Legal Political and Social Issues of Overweight and Obesity - The Food Industry Responds To Public Outcry

Mounting pressure on the food industry to change its marketing practices and offer healthier products has had some success. For example, in 2003 Coca-Cola withdrew from exclusive vending-machine contracts in schools, and acquired Odwalla, an organic fruit-juice company, to enable the company to offer healthy beverages. Kraft announced intentions to eliminate in-school marketing to children, introduce smaller portions, and develop more nutritious products. Applebee's International began to offer Weight Watchers selections on its restaurant menus. McDonald's reduced the use of trans fats for cooking its French fries and has introduced a line of salads as well as leaner versions of its Chicken McNuggets. On January 6, 2004, McDonald's restaurants in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut launched McDonald's "Real Life Choices," a program to help consumers stick to their diets while eating fast foods. The program teaches consumers how to choose food items based on the calorie, fat, or carbohydrate content. For example, breakfast choices include an "Egg McMuffin," which, when prepared without butter or margarine, is less than 300 calories, a snack-size fruit and yogurt parfait that contains less than 8 grams of fat, or a double order of scrambled eggs with fewer than 5 grams of carbohydrates.

In March 2004 McDonald's responded to growing attention to the relationship between portion size and obesity by announcing that the corporation would discontinue its "supersize" products—French fries and soft drinks—in an effort to simplify its menu and appeal to consumers' heightened awareness about obesity. McDonald's also piloted a new "Go Active" meal for adults that included a salad, a pedometer to count steps, and a bottle of water in several test markets throughout the country. Industry observers applauded these moves, citing the corporation's shift from the "value" aspect of fast food—providing more food for less money—to a more health-conscious purveyor of salads and reasonable portion sizes that emphasize nutrition rather than value. They also expressed the hope that other fast-food chains would follow suit and offer more nutritional information and low-calorie fare.

In another effort to counter charges that its food is unhealthy and contributes to obesity, McDonald's announced that it will display nutrition facts on the packaging for most of its menu items beginning in 2006. Customers of the world's largest restaurant company will be able to learn the amount of calories and fat, among other information, in a McDonald's product by looking at the wrapper instead of having to go to its Web site or ask for nutrition information at the counter.

In 2005 Kraft, the country's largest packaged food company, launched a variety of healthier foods, including whole-grain Wheat Thins, a whole-grain version of macaroni and cheese, and whole-grain Chips Ahoy and Fig Newtons. A three-cookie serving of the new Chips Ahoy has 8 grams of fat and 150 calories, ten fewer than the original; in addition, there is one more gram of fiber, two per serving instead of one. Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University lauded Kraft for its new products but cautioned that consumers might be lulled into overeating by the healthy whole-grain foods and forget that while the new products are more nutritious, they are not low in calories (Melanie Warner, "Kraft Introduces Two Somewhat Healthier Cookies Made of Whole Grains," New York Times, September 16, 2005).