March 2015 Question #2
Supplemental article #1 discusses
how many of the nation’s leading packaged food and beverage manufacturers had
voluntarily pledged to decrease the calorie content of the products they
produce by the year 2012. Article #2 further discusses this concept. However,
the results of this month’s study indicated that the average energy, saturated
fat, and/or sugar densities of RTE GBD did not significantly decrease from
2005-2012, possibly indicating that these promises were less than a sure thing.
As future RDs (#RD2B), how can we hold manufacturers accountable for their promises to ensure that they don't just tell people what they want to hear?
As future RDs (#RD2B), how can we hold manufacturers accountable for their promises to ensure that they don't just tell people what they want to hear?
posted by Unknown @ 2:32 PM
31 comments
31 Comments:
I think the biggest impact that we can have as dietitians is to educate clients or patients how to read food labels and to see past marketing tricks. Consumers can have a large impact by where they choose to spend their money, so if we can educate them on how to read food labels they can make educated decisions and hopefully companies will be forced to actually make changes. I think some companies have already realized that consumers have certain expectations about their food and if the consumers aren’t happy, they’ll make the change (I’m thinking specifically about Subway and the ingredient in their bread that was also found in rubber shoe soles and yoga mats, and how quickly they got rid of that ingredient).
This issue revolves around promises that product manufacturers made; however the majority of individuals that we will interact with and counsel will be the consumers of these products. Keeping manufacturers responsible is something that could likely be accomplished through lobbying, but I think the solution to this problem should focus on providing consumers with the knowledge and skills to determine what comprises the foods that they are eating. Consumers typically purchase foods without looking at the nutrition facts label, and many who do look at the label look at calories alone. I certainly agree with Sammy that education on how to effectively read food labels to make healthy, well-educated decisions is the key to this issue.
If consumers start purchasing competitor products because they are healthier options and provide a more nutrient dense rather than a calorie dense option, manufacturers would certainly change their production tactics to prevent the loss of sales. This issue is driven by what the consumer wants and is willing to purchase. If consumers continue to support the companies that did not decrease the calorie content of their products, then I forecast little change actually being made.
I agree with Sammy, as dietitians it's not really feasible to go after these food companies. They're going to do whatever makes a profit and say whatever it takes to keep their consumers satisfied. I think our job is focusing on the clients. I understand that it's hard for the clients to be in the environment that they are in, but more education will get them to possibly start thinking about a better lifestyle. I think that the markets have been changing and companies and grocery stores have accommodated to the growing demands for healthier foods. This is shown through the healthy food aisles that are popping up in the stores and dietitians being proactive as retail dietitians. Times are changing and I think it's just going to take a little bit longer to really see the shift.
I also agree with Jenn that consumers will buy what they like and what they're used to, some will change, and others won't. Lobbying is an idea but it seems like we don't have enough dietitians in policy and don't necessarily have the finance to really accomplish what we'd like when going up against these huge food corporations.
I agree with everyone above. The only way to really go after food manufacturers is to lobby and advocate. Lobbying and advocating are very time consuming processes, and very few laws are actually passed to begin with. This is especially hard, again, as the corporate companies are being driven to make as much money as possible. The most important thing we can do for our clients and patients as dietitians, as mentioned above, is to educate them. We can educate them on portion sizes and serving sizes, reading food and nutrition labels, and recognizing the ingredients list as well. It is very shocking to see how few of consumers can actually do this successfully. I think it is crucial that clients are also made aware of healthier substitutions and alternatives offered as well. This is definitely an area where Tina mentioned how important it is for retail and grocery store dietitians to come into play. Giving grocery store tours and educating clients on the best foods to buy and how to prepare these is another helpful tactic on decreasing the amount of unhealthy food products that are bought. Many consumers do not realize that the layout of the grocery store is set up in order to provide them with temptations. Giving people tips on how to navigate the layout of the grocery store effectively, along with helpful tips on how to grocery shop efficiently (never go when hungry, make a list, only buy what is on the list, make a weekly meal plan beforehand, etc.) may prevent them from buying more of these unhealthier food products as well. Manufacturers will continue to make items that sell, unless as Jenn mentioned, consumers start buying from other competitors and they begin to lose profits. Only then will more manufacturers change their food items (perhaps to become healthier) in order to remain competitive and stay current with other competing manufacturing corporations.
