip cookies.
Junk food surely has contributed to the obesity problem, but it is not the fault of corporate America. Changing junk food probably won’t make the situation much better.
If Kraft wants to make changes, that is their corporate prerogative, but calling it an act of good will is preposterous.
Many people hope Kraft’s move will spark a health revolution in the food industry but personally, I don’t want corporate America dictating my diet anymore than they already do.
Cutting out the fat
July 7, 2003