The Center for Science in the Public Interest and the National Consumers League, both represented by the nonprofit law firm Earthjustice, filed a lawsuit last week in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s decision to delay a rule requiring chain restaurants, supermarkets, convenience stores, and other food retail establishments to post calorie counts for prepared food and beverages. FDA issued the rule requiring disclosure of calorie counts and other nutrition information in 2014 but, one day before industry was due to comply in May 2017, the FDA delayed the compliance deadline for an additional year until May 2018. Without menu labeling, it’s hard for consumers to estimate the calorie content of popular restaurant items.
Dietary Guidelines Recommend Limiting Added Sugar to Less Than 10% of Calories
The new Dietary Guidelines for Americans say that healthy eating patterns limit added sugars to less than 10 percent of calories per day. This recommendation is a target to help the public achieve a healthy eating pattern, which means meeting nutrient and food group needs through nutrient-dense food and beverage choices and staying within calorie limits. This target is informed by national data on intakes of calories from added sugars, which account on average for almost 270 calories, or more than 13 percent of calories per day in the U.S. population.
Media coverage of legal basis for sustainability in dietary guidelines
By Michele Simon, Cross-posted from Eat Drink Politics
As I posted last week, I conducted a legal analysis to counter the claim that considerations of environmental sustainability do not belong in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The same week, the USDA and HHS announced they would exclude sustainability from the final document not yet out, despite the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee’s recommendations that eating less meat and more plants is best, both for our own health and that of the planet.
Below is a media round-up of coverage of my analysis.
Continue reading Media coverage of legal basis for sustainability in dietary guidelines
Hampton Creek targeted by USDA-controlled egg industry program
Michele Simon, Cross-posted from Eat Drink Politics
Hundreds of pages of disclosed communications from the American Egg Board reveal a coordinated two-year plan to undermine and attack Hampton Creek, the San Francisco-based food company, seen as a “threat” and “major crisis” to the egg industry.
Continue reading Hampton Creek targeted by USDA-controlled egg industry program
Corporations and Health Watch 