This is extremely discouraging because food companies do need to be held accountable. As a future RD, I think it is important to expose the false claims through education, media, and lobbying. If every dietitian set aside a couple days a year to lobby or contact legislation about corrupt food company claims, I feel we could make a difference. Organizing in groups by state is another way to make a large impact. Being a leader in your community and making time to stand up for ethical beliefs are ideals that need to be valued as something we must do often. It is difficult to confront this issue since food companies are so powerful. Even dietitians who work for these companies or have profit based salaries may struggle with these ethical choices/opinions.
Haley - I appreciate your perspective on everyone taking a few days a year to lobby and contact our local politicians. It certainly is a feasible goal to take a few days out of the year to support our profession and advocate for honest manufacturing and improved nutrition standards. Certainly if all RDs had this perspective, we could truly make a difference. While one voice is easily lost in a crowd, a group of voices in unison is clearly heard.
Haley, I love your perspective. I definitely feel as though WE can make a difference. The keyword there is the "WE." If you go to eatright.org to their "About Us" page, they say "The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics is the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals."
If we can't/won't try to make a difference at the corporate level....who will!?
I asked this question because most other industries (think about the auto industry...) gets absolutely beaten to death by the media and by the government for false claims and or substandard business practices. However, seemingly, the food industry isn't held nearly as accountable. Let's lead the charge! Great conversation everybody, let's keep it going (If this whole dietitian thing doesn't work out for me, maybe I'll become a cheerleader...)
First of all, I'm not sure focusing on the calorie level of a food product is the thing we should be encouraging companies to change. I think most of us would agree the best form to eat foods is in their natural state, and pushing companies to lower the calories in their products is forcing them to chemically alter the product and use additives that we can't be sure of their long-term effect. However, I love Sammy's point that most food companies use many marketing tricks to persuade consumers. Teaching our clients how to read a label and what tricks to be aware of is going to be the best way (besides lobbying) to affect this issue. Food companies function around the almighty dollar, and the best way to push them to make changes is to affect their sales. The more people that we can reach, the sooner this will happen.
Haley brings up a great point about advocating and lobbying. We should be leaders in our community, and since we are professionals in this field, others will look to us to make a difference and fight for a healthier future. Taking a few days a year to make sure we get heard is a great start.
As dietitians, we can't. But we can encourages others to not buy their products and expose their lies. Marketing is a major industry and all we can do as dietitians is encourage our clients to dig a little deeper.
We can hold manufacturers accountable for their promises by encouraging consumers to purchase products from honest manufacturers. I think we should educate consumers and encourage them to put in a little effort in to figuring out where their food is actually coming from and the companies that produce it. Another thing we can do is encourage consumers to buy healthier alternatives, and this is where reading food labels and ingredients lists is important. A lesser-known brand at a grocery store may have a similar product with better nutritional stats. We can also encourage buying locally as much as possible and limiting purchases from dishonest major manufacturers. I realize this isn’t practical for all foods and for every one, but supporting manufacturers that have an honest brand and healthier product may be beneficial for the food industry. If big manufacturers’ sales decline, they may realize that they should uphold their promises to the public and make changes to their products. In the end, I think it comes down to educating consumers more than holding manufacturers accountable. If consumers demand healthier items then manufacturers will supply them if they want to stay in business.
Honestly, I think the only thing we truly have power to do is to voice our concerns publicly to raise awareness and/or “outrage”, since we don’t have any sort of special privilege to hold them accountable – I wish we did because that would be awesome. Social media might be one of the best avenues. It seems to be the method of choice for the common citizen to draw attention to issues like this. The one benefit we have in our favor is our expertise in these topics, so our voices might make a little more impact than others in situations like this. Getting something trending is great means for awareness these days.
And I’m not an expert in law, but I’m sure all it would take is one case brought by the public against a manufacturer for false claims to spur on some change.
Like Haley mentioned, we have to remember that there are systems in place in a democracy to have our voices heard by those in power. We just have to use them. And like Arthur said, we are part of a very large organization, so maybe we have more collective power than we realize for initiating change.
I agree with what everyone has been saying here and I think we all know that there isn't just one answer to this question. I think this will have to be a combined effort of educating clients and teaching them to be responsible for their health as well as lobbying for change. Haley brings up a great point that if all of us could just take a few days out a year to lobby about these issues we would probably be able to make a difference. I also feel that at least for me, personally, I would need to take the time out and educate myself on how to go about rallying for effective change because it's not something I have ever done before.
