New Traffic Light Food Labels: Much-Needed Intervention or Nanny State Interference? [Who gets to define “healthy” – especially when it comes to Booberry cereal]

Traffic lights, not just for on ramps and high school pranks anymore! (Oh the fun you could have with a traffic light, some “borrowed” construction signage and a bra. Or so I’ve heard. Ahem.) The red, yellow, and green may be coming to a table near you and I’m not talking about bell peppers. Mark Bittman, the food writer for the New York Times who popularized the “vegan until 6 pm” diet plan, is proposing a new way to label foods so that all consumers need to do is take a quick glance at the package –  green is rockstar, yellow is sketchy, and red is the color of the lining of your casket (and also the Little Debbie logo, coincidence?) – to make an informed decision about their health.

At first glance this sounds great to me. I’m more swayed by food labeling than I’d like to admit and it would be nice to have it working in my favor for a change. True story: I recently purchased Booberry cereal for my kids because a) it’s a Halloween institution that I grew up on b) my kids are champion whiners/I am mentally weak and c) the label said it had “40 mg of vitamin D.” You guys. I bought a box of Sugar Bombs because it had the weeniest amount of a vitamin I could get my kids for free by throwing the box out the back door on a sunny day and yelling “fetch.” The new labels aim to correct this – instead of being evil marketing smoke and mirrors they would instead be written by The Committee For The Greater Good Who Are Also Immune To Lobbyists, ostensibly with consumers’, er,  bottom lines in mind rather than those of Food Inc.

Bittman put a lot of thought into what makes a food “healthy” and what information would be valuable to know from a food label. He describes it:

“Every packaged food label would feature a color-coded bar with a 15-point scale so that almost instantly the consumer could determine whether the product’s overall rating fell between 11 and 15 (green), 6 and 10 (yellow) or 0 and 5 (red). This alone could be enough for a fair snap decision. (We’ve also got a box to indicate the presence or absence of G.M.O.’s.)

We arrive at the score by rating three key factors, each of which comprises numerous subfactors. The first is the obvious “Nutrition,” about which little needs to be said. High sugar, trans fats, the presence of micronutrients and fiber, and so on would all be taken into account. Thus soda would rate a zero and frozen broccoli might rate a five. (It’s hard to imagine labeling fresh vegetables.)

The second is “Foodness.” This assesses just how close the product is to real food. White bread made with bleached flour, yeast conditioners and preservatives would get a zero or one; so would soda; a candy bar high in sugar but made with real ingredients would presumably score low on nutrition but could get a higher score on “foodness”; here, frozen broccoli would rate a four.

The third is the broadest (and trickiest); we’re calling it “Welfare.” This would include the treatment of workers, animals and the earth. Are workers treated like animals? Are animals produced like widgets? Is environmental damage significant? If the answer to those three questions is “yes” — as it might be, for example, with industrially produced chickens — then the score would be zero, or close to it. If the labor force is treated fairly and animals well, and waste is insignificant or recycled, the score would be higher.” (You can see some nifty examples here.)

First, huge props for considering the state of the food and where it came from in addition to the actual nutrients. That’s a distinction that needs to be considered more often. But he lost me at this: “The first is the obvious “Nutrition,” about which little needs to be said.” Whoa, now. Actually lots needs to be said about nutrition. Take dairy, for instance. If you’re vegan (like Bittman is at least 50% of the time), dairy isn’t even considered edible – definitely a red light. If you follow the USDA party line then low-fat cheese and skim milk would be green. Yet if you’re a scientist or someone who just likes to read science-y stuff then low-fat dairy is an abomination (a yellow? ‘Cause it’s not as bad as Flaming Hot Cheetos?) and full-fat dairy in its as-close-to-cow-juice-form-as-possible state is optimal. So who gets to decide what color gets slapped on a package of cheese curds? And I really hope the answer is not the government. Basically the only foods everyone can agree on are veggies and even then not all of them make the cut (poor maligned white potatoes!).

