1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910786879803321

Autore

Nestle Marion

Titolo

Food politics [[electronic resource] ] : how the food industry influences nutrition and health / / Marion Nestle ; foreword by Michael Pollan

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, Calif., : University of California Press, 2013

ISBN

1-78402-467-8

0-520-95506-4

Edizione

[Revised and expanded 10th anniversary ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (534 p.)

Collana

California studies in food and culture ; ; 3

Disciplina

363.8/5/0973

Soggetti

Food industry and trade - United States

Food - Marketing - Moral and ethical aspects - United States

Nutrition policy - United States

Food Industry

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 425-486) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- CONTENTS -- Foreword -- Preface to the Tenth Anniversary Edition -- Preface to the First Edition -- Introduction: The Food Industry and "Eat More" -- PART ONE. UNDERMINING DIETARY ADVICE -- PART TWO. WORKING THE SYSTEM -- PART THREE. EXPLOITING KIDS, CORRUPTING SCHOOLS -- PART FOUR. DEREGULATING DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS -- PART FIVE. INVENTING TECHNO-FOODS -- Conclusion: The Politics of Food Choice -- Afterword: Food Politics: Five Years Later and Beyond -- Appendix: Issues in Nutrition and Nutrition Research -- Notes -- List of Tables -- List of Figures -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

We all witness, in advertising and on supermarket shelves, the fierce competition for our food dollars. In this engrossing exposé, Marion Nestle goes behind the scenes to reveal how the competition really works and how it affects our health. The abundance of food in the United States--enough calories to meet the needs of every man, woman, and child twice over--has a downside. Our over-efficient food industry must do everything possible to persuade people to eat more--more food, more often, and in larger portions--no matter what it does to waistlines or well-being. Like manufacturing cigarettes or building



weapons, making food is big business. Food companies in 2000 generated nearly 9 00 billion in sales. They have stakeholders to please, shareholders to satisfy, and government regulations to deal with. It is nevertheless shocking to learn precisely how food companies lobby officials, co-opt experts, and expand sales by marketing to children, members of minority groups, and people in developing countries. We learn that the food industry plays politics as well as or better than other industries, not least because so much of its activity takes place outside the public view. Editor of the 1988 Surgeon General's Report on Nutrition and Health, Nestle is uniquely qualified to lead us through the maze of food industry interests and influences. She vividly illustrates food politics in action: watered-down government dietary advice, schools pushing soft drinks, diet supplements promoted as if they were First Amendment rights. When it comes to the mass production and consumption of food, strategic decisions are driven by economics--not science, not common sense, and certainly not health. No wonder most of us are thoroughly confused about what to eat to stay healthy.An accessible and balanced account, Food Politics will forever change the way we respond to food industry marketing practices. By explaining how much the food industry influences government nutrition policies and how cleverly it links its interests to those of nutrition experts, this path-breaking book helps us understand more clearly than ever before what we eat and why.