Protected: IOM releases Front of Pack Labeling Report
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Protected: 34th Annual National Food Policy Conference
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Darden Commits to First Lady
Photo borrowed from Orlando Sentinel
Darden Restaurants, the world’s largest full-service restaurant company (disclaimer: client), whose brands include Red Lobster, Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse and Bahama Breeze, today announced a health and wellness commitment to reduce its calorie and sodium footprints and to provide greater choice and variety on its children’s menus.
The company was joined at an Olive Garden, by First Lady Michelle Obama and the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) to announce its commitment. According to Darden the commitment will:
- Reduce its overall calorie footprint
- Much like a carbon footprint, Darden is looking at its calorie footprint as a measurement of total impact.
- Across the entire Darden portfolio of brands, the company is working toward a 10 percent reduction of calories over five years and a 20 percent reduction of calories over 10 years.
- Darden will look closely at reformulating, resizing and removing certain items, and introducing new calorie-conscious, flavorful choices.
- Reduce sodium in its offerings by 10 percent over the next five years and 20 percent over the next 10 years
- Darden will work in partnership with its suppliers to secure this commitment in a “transition-over-time” approach that aligns with national nutrition policy and allows for the evolution of consumer taste preferences as well as needed market innovations.
- The company will focus these efforts on the items where it has the greatest opportunity to make a difference based on current sodium levels.
- Ensure its children’s menus provide choices that appeal to parents and kids alike
- Darden is establishing specific nutrition standards to guide the development of its children’s meals to simplify parents’ search for healthier options that their children enjoy.
- Fruits or vegetables will become the default side dish options.
- An 8 oz. serving of 1-percent milk is now the default beverage with free refills.
This initiative builds on the success of the First Lady’s “Let’s Move!” campaign to offer healthier options for families dining out and is consistent with Darden’s long history of innovation to provide its guests with the choice and variety they seek and an exceptional dining experience. Some of the changes have already been made to children’s menus available in restaurants today, including the introduction of six new children’s meals that meet nutrition standards consistent with USDA Dietary Guidelines.
Darden worked with PHA, the nonprofit organization that works with the First Lady on her “Let’s Move!” initiative to reduce childhood obesity, as it developed its commitment and will collaborate with PHA as it works toward its goals.
For more information visit www.darden.com.
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HHS Launches Million Hearts
Image via HHS
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today launched The Million Hearts campaign. This campaign aims to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes over the next five years through enhanced quality and prevention efforts. According to HHS, currently cardiovascular disease costs $444 billion every year in medical costs and lost productivity in Americans. By building on work already underway thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Million Hearts will help improve Americans’ health and increase productivity.
Million Hearts is focused on two goals:
- Empowering Americans to make healthy choices such as preventing tobacco use and reducing sodium and trans fat consumption. This can reduce the number of people who need medical treatment such as blood pressure or cholesterol medications to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
- Improving care for people who need treatment by encouraging a targeted focus on the “ABCS” –Aspirin for people at risk, Blood pressure control, Cholesterol management and Smoking cessation – which address the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease and can help to prevent heart attacks and strokes.
A wide array of partners, including federal agencies, health care clinicians, private insurers, businesses, health advocacy groups, and community organizations are supporting Million Hearts with a wide range of activities. Check out the Million Hearts site here.
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President Declares September National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month
Image via Google Images
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
August 31, 2011
Presidential Proclamation
National Childhood Obesity Awareness MonthSince the 1970s, the rate of childhood obesity in our country has tripled, and today a third of American children are overweight or obese. This dramatic rise threatens to have far‑reaching, long-term effects on our children’s health, livelihoods, and futures. Without major changes, a third of children born in the year 2000 will develop Type 2 diabetes during their lifetimes, and many others will face obesity‑related problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and asthma. As a Nation, our greatest responsibility is to ensure the well-being of our children. By taking action to address the issue of childhood obesity, we can help America’s next generation reach their full potential.
Together, we can stop this epidemic in its tracks. Over the last year and a half, the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative has brought together Federal agencies and some of the biggest corporations and nonprofits from across our country, working to meet our national goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation. Let’s Move! aims to help ensure we can make healthy choices about the foods we eat and how much exercise we get, while building the habits necessary to tackle one of the most urgent health issues we face in this country. I invite all Americans to visit LetsMove.gov to learn more about this initiative and how to help children eat healthy and stay active.
Everyone has a role to play in preventing and reversing the tide of childhood obesity. This year, we announced groundbreaking partnerships with grocery stores and other retailers to increase access to healthy food in underserved areas. These stores have pledged to increase their fruit and vegetable offerings and to open new locations in communities where nutritious food is limited or unavailable.
