Sometimes I’m torn between the perspective that people should be able to think for themselves and the idea that the government should restrict and regulate the food industry and its packaging and marketing. But the food and drug industry often goes too far to sell foods, by making ridiculous claims about products. Superfood is a marketing term that has no real definition for regulation in America, so it’s often used willy nilly to sell things.
I think I was quite lucky in high school and college to learn about false marketing, “unhealthy” foods, and unethical production practices. In 11th grade we watched Food Inc in our health class, which is mainly about the ethics of the food industry, and so far I feel like I learned a lot about the psychology of eating. I’ve annoyed my parents with a lot of know-it-all facts. I also know a lot about the drug industry because my mom works in the compliance and ethics department of a big pharmaceutical company. But I’m one of a very small population who is lucky to be educated on all of this.
Most of the time I think America should do the same things the United Kingdom does (quite often, actually.) One thing I am surprised at is I was the only one to mention the fact that the UK has banned the use of the word “superfood” in marketing, unless the outrageous claims made are actually supported by evidence. The new legislation also requires foods that claim to be low in one product, such as salt, must have labels if they are high in sugar or fat, which is often the case with minimizing one flavor and adding another.
As one of the lucky ones, I know it’s hard to educate the whole populous of America. It’s hard to get my mom and dad to stop buying from companies like Tyson or to try and buy more products from a local farmer’s market or to get them to understand superfoods are normally just ridiculous claims. Unless the United States is going to go on a big campaign to give the world my high school health class or our psychology of food class, maybe regulation is a good thing.
