Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health

I wasn't expecting to learn much from this book, having already poured through books like Fast Food Nation, The Omnivore's Dilemma, School Lunch Politics, Organic, Inc., and Toxic Sludge is Good For You, but I feel that this book has a lot to offer above and beyond what other books discuss about food politics.

Although at times the book can get a bit hard to follow in all of the nuanced policy decisions made by the FDA and USDA, it still packs a pretty solid punch. Marion Nestle does a great job exposing exactly how the food industry has slowly, but surely, gotten its way with food policy decisions and has done a great job of making the FDA a pretty powerless government entity.

A large portion of this book details how the supplement show more industry came to be able to label products making health claims with little or no scientific basis whatsoever, and how this has led to food products following suit. (Case in point: "healthy" Froot Loops with fiber, and also grams of sugar.)

This book is a recommended read for anybody interested in food, how it is marketed, regulated and sold. show less

Marion Nestle has been frequently involved in government policy on food and nutrition, and Food Politics is a well-written account of the machinations behind the scenes. She discusses the meat and dairy industries, soft drinks, vitamins and supplements, and Olestra, among other manufacturers, who often pressure the FDA into refraining from making policies which would cramp their respective industries.

I'm afraid that I'm going to be rather more cynical about food and nutritional information, now that this book has discussed how little those policies take the public good into account, compared with how much lobbying, lawsuits, and intimidation affect them. Also, Food Politics was published in 2002 - I would be happy to see a "Food show more Politics - Part 2" that discusses the meat/dairy industry's reaction to Atkins and South Beach and the like, as well as the strong lobbying by the corn industry over HFCS. Nestle ends with the point that we as consumers ought to be more informed about our food, and "vote with our forks" against some of the corruption that has tainted nutritional information. show less

"Marion Nestle’s entire book Food Politics was basically a reaction to her experiences with the USDA and the FDA, and how the food industry was able to manipulate all the recommendations to send the message that people should be eating more, especially eating more meat, dairy, and refined foods. The only thing the government got past these powerful lobbies were recommendations to eat sugar and fat sparingly; the meat industry felt they could take advantage of those particular recommendations, and that’s basically why."--http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/pigs_uneaten_and_free_to_fly_go_soaring_past_the_usda_offices/

Sometimes there are books that cause you to really think about your life and your habits. This is one of them. Not easy to read, because it deals with where we live every day, but a vitally important subject. After all, as the author indicates, what we eat can hurt us.

An amazing, fascinating book. The insider's take on the FDA and the stranglehold the food industry has on politics is incredible. I highly recommend this to anyone concerned about, well, Food Politics.

i preferred this book to the What to Eat one. This topic (food politics) is a real speciality of the author's. She is very convincing that food processors are not our friends.

vested intests are and wide. many professional organizations with dubious conflict of interest policies.

food processors can hamstring governments and make them mince their words; making their official recommendations less than optimal.

makes me appreciate the Worlds Healthiest Foods book even more!!!!!

who you going to trust!!

i hate everything