Michelle Obama has partnered with Goya Foods to distribute nutrition resources to Latino parents. While announcing the collaboration at a supermarket in Florida, Mrs. Obama discussed parents' responsibility in helping children eat well; she also acknowledged the role that the economic downturn and limited access to supermarkets have played in fueling higher rates of childhood obesity in Latino communities.
In a Feb. 9 McDonald's Flavor Battle competition, up-and-coming DJs will compete in front of iconic DJs and rappers to win the Flavor Battle Championship Title. The event, a relatively new component of the company's 365Black marketing initiative, will feature a great deal of McDonald's branding: Each DJ, for example, will represent a McDonald's burger.
Florida's Republican State Senator Ronda Storms introduces a bill that would prohibit people from using food stamps to purchase "nonstaple, unhealthy foods."
Nestle praises Michelle Obama and Tom Vilsack's new nutrition standards for school meals. She also reviews some of the background leading up to the nutrition standards.
The new standards are the first ever to include whole grains, place limits on sodium and trans fats, and double the amount of fruits and vegetables served to kids.
McDonald's launches a new Happy Meal in Philadelphia that will automatically include apple slices as a side to the choice of Chicken McNuggets, a Hamburger, or Cheeseburger, and choice of beverage. The new meal, which will also come with a smaller portion of fries, will be available nationwide in March 2012.
The American Beverage Association attempts to discredit recent obesity ad campaigns by describing them as "stomach turning" and "misleading propaganda".
Food marketing researcher Andrew Cheyne highlights the similarities in personal responsibility rhetoric in Food Network's Paula Deen's Type 2 diabetes controversy and tobacco products. Both share the "everybody knows it's bad for you" argument.