Then there’s the whole Nanny State conundrum. I went into this assuming that a lot of people (most?) really don’t know what “healthy food” is and need the instruction. And I say that because for most of my life I had basically no clue what healthy was. I grew up like most kids in my generation on white bread, EZ cheez and the miracle of Hot Pockets that you could microwave and still get a crispy shell. My family’s only foray into local eating was when my dad decided he needed to shoot a deer – just once, to see if he could – and then hung it up under our deck for me to walk blindly into in the middle of the night while I was trying to sneak in after curfew. (Probably after chucking my bra over a traffic light. Pretty sure I screamed so loudly the deer was temporarily reanimated just to get away from me. That’ll teach me to come home late!) He made the venison into jerky. After his technique was proved questionable by the appearance of green mold he put it in the freezer and every few months someone would gamely (hah!) try to gnaw on a piece. For all I know my parents still have 400 pounds of dead deer from 1996 in their freezer.

After that it was on to eating disorder la la land and I became obsessed (seriously obsessed) with counting fat grams and then later calories, sugar, serving sizes and the number of IQ points I lost every time I fainted. I jest but I was so seriously out of touch with what “healthy” food was that I thought fat-free microwave popcorn and SweeTarts was the ideal post-gymnastics refuel. I lived for years on GMO corn popped in a bag doused in carcinogenic chemicals and artificially colored sugar in the shape of bunnies and ducks! Granted, not everyone is as insane as I was (am) but I remember when I first started reading up on nutrition, during my pregnancy with my second son, being completely amazed at how vital protein was. At the time I was a vegetarian and thought I had a healthy diet but learning the basics of healthy fats (hint: anything called zero-calorie butter spray has neither zero calories nor butter), clean proteins and whole carbs was revolutionary for me.

But proving again that my friends are generally always smarter than me (and I say that with not a trace of snark, they really are), when I posted about the new food labels on Facebook I got several comments like this one:

“The assumption that people do not know what is healthy is a false premise, it is likely the same crowd that are trying to get skull and cross bones on cigarettes. Consumers are aware of what is healthy, many just choose not do it. There is not a labeling system in the world that will prevent people from making bad choices.”

Another friend added:

” it would be preaching to the choir. it would make it easier for those of us who care but not draw in those people who should becaring more. Govt agencies should spend more of their efforts on reducing the reasons why the foods score low in the first place and improving our “real” food supply. And i am anti-big govt. Go NY for putting limits on soda sales! Food manufacturers will start paying more attention if more restrictions are put in place such as these.”

Setting aside the super-interesting discussion of the new New York soda laws, I couldn’t help but wonder if my friends were right. Although Bittman does cite a study in which sodas labelled with a red light reduced sales by 16%. It’s not a huge drop but that’s still something, right?

What do you think – Would you say most people already know what “healthy” food entails? Are food health labels overreaching or a quick visual health reminder? What does “healthy” mean to you in the context of food? Anyone else ever buy anything stupid because of a dubious health claim on the package?!

 

17 Comments

  1. No, I don’t believe that most people know what’s healthy for them. There are plenty of people out there who will buy anything low-cal or sweetened with natural stevia or low-fat thinking they are making a wise health decision. The number of sales these so called “healthy” foods rake in proves it, the outlandish products that are still being churned out by major food manufacturers (Breakfast biscuits? Bitch, please, they’re cookies) proves it. Regardless, I think labeling products is a bad idea. It’s time and money wasted that the government could use to get to the base of the problem, like you said. The government should not have to be responsible for people educating themselves on the most basic of things: taking care of what they put into their mouth.

    Also, I just like feeling secretly smug at the checkout with my cart full of produce and meats and not a packaged item in sight. Mwahaha.

  2. I think your friends are right. Most people know the basics (i.e. eat more vegetables), and the whole “it’s so complicated!” thing is either if you read too much or you think nutrition is a farse because every time you turn around it seems things change. Of course there are people who don’t know much about the nuance of the debate, and there are those that truly don’t know much about how to eat healthy.

    But the real point her is that education campaigns, on average, no matter if we’re talking nutrition, environment, public health, etc. generally only achieve 5-10% change. That 16% Bittman cited would decrease over time (people always slip back into old habits, which is why you have to read the studies very closely…I’ve never seen them follow people for longer than a year, and most stop after 3 months). Over time, I would bet that number would probably ultimately only hover around 5%. Most studies have shown very negligible benefits from education campaigns, which is essentially what a traffic light system is. If you consider the hefty price tags (because I assure you they’d spend millions on a project like this), and the backlash from the food industry…I really don’t think it would be worth it.

