Lawyer: Food industry is hungry only for profit

Americans can't count on the profit-driven food industry to address the U.S. obesity epidemic, Michele Simon, a public-health lawyer, said last night.

Major food companies are pretending to be "part of the solution," when they actually lobby against sound nutrition policies, she said.

Simon spoke at the Stiteler Hall Forum about food corporations and their response to the nation's growing weight problem to an audience of about 60, many of whom attended for their class, "The Politics of Food."

Simon recently published Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back, which she said imparts "a healthy dose of skepticism" about food companies.

Simon said those companies are embarking on "massive public-relations campaigns" to improve their images and to deflect government regulation of their products.

But most companies are "basically making excuses," Simon said. "They say that it is about personal responsibility, and this is a very powerful excuse."

Simon said that these companies also claim to be making more healthful food products, but that these products are declared healthful by the companies' own criteria, which is not necessarily valid.

"McDonalds is making salads now, but, unfortunately, calling something a salad doesn't necessarily make it" healthful, Simon said, adding that some of their salads contain more calories than a Big Mac.

"Most of the major food companies can't make money by making" more-healthful foods, Simon said. "You can't make a healthy Cheeto."

The solution to the obesity epidemic, Simon said, is not to partner with the national food industry but rather to "change the food environment in each community."

Simon said schools can refuse to take large corporations' money for funding, a decision she considers a "no-brainer."

She added that we "need to move forward with alternative food sources."

College senior Jenna Gibson said she enjoyed the presentation because she is doing work in school nutrition programs.

Gibson said she liked hearing Simon's "views on the role of industry" in relation to the obesity epidemic.

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