Skip to main content

How Do You Want That Food Served?

In Victoria they plan on banning so-called junk food being available to kids in school. Meanwhile, Tony Abbott, Minister for Health in the Federal Government, resists any attempts to police advertising of junk foods during children's TV viewing times. Forget about preventative medicine! Abbott's argument [?] is that parents should "police" what their kids eat. As Four Corners suggested last year perhaps the "influence" of advertisers has something to do with the Federal Government's resistance to take steps to cut down obesity in children by at least limiting advertising of junk-foods during children's TV viewing times.

The Guardian, in the UK, on the topic of foods available to us all has this to report in an article entitled "World's top 25 food firms 'pathetic' in combating unhealthy diets":

"The world's top 25 food companies have not taken significant action to improve diets despite their claims, according to a report published today.

City University, London, has done an audit of the top 10 food manufacturers, top 10 food retailers and top five food service companies, comparing what they have done against the strategy agreed by the World Health Organisation to tackle obesity and other diet-related diseases. It finds that only a handful are acting on excess fat and sugar in the diet and only 10 are tackling salt levels."

Reading the full article [here] - and don't overlook the interesting table at the end of the piece - only serves to highlight that there is much spin around by manufacturers and purveyors of food but little real attempt to manufacture or serve healthy food.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Reading the Chilcot Inquiry Report more closely

Most commentary on the Chilcot Inquiry Report of and associated with the Iraq War, has been "lifted" from the Executive Summary.   The Intercept has actually gone and dug into the Report, with these revelations : "THE CHILCOT REPORT, the U.K.’s official inquiry into its participation in the Iraq War, has finally been released after seven years of investigation. Its executive summary certainly makes former Prime Minister Tony Blair, who led the British push for war, look terrible. According to the report, Blair made statements about Iraq’s nonexistent chemical, biological, and nuclear programs based on “what Mr. Blair believed” rather than the intelligence he had been given. The U.K. went to war despite the fact that “diplomatic options had not been exhausted.” Blair was warned by British intelligence that terrorism would “increase in the event of war, reflecting intensified anti-US/anti-Western sentiment in the Muslim world, including among Muslim communities in the

Robert Fisk's predictions for the Middle East in 2013

There is no gain-saying that Robert Fisk, fiercely independent and feisty to boot, is the veteran journalist and author covering the Middle East. Who doesn't he know or hasn't he met over the years in reporting from Beirut - where he lives?  In his latest op-ed piece for The Independent he lays out his predictions for the Middle East for 2013. Read the piece in full, here - well worthwhile - but an extract... "Never make predictions in the Middle East. My crystal ball broke long ago. But predicting the region has an honourable pedigree. “An Arab movement, newly-risen, is looming in the distance,” a French traveller to the Gulf and Baghdad wrote in 1883, “and a race hitherto downtrodden will presently claim its due place in the destinies of Islam.” A year earlier, a British diplomat in Jeddah confided that “it is within my knowledge... that the idea of freedom does at present agitate some minds even in Mecca...” So let’s say this for 2013: the “Arab Awakening” (the t

An unpalatable truth!

Quinoa has for the last years been the "new" food on the block for foodies. Known for its health properties, foodies the world over have taken to it. Many restaurants have added it to their menu. But, as this piece " Can vegans stomach the unpalatable truth about quinoa? " from The Guardian so clearly details, the cost to Bolivians and Peruvians - from where quinoa hails - has been substantial. "Not long ago, quinoa was just an obscure Peruvian grain you could only buy in wholefood shops. We struggled to pronounce it (it's keen-wa, not qui-no-a), yet it was feted by food lovers as a novel addition to the familiar ranks of couscous and rice. Dieticians clucked over quinoa approvingly because it ticked the low-fat box and fitted in with government healthy eating advice to "base your meals on starchy foods". Adventurous eaters liked its slightly bitter taste and the little white curls that formed around the grains. Vegans embraced quinoa as