    Sorry to be such a naysayer, but I hate it when people act like we can dramatically influence complex behaviours with simple solutions. Sure, it works sometimes, but health promotion is a tricky enterprise!

  3. “Just eat real food” seems so obvious to those of us who are interested in our health and fitness, but I remember a time when I didn’t realize that processed “food” wasn’t actually food. I’m not sure how we should educate the masses, but I’ve decided to be sure I teach my kids how our body works, and why certain foods are important to consume. 🙂

  4. I really like the ideas of “foodness” and “welfare”, especially the latter. My fiance’s an environmental economist so I hear a lot about what various food industries are doing to the planet. Scary stuff. Like you though Charlotte the “nutrition” thing worries me. I think you called it exactly. Nutrition for some does not equal nutrition for all.

    I agree with your friends as well, that the very vast majority of people know what’s healthy already. Labeling in the grocery store might be a small help to a minority but does nothing to touch other, bigger issues like fast food marketing or access to fresh foods in inner-city areas. I honestly think it would end up being a lot of “oh, this packed snack scored 1 point higher than this other, done”.

    And, as a final note, as someone who’s struggled with ED’s I think this could be very triggering. I’m aware of the nutritional value of the tortilla chips I’m buying to make into delicious veggie nachos. I’m eating them because I enjoy it, it fits into my overall healthy diet, and because I refuse to ban foods anymore. Plastering a red label across them would mimic the guilt I would have felt about them for years and make me feel like everyone in the grocery store was staring at me in horror. I can’t believe I’m the only one who’d feel this way.

  5. I think for the most part people who care know what is good and bad for them. But there are a whole crew of other people who were never educated on the subject, or had parents who didn’t know or care and now they are dealing with the legacy of really not knowing how to eat. One of my friends who is always super busy (aren’t we all) and wants to be healthier really doesn’t know what to choose. And she doesn’t ever prioritize herself, so she isn’t ever going to take the time to learn. Something like a clear labeling system would help her and it would have helped me when I was just getting out of college and making food choices for myself for the first time ever.

  6. “And i am anti-big govt. Go NY for putting limits on soda sales! ”
    Really? Really? I’m anti big government – way to go big government. ??????

    Sorry. I just couldn’t get past that comment. But to the main point – yup, you have the people who are already vested in their health who wouldn’t mind an easy, quick way to judge food without reading EVERY SINGLE INGREDIENT – but then who gets to say what is healthy. This month. And then you have the masses who either don’t know, don’t care, or have just given up.

    You really don’t need labels on real food. Vegetables are vegetables. Meat is meat. Grain is grain. Processed stuff is cr.. uh … not food. (grin)

  7. I think, the government is responsible for everything of country, because the government is the elected authority for peoples interest.

  8. My humble opinion is that it’s a losing battle until real food is available to everyone. When there are no longer neighborhoods in which the ONLY options are convenience stores and fast food restaurants, with little or no public transportation. Perhaps government funds would be better served by giving tax incentives to grocery store chains that open markets in under-served areas. And perhaps bringing back Home Ec classes for girls AND boys, so kids learn how to cook. I’m also a fan of community gardens/greenhouses, and the difference they can make. By supplying people with produce, but also creating a true community. The best way to learn may just be at the community level. The government spends millions fighting a losing battle, because Big Food spends billions convincing us to buy their frankenfoods.

  9. As a once fan of Booberry, I’m not sure I would trust that there is any useful Vitamin D in the box lol. Most of what you see on wrappers, bags, and boxes these days is just a marketing strategy. Once you get done processing the healthy things, it’s not healthy any more and most often useless. I like the idea of stoplight labeling, but this would only result in more of the same…false advertising and food companies figuring out ways to trick us into thinking their products are good for us.

  10. I am not crazy about this idea, and that is coming from a person who prides herself with having a very healthy grocery cart. I think “red light” foods would give people with weird food relationships even more grief/guilt for indulging occasionally in a treat. And since my husband if a big fan of these red light foods, I can honestly say it would not stop him from purchasing them. I am a fan of the NuVal system.