Childhood obesity cuts across all cultural and demographic lines, so Let’s Move! has started initiatives to reach every cross‑section of America, from urban and rural areas to schools, health clinics, and child care homes and centers. These programs touch everyone, from faith‑based communities to Indian Country, empowering kids and their families to discover the fun in healthy eating and exercise.
Schools also have an important role in ensuring our children live full and active lives. Last December, I signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act into law, enacting comprehensive change that will allow more children to eat healthier school lunches. One of the cornerstones of Let’s Move! is the HealthierUS School Challenge. This year, America met the goal of doubling the number of schools meeting the Challenge’s requirements for expanding nutrition and physical activity opportunities. These 1,250 schools have shown that together, we can go above and beyond to give our kids the healthy future they deserve.
We are coordinating across the Federal Government to make our goal a reality. This year, the Federal Government released updated Dietary Guidelines for Americans, providing a science‑based roadmap for individuals to make healthy choices, and emphasizing the importance of good nutrition and an active lifestyle. We adapted the food pyramid to a new design ‑‑ MyPlate ‑‑ to encourage balanced meals. And our Healthy People 2020 initiative incorporates childhood obesity prevention in its goals for increasing the health of all Americans.
Across our country, parents are working hard every day to make sure their kids are healthy, and my Administration is committed to supporting families in their efforts. During National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, we recognize the outstanding work our businesses, communities, and families are doing to help us meet our responsibilities to our children. I urge all Americans to help us meet our goal of solving the problem of childhood obesity within a generation.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 2011 as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month. I encourage all Americans to take action by learning about and engaging in activities that promote healthy eating and greater physical activity by all our Nation’s children.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.
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Life’s Sweeter Challenge
Life's Sweeter Logo via CSPI
Sugary drinks have contributed significantly to America’s rising weight problem. Research has demonstrated a direct link between consuming sugary bevs and the risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and many other health problems. Sugary drinks account for half of all added sugars in the American diet, and about. Throughout the years, the average size of a bottle of pop has slowly skyrocketed. In the 1950s, a Coca-Cola bottle was 6.5 ounces. Today, the average bottle of coke is a whopping 20 ounces; that’s pretty intense, and that’s why we’re joining the campaign to cut down.
CSPI’s challenge is for Americans to decrease their average sugary drink intake from today’s 10 cans per week, to only three cans by 2020. We encourage you to join in, and to challenge your friends, family, classmates and coworkers as well. Here are a few ways you can work towards a “sweeter” life:
Drink fewer sugary drinks, such as colas, energy drinks, sweetened teas, and sports drinks.
- Stop serving sugary drinks, carbonated or not, to children under 6, limit them for older children, and provide healthy drink alternatives for children of all ages.
- Educate your family on the negative effects of sugary beverages and encourage them to choose healthier alternatives.
- Join with neighbors and friends to urge schools, child-care settings, after-school programs, parks, recreational facilities, pools, zoos, and other youth venues in your community to stop selling carbonated and non-carbonated sugary soft drinks and to provide access to fresh drinking water.
Cutting back on sugary bevs may not be easy, but nothing worth it is ever easy. Join the “Life’s Sweeter” challenge, and help make yourself and your community a sweeter, healthier place to be. For more info contact fewersugarydrinks@cspinet.org
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CSPI Releases Xtreme Eating Awards
Via Google Images
The results of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)’s 2011 Xtreme Eating Awards- those restaurant foods that are large in calories, fat, and sodium- can be found below.
• Denny’s Fried Cheese Melt: In the chain’s own words, it is “four fried mozzarella sticks and melted American cheese grilled between two slices of sourdough bread.” And in the chain’s own numbers, this cheesy collision, with its side of French fries and marinara sauce, has 1,260 calories and 21 grams of saturated fat (a full day’s worth), and 3,010 mg of sodium (two days’ worth). “The possibilities are wide open,” says Denny’s. “They’re wide, all right,” says Nutrition Action. Eating this meal is like eating two Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pepperoni Pizzas.
• The Cheesecake Factory Farmhouse Cheeseburger: This burger is “topped with grilled smoked pork belly cheddar cheese, onions, lettuce, tomato, mayo and a fried egg.” Red Robin, Denny’s and IHOP have similarly embraced the idea of topping burgers with eggs. But to take the spotlight, this Factory-farmed burger boasts 1,530 calories and 36 grams of saturated fat topped with 3,210 milligrams of sodium. That’s assuming you just eat the burger: French fries bring an additional 460 calories and 1,460 mg of sodium. Eating this would be the equivalent of eating three McDonald’s Quarter Pounders with cheese. Add another Quarter Pounder with cheese if you eat the side order of fries.
