The US Department of Agriculture, in their report on Healthy Eating 2002, has changed some of the old maxims about food. During the 1960's, there were no good foods and no bad foods, and food ought to be left the way it was. The concept of reducing fat was not acceptable (removing a valuable commodity), and Kraft tried to push the envelope with reduced fat mayonnaise, succeeding in getting FDA's attention. Coca-Cola was told that adding iron to cola to assist teen-aged girls in reaching proper iron levels might teach them bad eating habits. The idea of eating cookies for breakfast was frowned out of the industry. Doughnuts—that's what you ate for breakfast! That, of course, has changed. We are now mixing artificial sweetener with sugar to reduce calories, using fruit to replace fat, and adding calcium to milk products, recognizing that people don't drink enough milk, and maybe a super-serving will help. As an industry, we're less worried about forming good eating habits. That imperative has led us to a civilization that consumes 40 or so percent of its calories on added fats and sugars. Time to do what can be done, before Americans (and increasingly, the rest of the developed world) simply burst. The Journal carries many articles about determining how to make products that are appropriate to the time and need, and are safe and tasty. Some of them have almost immediate applicability to foods entering commerce or being reformulated for better acceptance. In many cases, the packaging should be considered as part of the package, and integral to the safety and wholesomeness of the product.
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