    Our grocery stores have implemented a food-score system called NuVal, which ranks foods 1-100 based on their nutritional value (regardless of false advertising gimmicks). Some foods score lower in general (like bread), but you can find a higher scoring bread than others on that same shelf. Its not always fool proof on what gets a high score, but it is a great way to let consumers know what they are buying, and hopefully motivate them to search out higher scoring foods to put in their cart.

  11. What’s “healthy” to me is being able to make my own, informed choice about what I eat. For me, food that has ‘judgement’ written all over it can never be “healthy”.

  12. For those of us who are immerged in health and fitness daily as I am, it seems hard to believe that people could be so unaware of what healthy foods are. I believe that the information of what is healthy and unhealthy is readily available for people; however, some choose to ignore it or are maybe too busy to really think about their eating habits. In the end it is our own individual responsibilities to monitor what foods we eat. We know more about nutrition and healthy living than our grandparents ever did! It is our choice to be healthy or not – the government should not make that decision for us. So no red light green light in my opinion!

  13. People know what’s healthy. We’re just making it really hard for the Modern Good American to eat well, let alone the Modern Poor American.

    Convenience is a big deal. Why are people buying cereal and Hot Pockets instead of lean meat, fruits, and veggies? Easy — because cooking takes time. If you are the Paragon of the American Dream, with two kids, a spouse, and a dog, chances are you’re working full time to support this. You wake up early in the morning, hurl a box of cereal at the kiddies, and pack their white-bread sandwich lunch while trying to get the youngest to quit throwing his shoes at the dog who is trying to lick everyone’s toes. You rush to work, having no time to eat anything but a sugary Snackwell’s Cereal Bar on the way to your job. Once you get there, Bob is having a birthday, so you eat a piece of cake because it’s there and your body is starving from no breakfast and you will eat anything that is in front of you. You drink a cup of coffee to wake up. For lunch, you eat whatever the cafeteria is selling, and go back to work. Dinner. You are exhausted and decide that fighting with the kids over eating veggies is just not something you have the mental capacity to do, so you throw a frozen pizza in the oven. Walk the dog. Okay, that’s a bit of exercise, but you’re already really worn out. You get back. Fall over on your bed. Repeat. You have basically eaten nothing but sugar, carbs, and fat all day.

    This is not healthy, but this is, I would guess, pretty close to the Average American. Cooking, at this point, is the angel on your shoulder, while the devil is frozen food and Hot Pockets and so on, telling you that you can get an extra thirty minutes of sleep if you’d just go the easy route. It’s not actually ignoble to do so, either, because sleep deprivation is just as heinous as many other poor lifestyle situations, especially if you drive to work. God help you if you’re poor and have to work multiple jobs and/or don’t have enough money to buy Real Food. If you’re scraping enough money together so you can spend a dollar at McDonald’s, just to get enough calories for your midday meal, you have Issues if you’re trying to actually be healthy at the same time.

  14. They tried to introduce this into the UK over the last year or so but didn’t make it mandatory. It was taken on by sainsburys supermarket but other chains didn’t follow suit. When we were there earlier this year it was definitely easier to see what was a healthier choice. so for us it was helpful. Most people though just don’t care 🙁 I do think it helps in the fact that manufacturers will change their recipes to tow the line and make their foods anything but red and that is a good thing. Especially with the amount of salt in processed foods!
    I do agree that the whole good/bad thing can trigger some people but honestly they are probably going to feel that trigger if they look at the nutritional information anyways 🙁

    And as for the “people know what they should be eating”, nope not now they don’t. The generation now that is shopping has grown up on microwave meals, convenience and snack foods. I was as surprised as they were because I truly thought everyone knew that fresh foods, vegetables, fruit, REAL food, everyone knows this is better right? How can people not know how to cook? Because they don’t learn anymore, not in school and generally now not at home either 🙁 Fast food has replaced a good home cooked meal. Times are a changin’

  15. i don’t like the thought of labelling food according to traffic light colours- coming from an ED perspective, we often already judge everything we eat. Food shouldn’t be judged.

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