Lawyers against big Tobacco go after big Food

[sd'sker]

and this on Drudge tonight.

 

"Americans are throwing out nearly every other bite of food, wasting up to 40% of the country’s supply each year – a mass of uneaten provisions worth $165 billion"

 

http://www.latimes.c...0,7810321.story

 

Think out fat and unhealthy we would be as a country if we didn't throw 40% in the trash.

this bums me out, especially because my household is pretty guilty of wasting food. supermarkets have perfected the art of making us buy what we do not need and neglecting what we do need so we have to come back. this is something my wife and i continue to challenge ourselves to be better about. i really do hate wasting food.

[sd'sker]

You can still get the same food products today that a grocery store had 40 years ago.

this really is not true. michael pollan does a better job of explaining it, but what we consider unhealthy today was once considered very healthy. he uses the example of chicken fat. chickens used to eat grass and bugs, which have a lot of protein. so even their fat was healthy, because of what they consumed. now they are fed corn and grain, which is mostly just empty calories. so now they are more nutritionally depleted. food scientists have completely changed our diets and it is hard to go back. you can not find a strain of corn without monsanto's fingerprints on it.

[gobiggergoredder]

I am unsure about this, on one hand sharing the distaste for lawyers and plaintiffs looking for nothing more than a big payday, while on the other hand "big food" (that needs a new name) has been engaged in the same sort of consumer deception that the tobacco companies were.

 

The victim has been fooled again. It's always the fault of someone else.....right.

 

 

Also, we are in a very odd time in human history. Cheap food used to leave people looking emaciated, not it turns them into cattle. Dodging all the crap and corn syrup is much more expensive. And unfortunately not everyone can afford to dodge it.

 

I think this is an excellent point.

[HSKR]

You can still get the same food products today that a grocery store had 40 years ago.

this really is not true. michael pollan does a better job of explaining it, but what we consider unhealthy today was once considered very healthy. he uses the example of chicken fat. chickens used to eat grass and bugs, which have a lot of protein. so even their fat was healthy, because of what they consumed. now they are fed corn and grain, which is mostly just empty calories. so now they are more nutritionally depleted. food scientists have completely changed our diets and it is hard to go back. you can not find a strain of corn without monsanto's fingerprints on it.

 

Are you talking about chickens of Little House on the Prairie era or chickens in grocery stores? Sorry but the chickens you are talking about are before the time of grocery stores. Oh and I have seen what chickens that run around on an open farm eat. Seen them eating cat crap coming out of the cat's butt before it could even hit the ground. I'd take corn fed chickens any day.

[HSKR]

and this on Drudge tonight.

 

"Americans are throwing out nearly every other bite of food, wasting up to 40% of the country’s supply each year – a mass of uneaten provisions worth $165 billion"

 

http://www.latimes.c...0,7810321.story

 

Think out fat and unhealthy we would be as a country if we didn't throw 40% in the trash.

this bums me out, especially because my household is pretty guilty of wasting food. supermarkets have perfected the art of making us buy what we do not need and neglecting what we do need so we have to come back. this is something my wife and i continue to challenge ourselves to be better about. i really do hate wasting food.

 

Our household has made better progress with this lately by simply taking smaller portions to begin with. If you finish that, then go get more. It's a lot better to do that then fill your plate heaping full the first time and not finishing it and then watching the rest go in the trash. Kids are notorious for this. I've also been designated as leftovers guy for the next day as well which also cuts down on buying more food for that meal.

[knapplc]

Leftovers are where it's at. I used to go out for lunch all the time. Wasted tons of cash on mediocre food. Instead I make a huge meal on Sundays. Feeds me and the family for dinner, plus lunch for the wife and I through the week - and I'm eating better food, cheaper, than I would if I went out to lunch.

 

I used to hate leftovers. Then I learned to cook. They're not so bad anymore.

[sd'sker]

and this on Drudge tonight.