• Cold Stone Creamery PB&C Shake: Even people accustomed to 1,500-calorie burgers wouldn’t expect 2,000-calorie shakes. A 24-oz. “Gotta Have It” size shake of peanut butter, chocolate ice cream, and milk has a day’s calories (2,010) and three and a half days’ worth of saturated fat (68 grams). Cold Stone’s Web site says, without a whiff of irony, “Your Health – Just as Important as Taste.” One large Cold Stone Creamery PB&C Shake is like drinking two 16-oz. T-bone steaks plus a buttered baked potato.
• Applebee’s Provolone-Stuffed Meatballs With Fettuccine: Spaghetti with meatballs was never diet food. But Applebee’s stuffs provolone cheese into these meatballs and simultaneously tops the underlying fettuccine with a marinara sauce and a Parmesan cream sauce. With a piece of garlic bread, the four cups of pasta, two sauces, and cheese-injected meatballs deliver 1,520 calories, 43 grams of saturated fat (two days’ worth), and 3,700 mg of sodium (more than two days’ worth). It’s like eating two of Applebee’s 12-oz. Ribeye Steaks plus a side of Garlic Mashed Potatoes.
• The Cheesecake Factory Ultimate Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake: Why stop at a slice of red velvet cake when you can top it with a layer of cheesecake, top that with another layer of red velvet cake, and top that with another layer of cheesecake? And then top that with cream cheese frosting, chocolate shavings, and a small silo of whipped cream? Weighing in at three-quarters of a pound, this dessert packs 1,540 calories and 59 grams of saturated fat (three days’ worth). Eating one slice of the Ultimate Red Velvet Cake Cheesecake is like eating one Pizza Hut Personal Pan Pepperoni Pizza plus two Quarter Pounders with cheese except the cake has an additional days’ worth of saturated fat.
• IHOP Monster Bacon ‘N Beef Cheeseburger: No need to worry about ordering bacon as a topping – this burger from IHOP has bacon blended right into the beef. The bacon-infused burger contains 1,250 calories and 1,590 milligrams of sodium – a day’s worth, says CSPI.
• Morton’s Porterhouse Steak: Not your cheap fast food join, Morton’s still joins the ranks of extreme eats with its Porterhouse steak, which weighs 24 ounces before cooking. It’s 1,390 calories, with 36 grams of saturated fat – you get what you pay for?
• Cold Stone Creamery PB&C Shake: Cold Stone’s PB&C shake manages to squeeze a full day’s worth of calories (2,010) and three and a half days worth of saturated fat (68 grams) into a cup, says CSPI. That’s the large, “Gotta Have It” size. The smaller size has “only” 1,280 calories.
Source: http://www.cbsnews.com/2300-204_162-10008649-6.html?tag=page
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McDonald’s Commitments to Offer Improved Nutrition Choices
via Google Images
Today, McDonald’s USA president Jan Fields announced the company’s “Commitments to Offer Improved Nutrition Choices.” The comprehensive plan aims to help customers — especially families and children — make nutrition-minded choices whether visiting McDonald’s or eating elsewhere.
Menu changes underway include the addition of more nutritionally-balanced choices that meet McDonald’s reputation for great taste and affordability, along with an increased focus on providing nutrition information that enable customers and employees to make simple, informed menu decisions.
According to McDonald’s its Commitments to Offer Improved Nutrition Choices include:
1. Championing children’s well-being: McDonald’s will automatically include produce or a low-fat dairy option in every Happy Meal®. By the end of Q1 2012, we will provide apples in every Happy Meal and promote options that meet the new, rigorous Council of Better Business Bureaus Food Pledge nutrition standards. The impact will be an estimated 20 percent reduction in calories of the most popular Happy Meals, also reducing fat in those meals. We are also exploring alternatives to the automatic apples, such as other produce or low fat dairy items. In 2012, McDonald’s will also raise nutrition awareness among children and parents through national marketing initiatives. The company will promote nutrition and/or active lifestyle messages in 100 percent of its national kids’ communications, including merchandising, advertising, digital and the Happy Meal packaging. McDonald’s will also provide funding for grass roots community nutrition awareness programs.
2. Expanding and improving nutritionally-balanced menu choices: By 2020, McDonald’s will reduce added sugars, saturated fat and calories through varied portion sizes, reformulations and innovations. Also, by 2015, McDonald’s will reduce sodium an average of 15 percent overall across its national menu of food choices.
