It wasn’t until I started compiling stories for this post that I realized just how much had taken place this year on issues of food, agriculture, and nutrition. While by no means a definitive list, I think it covers the most substantial events.
So, if you’ve been spelunking in Antarctica for the past twelve months — or just want a short trip down memory lane — let’s review 2011, the year where:
- The Food Safety Modernization Act — passed on December 22, 2010 — was signed into law by President Obama on January 4. It certainly had good intentions (mainly to appoint more resources to issues of foodborne illness), but many couldn’t help but wonder: “with what money?”.
- The United States Government Accountability Office expressed what many nutrition and public health advocates had been thinking for years in their report titled: “FDA Needs to Reassess Its Approach to Protecting Consumers from False or Misleading Claims”.
- First Lady Michelle Obama joined forces with Walmart “to promote healthy eating”. Walmart gloated; Marion Nestle had a more grounded view of the issue.
- The Nutrition Keys were unveiled by the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute. Hailed as a way to support Michelle Obama’s goal of “solving childhood obesity within a generation”, this voluntary Front of Package labeling scheme was nothing more than a lazy “cut and paste” job from what was already displayed on the Nutrition Facts label.
- Agriculture Secretary — and friend to Monsanto — Tom Vilsack gave the green light to genetically modified alfalfa.
- The authenticity of Taco Bell’s beef was questioned in a lawsuit that was withdrawn a few months later.
- The 2010 Dietary Guidelines were unveiled, marking the first time Uncle Sam went on record with such basic concepts as “fill up half your plate with fruits and vegetables” and “enjoy your food”. Snark aside, it at least urged Americans to “drink water instead of sugary drinks”.
- The Beef Checkoff Program and the American Heart Association became BFFs. Here’s hoping for a dramatic fallout!
- McDonald’s launched a fruit and maple oatmeal (which initially violated Vermont’s “maple law”). Mark Bittman called it out for what it was: a culinary — and nutritional — atrocity.
- The food industry was called out for a classic inflation technique: “stealth downsizing”.
- Mark Bittman went on a fast “to call attention to Congressional budget proposals that would make huge cuts in programs for the poor and hungry”. Even after four days of subsisting on nothing but water and tea, he wrote one of my favorite blog posts of the year.
- Japan was struck by a mega-powerful underwater earthquake that caused nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Power Plant. Many soon wondered whether Japan’s aquatic flora and fauna was fit for consumption.
- “Ag-gag” bills threatened to make undercover food facility “whistle-blowing” illegal. Fortunately, the measures did not pass.
- The Environmental Working Group called attention to a group of studies which showed “a connection between prenatal exposure to organophosphate pesticides and diminished IQs in children between the ages of 6 and 9″.
- The Interagency Working Group sought input on proposed voluntary principles for marketing food to children. The food industry was so up in arms and felt so threatened that the Federal Trade Commission felt the need to assuage their baseless fears a few months later. Nevertheless, Big Food continued its whining and aggressive lobbying against recommendations for voluntary (!) action.
- Big Food marketer turned whistleblower Bruce Bradley joined the blogosphere. He also confirmed our worst fears about Big Food’s sneaky tactics.
- AGree — “a collaborative initiative of nine of the world’s leading foundations [that] seeks to engage a variety of stakeholders in a dialogue that leads to positive and fair U.S. policy change” — was formed. As is my modus operandis with these sorts of developments, I turned to Marion Nestle for insight.
- The food pyramid was officially declared a relic (yay) and replaced by MyPlate (meh). While some were enthusiastic about the new icon, I saw it as an example of “new illustration, same problems”. The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine demonstrated how MyPlate recommendations were at odds with federal subsidies, Harvard University offered its interpretation, and parodies of the plate just kept on coming.
- Europe fell victim to a highly infectious new strain of E.coli bacteria. Grist’s Tom Laskawy explained why the United States is not immune from such a food safety catastrophe (eek!).
- We found out, thanks to some brilliant reporting at Mother Jones, just how horribly Hormel — maker of Spam — treats its production floor employees.
- Barry Estabrook (of the Politics of the Plate blog) released Tomatoland: How Modern Industrial Agriculture Destroyed Our Most Alluring Fruit. It garnered heaps of praise from public health and food all-stars, and is at the top of my “must-read” list for 2012.
- PepsiCo announced the soft launch of a “mid-calorie beverage” known as Pepsi NEXT, scheduled to roll out nationally in 2012. Though PepsiCo tied it to notions of health and wellness, I saw it as just another way to keep Americans hooked on soda.
