Howdy, all--
From today's AP--gack. Ptui. Thought the article below might interest some
of you.
For some of Redefining Progress's thoughts on the eat-it/diet double
whammy, see
Food for Thought: The GDP Is Padded with Fat--Ours
http://www.rprogress.org/pubs/gpi1999/food_for_thought.html
Consuming Kids
http://www.rprogress.org/pubs/gpi1999/consuming_kids.html
The 1999 Genuine Progress Indicator update:
http://www.rprogress.org/pubs/gpi1999/gpi1999.html
Then have fun thinking about the economic metaphors of "growth" and
"consumption" in this light as you reflect that Business Wire called the
treadmill "the exercise machine of the 90s."
How stunningly apt.
peace
mish
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
>Food makers betting Americans like the fat
>
> PHILIP BRASHER, AP Farm Writer
>
> Tuesday, May 9, 2000
> Breaking News Sections
>
>
> (05-09) 01:34 EDT CHICAGO (AP) -- Craving
> some fat? Sara Lee Corp. is betting you'll like its
> new Calzone Creations microwavable sandwiches
> with as much as 12 grams of artery-clogging
> saturated fat, 60 percent of the recommended daily
> intake for an average person.
>
> If you get hungry before dinner, there's now a
> cheesecake snack bar that Kraft Foods says will
> make the confection an ``everyday indulgence.''
>
> With Americans worrying less about fat and calories
> these days, food makers are rolling out a raft of
> fat-laden, calorie-packed new products at the
> supermarket industry's annual trade show.
>
> Among the other new goodies: Oscar Meyer
> Lunchables sweet rolls that the kids can carry to
> school for recess and single-serving packs of dip
> from Dean Foods that people can take to the office
> to make those carrots and other veggies go down
> easier. And there are new versions of Nestle's
> Power Bar, a staple of long-distance runners, that
> are essentially vitamin-fortified candy bars, with up
> to eight times as much saturated fat as the original.
>
> ``I don't watch my fat intake at all,'' said Glen
> Murphy of Mississauga, Ontario, as he sampled one
> of the Calzone Creations, a croissant-like pocket
> stuffed with meat, cheese and vegetables. ``I like
> what I buy and I eat it and enjoy it.''
>
> Industry research indicates consumer concern about
> fat has been falling in recent years, even as food
> makers have struggled to market low-fat products.
>
> Among supermarket shoppers who say they are
> very concerned about nutrition, just 46 percent of
> consumers say they are worried about the fat
> content. That's down from 60 percent in 1996,
> according to a poll sponsored by the Food
> Marketing Institute, the supermarket industry trade
> group. Interest in sodium content and cholesterol
> levels also is down.
>
> Consumers have been ``deluged with conflicting,
> sometimes misleading claims'' about nutrition and
> diet and they've reacted by ``tuning out,'' said
> Michael Sansolo, the FMI's senior vice president.
>
> Meanwhile, the number of Americans who are
> considered obese has soared from about one in
> eight in 1991 to one in five by last year, according
> to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
> Prevention.
>
> ``There is so much food out there ... and most of it
> is not the healthiest,'' said Margo Wootan, a
> nutrition expert with the Center for Science in the
> Public Interest, an advocacy group that has
> criticized Kraft's new cheesecake bars as ``food
> porn.''
>
> But most people still care about good nutrition, she
> said. ``They just find it increasingly difficult to eat
> better,'' Wootan said.
>
> The number of new food products bearing low-fat
> or low-calorie claims more than doubled from 1993
> to 1996 -- from 847 to 2,076 -- but then dropped
> by half two years later, according to New Product
> News, a publication that tracks the industry.
>
> Sara Lee tested various versions of its Calzone
> sandwiches with chefs and found that the less fat the
> products had the less they were liked. Companies
> also are finding, they say, that the same consumers
> who will buy products like the Kraft's cheesecake
> bars are often the same ones who are driving the
> boom in soy burgers and other health foods.
>
> ``Most people now are taking an open-minded
> approach to managing their whole diet,'' Kraft
> spokeswoman Nancy Daigler said.
>
> Leah Brown, a food show worker from Chicago,
> sampled one of the cheesecake bars at the Kraft
> exhibit and pronounced it ``very good and I don't
> like cheesecake.''
>
> It's ``not the real New York cheese cake, but it's a
> fairly decent copy,'' said Stuart Ladin, a
> supermarket equipment supplier from Winnetka, Ill.
>
> Dean Foods, the nation's second-largest dairy
> processor, is marketing its new Dips-For-One as a
> way to eat healthier. The government's proposed
> new Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggests such
> dips as one way for consumers to increase their
> vegetable intake.
>
> ``Since vegetables, such as carrots and celery now
> come individually packaged for convenience, it was
> only logical for Dean's to provide a portable dip
> snack,'' company spokesman Phil Dolci said.
>
> ^------=
>
> On the Net: Food Marketing Institute:
> http://www.fmi.org
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