3. Increasing customers’ and employees’ access to nutrition information: McDonald’s will expand new in-restaurant, website and mobile communications, and marketing vehicles making access to this information even easier. To begin, McDonald’s is now making available its first mobile app so customers can access nutrition information on-the-go on iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, and Androiddevices.
During the past two years, the McDonald’s system has significantly invested in nutritional menu innovations and communications. Examples include investing in scientific and customer research, expanded agricultural supply chain contracts, an expanded team of nutrition experts, and updating nutrition information on McDonald’s website.
Actions in support of the nutrition commitments are already underway at restaurants according to McDonald’s.
Sodium Reduction: McDonald’s has already reduced sodium by 10 percent in the majority of its national chicken menu offerings – most recently Chicken McNuggets®, a Happy Meal favorite. Sodium reductions will continue across the menu in accordance with the Company’s 2015 commitments.
New Happy Meal: McDonald’s will begin rolling out the new Happy Meal in September 2011, with the goal of having them available in all 14,000 restaurants during Q1 2012. The new Happy Meal will automatically include both produce (apple slices, a quarter cup or half serving) and a new smaller size French fries (1.1 ounces) along with the choice of a Hamburger, Cheeseburger or Chicken McNuggets, and choice of beverage, including new fat-free chocolate milk and 1% low fat white milk. For those customers who prefer a side choice of apples only, two bags of apple slices will be available, upon request.
Fruit: By adding fruit in every Happy Meal, McDonald’s hopes to address a challenge children face in meeting the recommended daily consumption of produce. McDonald’s has offered apples as a requested choice in Happy Meals since 2004. And, while recent research found that on average, 88 percent of McDonald’s customers are aware of the option, apples are chosen in only 11 percent of Happy Meal purchases.
Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative: Since 2006, McDonald’s has supported the Council of Better Business Bureaus (“CBBB”) Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (“CFBAI”) involving a voluntary Food Pledge to only nationally advertise products to kids that represent healthier dietary choices. McDonald’s was actively engaged in the process to help develop CBBB’s recently announced more rigorous pledge standards, which include stricter sodium and sugar criteria, zero grams artificial trans fat per labeled serving, and requirements for nutrient components to encourage.
Listening Tour: To ensure that the company’s ongoing commitments are supporting parents and communities, Fields and McDonald’s U.S. executive leadership team will embark on a national listening tour in August. They will hear directly from parents and nutrition experts about how McDonald’s can play a role in this important topic. McDonald’s will launch a new online parents’ community that provides a forum for McDonald’s and parents to more frequently engage in dialog around these important topics.
Accountability and Measurement: To evaluate McDonald’s progress and the impacts of its nutrition commitments, McDonald’s will rely on independent third-parties with expertise in children’s well-being. The company is establishing a Kids’ Food and Nutrition Advisory Board comprised of parents and experts in children’s nutrition, education and behavior to help develop effective nutrition and active lifestyle marketing messages and programming for kids. McDonald’s will also enter into an agreement with a third-party organization to collaborate on a comprehensive measurement process that sets benchmarks and annual progress against commitment goals, which will be reported publicly.
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FDA Reopens Gluten Free Comment Period
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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today reopened the comment period for its 2007 proposal on labeling foods as “gluten free.” The agency is also making available a safety assessment of exposure to gluten for people with celiac disease (CD) and invites comment on these additional data.
One of the criteria proposed is that foods bearing the claim cannot contain 20 parts per million (ppm) or more gluten. The agency based the proposal, in part, on the available methods for gluten detection. The validated methods could not reliably detect the amount of gluten in a food when the level was less than 20 ppm. The threshold of less than 20 ppm also is similar to “gluten-free” labeling standards used by many other countries.
The proposed rule conforms to the standard set by the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 2008, which requires that foods labeled as “gluten-free” not contain more than 20 ppm gluten. This standard has been adopted in regulations by the 27 countries composing the Commission of European Communities.
Please note gluten free labeling will not be required. However should a company voluntarily chose to label a food item as gluten free, it must adhere to the final FDA definition of gluten free.
The FDA stated in a press conference today that it is reopening the comment period as they are looking for the most up-to-date information in order to make the best public health call for the celiac community it impacts. To that end, the FDA encourages members of the food industry, state and local governments, consumers, and other interested parties to offer comments and suggestions about gluten-free labeling. Beginning August 3, 2011 at noon EST, comments will be accepted using the docket number FDA-2005-N-0404 at www.regulations.gov1. The docket will remain open for 60 days.
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Tagged as Comment Period, Comments, FDA, Glueten, Glueten Free