- The Los Angeles Unified School District banned “flavored milks” (which I believe should instead be referred to as “sweetened milks”). On my wish list for 2012: hundreds of more counties will follow suit, and Registered Dietitians will cease the starry-eyed chocolate milk worship.
- The Environmental Working Group released “The Meat Eaters’ Guide to Climate Change and Health”. Among the conclusions: lamb, beef, cheese, pork, and farm-raised salmon are the biggest environmental “no-no”s, pasture-raised and organic eggs are a better pick than chicken or turkey, and organic milk has a carbon footprint similar to that of beans, legumes, and vegetables. Of course, a diet low in — or free of — animal products is the best way to go.
- A federal class action lawsuit was filed against Wesson (owned by ConAgra) for deceptively marketing its genetically modified oils as ‘natural’.
- To the delight of shareholders, Campbell’s announced it was increasing sodium levels in its lower-sodium soups.
- The Humane Society of the United States and the United Egg Producers (two unlikely allies, to say the least) “joined forces to announce a new, unprecedented agreement to push for federal legislation to mandate animal welfare standards on egg farms.” Michele Simon wondered who really benefited from this deal, and the Oregon Humane Society had its own take on the matter.
- Scientific American attempted to debunk the “myth” that organic farming is superior to conventional farming. Strong rebuttals was soon penned by the two Toms of the food and agriculture world — Laskawy and Philpott.
- Sam Kass — White House chef and Senior Policy Advisor for the White House’s Healthy Food Initiatives — gave a keynote speech at the 6th Biennial Childhood Obesity Conference, where he unabashedly declared his allegiance to Big Food, claiming childhood obesity “will not be solved unless we really work with and involve the private sector”. He also defended the soda industry. Way to push for brave new policies and a paradigm shift!
- McDonald’s announced it would start selling “healthier” Happy Meals. Thousands of health professionals applauded this so-called “baby step” (toward what, I’m not sure), but I didn’t find anything to get particularly excited about. Michele Simon asked: “who put McDonald’s in charge of health?”.
- Michelle Obama teamed up with various large grocery chains — including Walmart — in an attempt to remedy the food desert situation. Needless to say, many advocates were not happy with the announcement.
- Subway took healthwashing to a new level, fortifying its highly processed breads with calcium and vitamin D. I wasn’t impressed, to say the least.
- Cargill recalled 36 million pounds of ground turkey due to possible Salmonella contamination, giving renowned food safety lawyer Bill Marler an opportunity to teach us all a little bit about the convoluted history of food safety in this country. Roughly one month later, Cargill recalled another 185,000 pounds.
- The Double Triple Oreo debuted on supermarket shelves. As necessary as another oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
- The New York Times ran a controversial op-ed by Nina Fedoroff, which loudly sang the praises of genetically modified organisms. Anna Lappé rebutted the claims and expertly argued why, in reality, GMOs won’t save the world.
- The USDA “rejected New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s [2010] proposal to bar New York City’s food stamp users from buying soda and other sugary drinks with them”.
- Del Monte sued the FDA (!) over an earlier cantaloupe recall.
- A spokeswoman for the American Heart Association labeled Bill Clinton’s vegan diet as “limited in variety and taste”, while the made-up condition “orthorexia nervosa” (AKA: “your child may be eating too healthfully!”) was once again trotted out for shock value. Not surprisingly, both of these news items appeared in August, a notoriously slow time for the media.
- Yum! Foods — which counts Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken as some of its subsidiary companies — lobbied for its restaurants to accept food stamps nationally. Not surprisingly, this unleashed thousands of op-eds from every side of the spectrum. As usual, Marion Nestle put it all into perspective.
- We discovered that — ugh! — organic strawberries aren’t as ‘organic’ as we originally thought.
- The U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance was formed. Despite the seemingly innocuous name and public intentions to simply get a national conversation started, its roots were more sinister.
- The Nutrition Keys took on a new identity: Facts Up Front. That reminds me — did you know that “meaningless” and “inconsequential” can be used interchangeably?
- The American Dietetic Association changed its name to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Sadly, its insidious partnerships with Big Food were not revamped.
- In what can only be described as “atrocious and insulting”, at this year’s American Dietetic Association annual conference (the Food & Nutrition Conference and Expo), Registered Dietitians were told that pesticides and BPA were not worth worrying about, and that the Environmental Working Group doesn’t know science.
