The Deception of Healthy Food Products: Part II

(A Blog Series by Chef Maika)
Due to the many issues of manufacturing marketing woes that came about in the early 1900s, from many companies deceiving consumers to make a large sum of money to United States’ concern of malnutrition and the rapid increasing rate of health preventable diseases; Regulations for products came as a result of these issues and created two federal agencies: (1) The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and (2) The Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The Food and Drug Administration was established in 1906. Ever since then, they have been working hard to promote and protect public health (U.S. Drug & Food Administration, 2009). In this essay you will see how import and how much effect these two major federal agencies have on us nationwide. In 1982, the Food Guide Pyramid was revealed to help consumers in identifying healthy eating habits. In 1990, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act was born. This new act regulated how manufactures of processing foods companies give vital information to consumers by the requirement of having “Nutrition Labels” and “List of Ingredients”. FDA & FTC have created a new era and shifted and shook the food industry with these two new concepts. Now, I’m not going to lie and will agree with some critics about how confusing these Nutrition Information Labels can be to a regular consumer who is not a Nutritionist or a Doctor. One may say in a frustrated voice: “So what it has 11g of sodium and 28g of protein? What does that mean?!” But let me just assure you, with great sites like EatRight.org, a little knowledge about your own personal nutrition need and a personalized guideline you will have a great collaboration of powerful tools to help you in this world of confusing labels. Now let’s get back to history class. In the same century, The Supreme Court’s decision in the case of Standard Oil Company vs. United States stirred up and created a huge antirust debate. Congress knew they needed to enforce more strict rules on what companies can and cannot do in the process of trading. Which eventually lead to the signing of The Federal Trade Commission Act in September 16, 1914 by our 28th President, Woodrow Wilson (Federal Trade Commission 90th Anniversary Symposium, 2004). Its overall mission was “Consumer Protection” and to prevent unfair methods of competition in commerce (Federal Trade Commission Website, 2008). Consumer protection is so important in a world that is constantly motivated by monetary needs. Especially, when other important needs of a U.S. consumer is being neglected, which causes the government to take a stand and enforce regulation. Through the endless government efforts of promoting a healthy lifestyle to the public and strict rules to the food industry marketers, the influence of health became a growing trend. More and more consumer wanted more and more healthy food products. This produced a huge creation in the “Fad Diet Craze” to aisle and aisle of supermarket products proclaiming health benefits that in reality deceived their consumers for the benefit of profit from great marketing.