Hello, HUMANists,
You won’t believe this!
Did you know:
- In the last 50 years, over 1000 new chemicals and ingredients have been used in food products without the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) even knowing about them, let alone reviewing their safety
- Food packages can indicate that the food has “0g trans fat” when there really is trans fat in the food
- Food packages can say the product is “strawberry-flavored” and have no strawberries in the ingredients
- The food, beverage, and restaurant industries collectively spend roughly $16 billion a year to promote sales through advertising agencies, perhaps $2 billion of that targeted at children
- Cookies and cakes, pizza, and soft drinks are the top sources of calories in the diets of children 2 through 18
- Big Food lobbyists are out to deceive us (take, for example, the Corn Refiners Association’s latest failed attempt to re-label High Fructose Corn Syrup as “corn sugar”)
Where do you think our food industry is headed in 2013? If ballot measures are any indication of where the American public’s priorities are, they do show that we’re thinking more about where our food comes from and how it’s labeled.
Unfortunately, California’s Proposition 37 aka “California’s Right to Know” – a landmark initiative aimed to indicate on food labels if a product contains genetically modified ingredients – needed a little over 500,000 votes to pass. Those who opposed the measure – monoliths like Monsanto, DuPont, Dow AgriSciences, Kellogg’s, Kraft Foods, General Mills, Coca Cola, PepsiCo and more — spent close to $46 million in advertisements opposing it, while the campaign itself spent just $9 million. Connecticut and Vermont also had failed food-label-related propositions.
Prop-37-label advocates haven’t given up and are using their momentum to get the measure on the ballot for the 2013 election cycle in Washington state.
There is much at stake when it comes to our health and the current food environment.
In looking forward to 2013, we hope that much of the above will change. We specifically hope that the USDA will update its competitive foods in schools guidelines and that the FDA will finalize its food safety rules and define and enforce the use of “natural” on food labels.
What do you hope to see in 2013? Please leave us a comment below.
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Corrected copy…….
There are so many factors in food that can be defined as “healthy” such as as “100% natural”, “Baked”, “Organic”, “Whole Grain”, “No Artificial” ingredients, “Gluten Free”, “100 % Natural Fruit Juice”, “Fortified”, “X % of Daily Requirements”. “No Sugar Added”., “Wholesome”, “Contains X % Fiber” and more. It seems like for one thing that we should come up with our own definition that make it clear to our customers what our guidelines are for healthy snacks. This will help define us as a company. It would involve searching out existing brands, working with manufacturers to develop new brands and coming up our own ideas. It also seems like we should not have to sacrifice “taste” for “healthy” either. “Pop Chips” is a fairly new product that seems to accomplish both. Our “Healthy” focus should even overlap into the category of personal care items in time.
Feed Your Mind is more then just a vending company and offers several revenue streams and distribution channels. It will involve offering an extended line of products online. It involves offering products that will nurture and grow healthy and sharp minds. Commonly known food items that accomplish this are blueberries, broccoli, walnuts, almonds, vitamin B12, B complex vitamins, salmon, Omega 3 and more. It also provides education and information about those things that can have a negative impact on the same. It offers inspiration and motivation to all who want to change their lives and become best they can be every minute of every day. What we feed our minds and what feed our bodies will greatly influence whether or not we can achieve this goal or any goal for that matter.
I would be happy to use our machines to broadcast this message and the importance of it. We hope to strategically align ourselves soon with a larger vending company to enable us to rapidly expand. This will hopefully happen soon and when it does, it will give us a bigger voice to be advocates for causes such as fool labeling. Note I am using my wives Facebook because I do not have one.
Steve Bohannon, Founder, Feed Your Mind LLC.
Well presented mate!
With respect to rules to remove junk food vending; I believe it would be better to leave the junk food. First, you could create the awareness of the benefits of health such as “makes you smell better naturally”. And you have that screen space at the top with which to do it (The way to get consumer attention is to educate). Second, once consumers hit the 11% mark in the healthy direction, the momentum would eventually shut “junk” down and you would be viewed as a hero. If competing machines are removed however, healthy vending might suffer an initial backlash resulting in slow consumer adoption.
Another idea to add to the “pro” side of health. Ask the USDA/EDU to approve gardens in school yards (Some children would like to tend the garden during break). This will add to the healthy mantra and create momentum in the direction of health. If you want consumers currently in 3rd grade to purchase the healthy option in high school, they need to be educated! The day will come when the “bake sale” turns into the “organic produce sale’.