- First Lady Michelle Obama teamed up with Darden’s (which owns, among others, Red Lobster and Olive Garden) to offer “healthier” children’s meals by July of 2012. Let’s see what ends up happening in seven months.
- Friendly’s filed for bankruptcy. Not the nutritional kind.
- After almost two years of blogging in anonymity, the elusive Mrs. Q revealed herself to be Chicago school teacher Sarah Wu. She showed up on Good Morning America and The View — and wrote a book, to boot.
- Denmark imposed the world first’s “fat tax”, aimed at curbing intake of saturated fats (I would have preferred they tackle omega-6 loaded oils like corn and cottonseed). A sugar tax is apparently in the works.
- Dr. Pepper TEN — a “manly” diet soda — emerged with a ridiculously hyper-masculine advertising campaign. Who needs testosterone when you’ve got high fructose corn syrup, aspartame, and acesulfame potassium?
- The Occupy Wall Street movement established permanence, and Tom Philpott explained why foodies needed to join the movement (“Big Food makes Big Finance look like amateurs”). PS: Occupy Big Food has since becomes a growing movement of its own.
- The Cornucopia Institute released a must-read report titled “Cereal Crimes”, which revealed how “natural” claims confused consumers and undermined the “organic” label.
- A “supercommittee” threatened to write the 2012 Farm Bill in a a matter of weeks. In the end, it did no such thing, which meant a reboot for the ever-complex and convoluted legislative document.
- The Center for Science in the Public Interest revived its annual Food Day event after a 34-year hiatus. It encouraged Americans to “eat real” and was a rousing success.
- The McRib returned (yet again!) for a short stint. Willy Staley theorized — with a handy chart serving as a visual aide — that the polarizing sandwich’s return was more about low hog prices than consumer demand.
- The seemingly endless lawsuit between Big Sugar and the Corn Refiners Association over renaming high fructose corn syrup as “corn sugar” inched forward. While we await a final decision, Americans would be better off curbing their intake of added sweeteners, regardless of their moniker.
- Mark Bittman very clearly articulated why a food movement that focuses on regional agriculture rather than trade is not an elitist plot. He also penned a clarifying and beautifully-written “PS” two days later, to make sure his sentiments weren’t misunderstood.
- Despite its assertion that it was the ice cream of the future, Dippin’ Dots filed for bankruptcy.
- In what I originally thought was a much-delayed April Fool’s joke, the National Institutes of Health’s Children’s Inn named its kitchen the “Paula Deen” kitchen. Money trumps deep fried butter, y’all.
- We learned that a lot of what passes as ‘honey’ actually isn’t.
- Coca-Cola convinced the Grand Canyon to overturn a ban on plastic bottles. Behold the power of multi-million dollar donations!
- Congress decided that a quarter-cup of tomato paste on a slice of pizza should still count as a serving of vegetables.
- A Consumer Reports study found high amounts of arsenic in many children’s juices. Although Dr. Oz was credited by almost everyone as the sole individual who brought the issue to light earlier this year, the hard-working folks at Food Safety News were on this story way back in March of 2010. UPDATE (12/22): Here is the FDA’s response.
- The Environmental Working Group made it perfectly clear that most children’s cereals are nothing more than sugar bombs.
- The White House’s “Let’s Move!” campaign appeared to quietly stray from nutrition messaging and increasingly focus on physical activity. When Marion Nestle shared her observations on the matter, she almost immediately received a phone call from Sam Kass, who strongly objected to that conclusion. The “Let’s Move!” policy advisor doth protest too much, methinks.
- Michelle Obama set a new world record for jumping jacks. Michele Simon echoed the sentiments of many public health advocates when she explained why jumping jacks aren’t enough to “fight childhood obesity”.
- A 28-state Listeria cantaloupe outbreak — “the most deadly in the United States in 100 years” — came to a close. Final tally: 146 illnesses and 30 deaths.
- McDonald’s shares rose to record highs. Don’t worry, we have that ultra powerful jumping-jack antidote, remember? And, as Sam Kass assured us earlier in the year, we need McDonald’s and other food industry giants to help us reclaim children’s health. Eat your GMOs and run along now!
- In “is anyone surprised at this point?” news, Tyson Fresh Meats Inc. recalled almost 41,000 pounds of ground beef over E.coli concerns.
Whew.
Let’s see what 2012 has in store. Well, we already know one thing coming down the pike — McDonald’s ‘farm to fork” greenwashing campaign. Happy New Year?