Food Safety

Trans Fat Spin Doctors Chart Legislative Risks

by Jonathan Rosenblum — December 19, 2006 - 12:31pm

The spin-driven restaurant and beverage industry front group, the Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF), has created a grass roots compilation of city, county and state efforts to ban added trans fats in restaurant food.

Main Source: 
Center for Consumer Freedom, December 15, 2006

Taco Bell Seeks PR Antidote to E. Coli Cases

by Jonathan Rosenblum — December 13, 2006 - 3:31pm

Taco Bell has hired a safety expert, tested its produce, eliminated green onions, changed suppliers, and hired a PR crisis-response firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland. The firm's advice: publicize safety, which the company has done in big market newspaper ads. Still, with 69 reported East Coast cases of E.

Main Source: 
The Wall Street Journal (sub req'd), December 13, 2006

Why Did KFC Cross the Road? (Because PR Was On The Other Side)

by Jonathan Rosenblum — November 10, 2006 - 10:38am

When KFC crowed on October 30, 2006, that it was planning to ban transfats in its U.S. fried chicken, the company had a PR machine behind it ready to score a news hit in one of the nation's fast food capitals, New York City.

Main Source: 
PR Week, November 6, 2006 (sub req'd)

Restaurant Industry Can't Stop Trans Fat Grease Fire

by Jonathan Rosenblum — November 1, 2006 - 9:11am

New York City, with the support of Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg, aggressively is moving forward to ban trans fats from restaurants--the stuff that says “hydrogenated” before the word oil in fast foods, snacks and many other processed and restaurant foods. Other cities are contemplating similar action.

Main Source: 
The New York Times, October 31, 2006

European Brewers Aim to Derail Alcohol Strategy

by Bob Burton — October 30, 2006 - 1:46pm

The European Commission "may be the victim of a carefully planned attack by representatives of the alcohol industry" to derail the adoption of a strategy to reduce the health effects of alcohol, warns Martin McKee, professor of European public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Main Source: 
British Medical Journal, October 28, 2006

Ex-FDA Commissioner Turned Lobbyist Pleads Guilty

by Bob Burton — October 20, 2006 - 4:19am

The former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Lester Crawford, has pleaded guilty to breaching conflict of interest rules. Crawford and his wife held between $188,000 and $336,000 in shares in four companies that he was required to have sold, under FDA rules.

Main Source: 
Washington Post, October 17, 2006

US "Atypical" Mad Cow Threat Was Predicted

by John Stauber — June 14, 2006 - 9:33am
  • Topics: Mad Cow Disease, Food Safety, Agriculture, Science

    • The small scientific world of prion researchers -- the scientists who investigate "transmissible spongiform encephalopathies" (TSE) such as mad cow disease in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in humans -- is abuzz. That's because the two confirmed cases of US mad cow disease in Texas and Alabama are an "atypical" strain different from the British strain but identical to an atypical strain found so far in a small number of cattle in France, Germany, Poland and Sweden. The discovery of "atypical" mad cow disease in the US should not be surprising. Sheldon Rampton and I reported way back in 1997 that very strong evidence of an "atypical" TSE disease infecting US cattle was established by the work of Dr. Richard Marsh, the researcher to whom we dedicated our book Mad Cow USA.

    Food Flack Nation Attacks Journalist Eric Schlosser

    by John Stauber — May 11, 2006 - 5:49pm
  • Topics: Food Safety, Crisis Management, Front Groups, Public Relations

    • "Fast Food Nation" mega-selling author Eric Schlosser must be doing something right. He's under vicious attack from food industry lobbyists and front groups mimicking his book title in their website smearing him. Long time Fleishman-Hillard food flack Becky Johnson and her fellow spinmeisters risk publicizing Schlosser's writings in their over-the-top efforts to condemn him.

    The industrial food lobby is freaking-out over "Chew On This", his new book with Charles Wilson aimed at youngsters, and the fact that his "Fast Food Nation" is being made into a major Hollywood movie with the same title. Best Food Nation is the food industry's sound-alike website funded by the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Meat Institute, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Council of Chain Restaurants, and 14 other food lobbies. The website highlights anti-Schlosser rants by industry-funded front groups including Heartland Institute and the American Council on Science and Health.

    Connecticut Cuts 'Ade at Schools

    by Jonathan Rosenblum — May 2, 2006 - 12:20pm

    Gatorade and Powerade, as well as soda and other sports drinks, will be banned from Connecticut schools after a "feverish" double-team by Coca-Cola and Pepsi failed to stop the state's House of Representatives from passing "the strongest school nutrition law in the nation." A flier distributed by Coke's PR reps, Sullivan & LeShane, attacked the bill, urging, "It is counterproductive to tell an 18-year-old who can drive a car, fl

    Main Source: 
    Hartford Courant, April 26, 2006

    Food Labeling Lobbying

    by Diane Farsetta — April 25, 2006 - 3:51pm

    "Corporate and food-industry lobbyists are stepping up their public-relations push for a controversial bill that would replace state food-safety laws with a federal labeling standard," reports The Hill.

    Main Source: 
    The Hill, April 19, 2006
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