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| Crisis over calories?; Food companies on the defense? | |
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| Topic Started: Apr 10 2009, 01:11 PM (324 Views) | |
| Steve Wilson | Apr 10 2009, 01:11 PM Post #1 |
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You can't help noticing the growing attention by the news media in counting calories, particularly the food being consumed at casual restaurants such as Fridays, etc. It seems the calorie police are no longer looking entirely at McDonald's and Wendy's. In fact, the Today Show compared a salad at Fridays that had more calories than a cheeseburger at Wendy's. The verdict: the Wendy cheeseburger was a better choice. For restaurants, food companies and beverage companies, this is more than just a news story. It is a direct attack on the products they serve. You combine this with the stories on the growing (no pun intended) childhood obesity problem and this is nothing short of a crisis. Restaurants and food and beverage companies have responded, but the war continues. What have they done right? What have they done wrong? What else do they need to do? Is this a battle they can win? |
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| Allison Combs | Apr 13 2009, 04:40 PM Post #2 |
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Starting with your last question: Is this a battle they can win? The answer is "yes," if they start taking a little more control over the message instead of simply reacting to it. At this point, I'm not sure they know what their message is. When Friday's and other restaurants list their "healthy" meals and then an investigator finds out it's got more calories than anything else on the menu, I think they have a problem. One area I believe they've reacted the right way was in downsizing their portions which were often large enough to feed an army. They need to keep in tune with what the public wants: Good food that tastes good and doesn't cost too much. And, by the way, if you can make it healthy for me, that's great too. If they are going to win this battle, as an industry, they need to pay more attention to what's working and what's not working. Perhaps, they should start by being more open with consumers. As some of the national food critics have pointed out, just because you've put more salads on the menu doesn't necessarily mean that they're healthy for you. In many cases - as Steve Wilson pointed out - the salads have more calories than the cheeseburgers. |
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| Allison Combs | Jun 24 2009, 04:51 PM Post #3 |
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Just an update on the calorie discussion: In order to pay for health care reform, as well as bring in new revenues for sagging state coffers, more and more lawmakers are targeting just about anything that seems potentially unhealthy with sugared soft drinks being the biggest target of all. The soft drink industry seems to be fighting back, but the verdict is still out as to the outcome. |
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| Steve Wilson | Jul 2 2009, 02:24 PM Post #4 |
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The soft drink industry is responding to the proposed taxes on sugared soft drinks and fruit juices. And, the response this time, is - in keeping with the times - being launched on the internet with email messages, a new web site, twitter and facebook. See the "no food taxes" web site @ http://www.nofoodtaxes.com/ |
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11:16 AM Sep 6