 

"Americans are throwing out nearly every other bite of food, wasting up to 40% of the country’s supply each year – a mass of uneaten provisions worth $165 billion"

 

http://www.latimes.c...0,7810321.story

 

Think out fat and unhealthy we would be as a country if we didn't throw 40% in the trash.

this bums me out, especially because my household is pretty guilty of wasting food. supermarkets have perfected the art of making us buy what we do not need and neglecting what we do need so we have to come back. this is something my wife and i continue to challenge ourselves to be better about. i really do hate wasting food.

 

Our household has made better progress with this lately by simply taking smaller portions to begin with. If you finish that, then go get more. It's a lot better to do that then fill your plate heaping full the first time and not finishing it and then watching the rest go in the trash. Kids are notorious for this. I've also been designated as leftovers guy for the next day as well which also cuts down on buying more food for that meal.

yeah, we are bad at buying food we intend on eating (bread, yogurt, cheeses), then forgetting about it, then throwing it out when it spoils. (we usually try to get the bread to the ducks before we have to throw it away).

[HSKR]

Leftovers are where it's at. I used to go out for lunch all the time. Wasted tons of cash on mediocre food. Instead I make a huge meal on Sundays. Feeds me and the family for dinner, plus lunch for the wife and I through the week - and I'm eating better food, cheaper, than I would if I went out to lunch.

 

I used to hate leftovers. Then I learned to cook. They're not so bad anymore.

 

Plus when you warm it up and it makes the whole place smell good, it ticks all of your coworkers off who are eating some soggy sandwich.

[knapplc]

Leftovers are where it's at. I used to go out for lunch all the time. Wasted tons of cash on mediocre food. Instead I make a huge meal on Sundays. Feeds me and the family for dinner, plus lunch for the wife and I through the week - and I'm eating better food, cheaper, than I would if I went out to lunch.

 

I used to hate leftovers. Then I learned to cook. They're not so bad anymore.

 

Plus when you warm it up and it makes the whole place smell good, it ticks all of your coworkers off who are eating some soggy sandwich.

 

Yep, or some processed boxed thing full of salt and garbage. I've shared several times, too. People seem to like my cooking.

[Lil' Red]

I see merit in an attack on larger food makers. They are often misleading and you have to be very adept at reading the nutrition facts and ingredients to discern whether or not something might actually be healthy.

[krill]

I am unsure about this, on one hand sharing the distaste for lawyers and plaintiffs looking for nothing more than a big payday, while on the other hand "big food" (that needs a new name) has been engaged in the same sort of consumer deception that the tobacco companies were.

 

The victim has been fooled again. It's always the fault of someone else.....right.

 

I didn't say, or even imply that it's always someone else's fault. People do have a right to know what is in the food they eat though. When the truth about the ingredients, health, and safety of food is intentionally obfuscated, does the blame still fall squarely on the consumer? There have been a lot of good suggestions in this this thread, but the fact is not everyone has the time or ability to gather all the information now available with the Internet, process it and make better decisions. Perhaps there is also an element of common sense that has been lost by recent generations too. I'm not defending the idiot that eats double bacon cheeseburgers and twinkies everyday; just the people that are making an honest effort to make better decisions and still falling short, which admittedly is probably a fairly small group.

 

On the topic of gathering information on the Internet, processing it, and making good decisions, I think that is also an interesting discussion. Our lives are so complex now that is impossible for most people to really have a full understanding of many of their decisions...be it food, technology, investments, etc.

[BigRedBuster]

Very interesting stuff in this thread. On the OP.....I tend to be someone who is extremely scheptic about law suits like this.

 

However, the public needs to be able to trust the information they are given on the food they are sold. I get extremely frustrated when I see something packaged as being "healthy" only to read the label and it's worse than the normal item that it is like.

 

I tend to abide by the theory that I shop on the outside isles of the grocery store. Like someone else, the only thing I tend to buy on the inside isles are the necessities like baking goods..etc.

 

I love to cook. So, this is probably easier for me than many people. But, one thing I have started doing is actually baking my own bread. The kids absolutely LOVE it.They get really excited when they see me making some and it is gone in a matter of a couple days.

