{"id":1767,"date":"2014-04-18T18:52:20","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T08:52:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/?p=1767"},"modified":"2014-04-18T18:52:20","modified_gmt":"2014-04-18T08:52:20","slug":"is-big-food-the-new-tobacco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.panicola.com\/?p=1767","title":{"rendered":"Is Big Food the new Tobacco?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finally commented on the Food Politics blog. Excitement.<\/p>\n

APR<\/span>17<\/span>2014<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Is Big Food the new Tobacco?<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n
\n

Thanks to Maggie\u00a0Hennessy at FoodNavigator-USA<\/a>\u00a0for her report on a meeting I wish I\u2019d been able to attend\u2014the Perrin Conference on \u201cChallenges Facing the Food and Beverage Industries in Complex Consumer Litigations.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Hennessey quotes from a speech by Steven Parrish, of the Steve Parrish Consulting Group describing parallels between tobacco and food litigation.<\/p>\n

From the first lawsuit filed against [tobacco] industry member in 1953 to mid-1990s, the industry never lost or settled a smoking and health product liability suit. In the mid \u201890s the eggs hit the fan because the industry for all those decades had smugly thought it had a legal problem. But over time, it came to realize it had a society problem. Litigation was a symptom of the disease, not the disease itself.<\/p>\n

\u2026When it came time to resolve the litigation, we couldn\u2019t just sit in a room and say, \u2018how much money do you want?\u2026A lot had nothing to do with money. It had to do with reining the industry in\u2026We spent so much time early on talking to ourselves about greedy trial lawyers, out-of-touch regulators, media-addicted elected officials and public health people who didn\u2019t know how to run a business. At the end of the day, it didn\u2019t matter. We would have been much better off recognizing these people had legitimate agendas.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2026 Maybe there are some parallels, but I urge people not to succumb to the temptation to say, \u2018cigarettes kill you, cigarettes are addictive. But mac and cheese, coffee, and Oscar Meyers wieners don\u2019t. That may be true, but there are still risks for the industry.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The article also quotes Michael Reese, plaintiff\u2019s attorney for Reese Richman LLP, talking about the increasingly accusatory tone of media coverage of Big Food:<\/div>\n

There\u2019s this idea, which has\u00a0picked up steam in the media, that large food companies are manipulating ingredients to hook people on food.\u00a0It hasn\u2019t been manifest in litigation yet, but we\u2019re seeing it with legislative initiatives, like Mayor Bloomberg in New York City saying sugar hooks people and causes diabetes. We\u2019ve seen some with GMOs, though most of that legislation is about consumers\u2019 right to know. But there\u2019s this overarching concept that Big Food is somehow manipulating our food supply and as a result, giving us non-food.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sounds like the message is getting across loud and clear.<\/p>\n

Thoughts?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n