This is hard question to answer because there is no clear solution(s). As RDNs, other than influencing/creating policy for this issue, I believe we can hold manufacturers accountable for their promises by teaching our clients/communities to vote with their dollar. This means purchasing products from good, honest companies that don't just tell people what they want to hear. While I would also say that, as RDNs, we can publicly denounce companies that lie about improvements, teaching clients to vote with their dollar allows them the opportunity to make their own choices based on the information provided.
One way we can hold manufacturers accountable is to advocate for legislation that requires these changes. The only way to do this is to have a lobbyist on the side of nutrition that can raise more money than the food industry. In other words, we need to start using our voices and aligning with those in positions of power so that we can enact change upon our nation. If we as practitioners do not take this approach, we will not likely see the nutritional changes that we believe are adequate.
Remember, with healthy food aisles come gimics and fads (see Hy-Vees healthy section and how their RDs promote these fad products. Just having grocery stores jump on these money-making bandwagons isn't going to help our cause. Granted, we are focused on educating the clients, but what about the clients we can't reach? Have you been to low SES areas and instilled nutrition education? It's just as hard to provide knowledge and change behavior in these areas as it is to convince persons in high SES areas that what they read on the internet, saw on tv, or what their book club is talking about isn't true. We need the help of food manufacturers to increase the proportion of healthy food choices. The bottom line is money. Wherever the money is, that is where the manufacturer's go. Just another reason we need to be involved in community advocacy initiatives.
Brady, I like your point about social media. Fifteen years ago, using such technology to get "the word out" wouldn't have been possible. But now, it seems like even the smallest, and least important, of news stories (that likely wouldn't have made a dent in national news 15 years ago...like that color of the dress thing), blow up social media and everyone knows about it/talks about it. You bring up a great point about collective power too. We are a large group. I realize that not everybody within the Academy would agree to push for change (especially those whose salaries are dependent on food manufacturers...), but using our status as the world's largest organization of nutrition professionals wouldn't hurt our ability to advocate some changes.
Charity, you bring up a good point about the money. Money makes the world go 'round, and as unfortunate as that may be in some situations, it's the cold, hard truth. I agree that we need work together with food manufacturers to increase the availability of "better" food choices. I also really like your point about the lower SES areas, or other areas in firm need of nutrition education, but who may not get any. I hate to say it, but many keep focusing on the importance of educating clients about food choices while focusing on how time consuming/draining lobbying for change would be...Realistically, how much quicker is trying to reach out and educate "everyone" going to be? Better question yet, who is going to fund this education? Extension programs are making cuts left and right, and if you ever look at their job openings, most are based on one year contracts with no guaranteed renewal. The availability of the job is directly based on the amount of money available for the next year. If there's no money, there's no extension professional providing nutrition education in that area. Maybe this ties into the taxation question. We could use some of those taxation dollars (to companies that make "unhealthy" food items) to fund nutrition professionals at the state and county levels. These professionals, in turn, could promote healthier alternatives and the power of consumer "choice" which would allow consumers to make their own decisions and to vote with their own money. If the argument is that change at the macro level is unnecessary or just not feasible, then we need professionals at the micro level to educate all consumers, especially those in lower SES areas, who may be more likely to choose these foods to begin with. Just an idea.
We cannot really hold manufacturers accountable for their promises, but Haley makes an important point that we need to bring these false claims to the attention of people/departments who can raise awareness of the claims and prevent the company from continuing to make false claims.
I like what Sammy said about educating clients to read labels and understand marketing claims. Susan also makes a good point that changing a company's sales is the best way to get the company to make changes, and we can do that by getting people to choose healthier foods, which will decrease sales and hopefully impact which foods are produced.
I'm just reading about the whole Kraft debacle with the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics allowing Kraft (after being paid, of course) to display the Kids Eat Right logo on their Kraft singles and I thought it was really fitting for this discussion. What a perfect example of what food companies will do to try and make consumers believe that their food is "healthy" for them. And speaking of what we can do about this as future dietitians, I'll leave a link here with a great letter sample to send to our state delegate.....if any of you are interested....
https://www.facebook.com/DietitiansForProfessionalIntegrity/posts/895434417193101
Companies will always say what consumers want to hear, no matter what industry they are in. The Better Business Bureau works to evaluate business integrity other sectors of the market place. Their mission and vision from the BBB website follow:
Our Vision:
An ethical marketplace where buyers and sellers trust each other.