 

Something else I have done is that I have an ap on my droid where I enter everything I eat. It keeps track of calories, fat, protien...etc. It is AMAZING to me how bad some name brand items are for you. Something that I still laugh about is casey's breakfast pizza. I used to stop by there probably twice per week and pick up two slices for breakfast. That's over 880 calories right there before the sun ever comes up. When I am trying to stay around 1500 for the day, that doen't leave much for the rest of the day.

[bhamHusker]

I'm torn on the original topic. Something definitely needs to be done about this issue, but I don't like the idea of attacking the problem in the courts. The catch is that our legislators, the only people in a real position to do anything about it, aren't willing to because they're owned by the companies in question.

 

Regarding food waste: I think we tend to waste far less food in my house than average. I worked for a contractor in Germany for a while after I got out of the Army, and the apartment I lived in didn't have the space to store a ton of food. I quickly got into the habit (a near necessity where I lived at the time) of going to the market nearly every day and getting the day's groceries. I kept only basic staples around and a handful of canned / frozen items around for "emergencies" when I couldn't get to the market. 20 years later, I still go grocery shopping nearly every day, buy what I need for the evening's meal plus some fruit and any other miscellaneous stuff I need. I almost never use a cart, opting for a hand basket instead. I usually have cereal or homemade granola and fruit for breakfast and leftovers from the previous night's dinner for lunch.

[Moiraine]

One problem, which I've probably mentioned in other threads, is this:

 

 

and that's going by the FDA. I don't agree that we need more grains than vegetables. Fruits and vegetables should be subsidized, if any food is. It should be expensive to drink soda and other things with no nutritional value, as long as we have medicare taking care of the people who consume it.

 

As far as not having time, I don't agree with that. There might be a small minority who don't have the time to fix meals, but for the most part people just don't feel like it. I used to eat a lot of fast food and was addicted to it. When you're addicted to something you make excuses, such as "I don't have the time to make homemade meals.". I know that's not the case for everyone, but it is for a lot of people.

 

Now when I'm going on a car trip that used to require a meal, I eat an apple instead. Or if I don't want to make something, I'll eat turkey and blueberries. I know most people don't consider that a real meal, but what do you consider McDonald's to be? And there are plenty of other options that are fast and healthy at the same time. There are also good, homemade meals that take less than 15 minutes. I don't buy that people don't have time for that when waiting at the drive thru takes 5-10 minutes. I make a version of chili that takes 10 minutes. It's not something I'd make for company but it's a hell of a lot better than any fast food.

 

I'm curious why half this thread got moved into Romney tax thread.

[strigori]

I'm torn on the original topic. Something definitely needs to be done about this issue, but I don't like the idea of attacking the problem in the courts. The catch is that our legislators, the only people in a real position to do anything about it, aren't willing to because they're owned by the companies in question.

 

Regarding food waste: I think we tend to waste far less food in my house than average. I worked for a contractor in Germany for a while after I got out of the Army, and the apartment I lived in didn't have the space to store a ton of food. I quickly got into the habit (a near necessity where I lived at the time) of going to the market nearly every day and getting the day's groceries. I kept only basic staples around and a handful of canned / frozen items around for "emergencies" when I couldn't get to the market. 20 years later, I still go grocery shopping nearly every day, buy what I need for the evening's meal plus some fruit and any other miscellaneous stuff I need. I almost never use a cart, opting for a hand basket instead. I usually have cereal or homemade granola and fruit for breakfast and leftovers from the previous night's dinner for lunch.

In some ways using lawyers gets things done faster. The fastest way to get companies to change their ways is to hit them in the wallet (or stock price) Sometimes social media can do the jobs now, other times it needs to be by lawsuit.

 

The Pink Slime debacle of earlier this year is a good example. 20 years go that sort of stuff was only deemed suitable for dog food. Then somewhere along the way it got deemed fit for humans. Social media sparks the uproar, with the word boycott getting thrown around, and boom its mostly gone from the market (well as far as we know)