Our Mission:
BBB’s mission is to be the leader in advancing marketplace trust. We do this by:
• Setting standards for marketplace trust
• Encouraging and supporting best practices by engaging with and educating consumers and businesses
• Celebrating marketplace role models
• Calling out and addressing substandard marketplace behavior
• Creating a community of trustworthy businesses and charities
It would be a large scale operation to create a similar initiative focused on the food industry, however, it could be approached in the same manner. As (future) dietitians we are well positioned to create and lead such an initiative. Companies could get the “seal of approval” based on an unbiased evaluation. The company could then boast this seal as a marketing tool of ethical practice and integrity. Instead of companies just claiming to have made changes, they could be evaluated by and independent review for validation of claims. This would create voluntary accountability.
The GMA attempted to create this accountability, however statistics can be deceptive in presentation style or by sheer omission. A set of standards to evaluate total health impact of a food company on the marketplace would need to be created. This would require reporting on all products a company brings to the market place, healthy and unhealthy. We can reduce saturated fat all day long in single products, but if a company brings 5 grams of saturated fat to market in a new product for every 3 grams the remove from an existing product, there is an obvious discrepancy in net health value. A comparison of profits to financial investment in public health initiatives would also create a more meaningful set of data. It is good to recognize what has been done, as they do in the GMA survey; however, the bar will need to be set higher to force transparency and more rigorous evaluation if we expect to hold the businesses accountable. It would be interesting to see if there was some kind of grant available to create the evaluation tool to get things started.
http://www.bbb.org/central-illinois/get-to-know-us/vision-mission-and-values/
As future RDs, it is important that we educate the consumers who are buying these products. Systems such as NuVal are easy ways for consumers to identify the health value of foods while grocery shopping. As Gina said, the food product companies will always say what the consumers want to hear and I like your idea, Gina, about creating a system similar to the BBB for food product companies. Most consumers know how to read a nutrition label, but they don't know how to compare them and assess the overall nutrient quality of foods. In our career, we have the opportunity to further educate our clients to help them understand how to better read nutrition labels and reduce the likelihood of consumers falling for untrue claims or buying a food that is "reduced sugar" which is actually substituted for increased fat or sodium. This is a common mistake that occurs with consumers who are in a rush at the grocery store. They are looking for healthy options, so they read the health claim on the front of the box and don't read the nutrition label to see all contents of the product. Knowing how to read nutrition labels and taking the time to do so can make a significant difference in the overall nutrition content of the product.
It's difficult to hold companies accountable for their pledges. The difference we can make would be to educate our clients, the consumers, about how to read nutrition labels and choosing the healthiest product. As mentioned in the article, people are purchasing products with less calories and sugar density, but with more saturated fat. Health professionals have trained consumers to focus so much on calories and sugar (because they think its the main culprits to obesity), that consumers easily overlook the importance of other nutrient amounts such as saturated fat and fiber. As future RDs, we can hold manufacturers accountable to what they promise by educating our consumers to be smart consumers. They should learn the importance of saturated fats and other nutrients and how to choose a balanced product rather than one that is sugar free or low calorie but saturated-fat dense. If there are little to no consumers purchasing the unhealthy products manufacturers continue to spit out, then they will be forced to change their recipes for their food products. Then it would be up to government agencies to regulate the accuracy of their food labeling.
I think the best way to hold large manufacturing companies accountable for their production processes and business decisions is to remove the wool from the American people's eyes. I think the best way to do this is by marketing campaigns. Not to say I am supporting slandering big business, but merely advertising the unpleasant truths of their companies. I feel as American consumers our lives are SATURATED with the images and ideals that these companies choose to show us. They choose what information to advertise in order to create an image that we love. I think that drawing attention to and questioning issues (such as pledging to reduce energy, sat fat, and sugar density in RTE GBDs and not doing it) is something food manufactures should certainly be called out on, and something consumers should be aware of.
Brady made an excellent point about using social media to draw attention and awareness to false claims. Almost every one is on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or some sort of social media account nowadays. Stories explode on social media's account, and this is how a lot of people find out about their news nowadays.
I also agree with Jeanne about holding manufacturers accountable for false advertising and marketing campaigns. It is important to teach clients about quackery and false claims. Many consumers will believe everything they see or read on media accounts, along with food labels and logos if they do not know how to correctly read nutrition labels or ingredient lists. It is important to educate consumers on what nutrients and ingredients products really contain.
I also agree that holding manufacturing companies accountable is crucial and could make our jobs so much easier. Through education counseling we have to inform our clients how to see past the false claims and how to get factual information. I believe RD's can make a difference through joining together and contacting legislators and lobbyist. Also one specific area I believe needs immediate attention is the supplement industry which has extremely limited regulation.
The food industry has a lot of power, and I don’t think RDs can keep them accountable for their pledges to make foods healthier. Like other people mentioned, RDs do have the power to educate people on the food choices they are making. Like Charity mentioned, money is the motivation for these companies. I do think that Americans are becoming more conscious and aware of their choices when ordering food or at the grocery store. I feel like there are more healthy choices offered at restaurants and more healthy products offered at grocery stores than previous years. Now is the time to make a difference.
Steph I am so glad you mentioned the NuVal system! Even as a future RD I think it can be hard to make choices between some products, so when in doubt I look at the NuVal number. I think the general public needs a concrete system like that to help them make their choices between food products. I understand the system may have its flaws because it is just a mathematical equation, but it is a huge step in the right direction. Reading labels is important to know, but sometimes it is tricky when we are comparing some products.
I think we can hold the food industry accountable for their pledges to make foods healthier by convincing these companies on the importance of having an RD on staff to help ensure that the products they are producing and trying to sell are in fact "healthier". Also, when working at the YMCA I have my clients bring in food labels to teach them how to read them and to show the client products that try to promote how healthy they are when in reality they are tricking the consumer into false claims on their labels. I also have a running list of companies that I have found to make false claims on their labels and warn clients about these companies.
Charity talked a lot about advocating and lobbying for change. I think another step I could take to go along with Charity's lobbying idea would be taking the list I generated of companies that make false claims on their labels and writing into these companies and government agencies in order to try and get these labels changed or taken off the market.
As Stephanie, Abby, Sophie, and many others said I think education is so important in this area. Many people think what the food industry is throwing at them is fact and do not realize that they are being lied to. Teaching people where to find reliable information is a great way to arm consumers with the tools to see through false advertisement and misinformation given to them by the food industry. I think educating consumers will be easier than trying to change the large food industry companies because they are driven by money where consumers are driven by their individual health and well being.
When reading this month’s article about the unfulfilled pledges of manufacturers, I found the results a bit discouraging. While it sounds great to the public that we have all of these companies pledging to manufacture healthier food products, the difficult part is in evaluating whether they actually follow through with their promises. While it is easy to blame the manufacturers for their shortcomings, I think this is also an opportunity for us, as future dietitians, to educate our clients. As both Jenn and Sammy mentioned, education on reading food labels is key to overcoming the manufacturer downfalls. In fact, starting the education of reading nutrition labels at a younger age would be an effective approach to making the process more of a habit.
In addition, I felt that Brady had a good point about the use of social media to stand up against manufacturer shortcomings. In fact, most of you (myself included) probably have signed the “repeal the seal” petition this past week in regard to the Kraft Kids Eat Right seal. This is just one example of how nutrition professionals and students like ourselves are striving to make changes.
I do believe that consumers today are becoming more health conscious making better food purchases. The second supplemental article reported that there are now more than 30,000 healthier product choices that have been introduced to the marketplace between 2002-2013. From what I understood from the reading, these new products were not simply pledges that have gone unfulfilled, but in fact new or reformulated products that have: eliminated/reduced trans fat content, reduced sugar content, reduced caloried content, etc. Therefore, I do think that there are some positive changes that are being made in our food system as a result of consumer demands.
Jenn brings up a great a point that competition of healthier options is what can continue to push changes in the food industry. As long as consumers want healthier food products, I think food products will continue to improve. The problem is just regulation and ensuring companies are not making false claims on their products as mentioned above.
Sammy's comment about Subway freaked me out and also made me think how it seems fast-food restaurants and dining out options in general do not seem to have strict regulations in terms of their food. How can they be producing bread with an ingredient found in rubber shoe soles and yoga mats? How can McDonald's burgers not mold for years? Consumers frequently read food labels at the grocery store, but how many get to read a food label of what they are eating at restaurants. They could be using lard, fiberglass, etc. for all we know!
Carly stated that she has a list of companies who continually make false claims and I believe that is a great idea and a very useful tool for clients. While we may wish that companies acted in a certain fashion it is crucial we do our job as future RDs and inform our clients on how to make healthy lifestyle choices.
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