I found this video on YouTube regarding the FDA and the food pyramid, produced by The ROB RENNIE SHOW. Please take a few minutes and watch this video. It is short, yet rather humorous!
I actually think this new MyPlate is better than the old food pyramid. The old food pyramid originally released in 1992 (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USDA_Food_Pyramid.gif) seems to overemphasize “Bread, Cereal, Rice & Pasta Group”. The old pyramid recommends 6-11 servings of this group per day. However, all other groups are each recommended for less than 5 servings per day. The new MyPlate places equal emphasis on fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins. Their website ChooseMyPlate.gov even offers further suggestions for each food group (e.g. Make at least half of your grains whole).
The FDA does a pretty well job of keeping our food supply safe. Our food standards are higher than any other country in the world. However, there are a few things I wish would change. Corporate lobbying has caused the FDA to limit what many of the nutrition labels on food products must include. In the United States, if a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream has 2 grams of trans fat, the label may say 0 grams as long as the pint is said to include 4 servings. If each serving of a food product is 0.5 grams of trans fat or less, then the label is allowed to round down to 0 grams of trans fat. I always ate one pint of Ben & Jerry’s at a time which I thought was trans fat free. However, thanks to the labels in Hong Kong I found out each pint contained 2 grams!
One last thing, I wish alcohol products would list the ingredients used. Lots of other countries do this!
I feel as though the FDA is not inept at what they do. I think we sometimes forget that the FDA must create the food pyramid, or what is now called my plate for every person in the Unites States. This my plate is just a recommendation of what you as an America, should eat, and based on your fitness level, or body composition, you would tailor your meals to someone reflect my plate.
The United States has most strict food standards in the world, and since I come from a country like the Philippines, and after seeing how they handle food standards there, I am thankful we have the FDA to govern food standards in the United States.
I found this video pretty entertaining, but he brings up the point whether or not we need a FDA. I feel that the FDA is a necessity for the United States because if the FDA was not run by the government, I feel a private organization would entitle themselves as the governing food body, and in my opinion, when a non government entity takes over as a governing body to our food, you never know what ulterior motives a company could have.
I actually think this new MyPlate is better than the old food pyramid. The old food pyramid originally released in 1992 (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USDA_Food_Pyramid.gif) seems to overemphasize “Bread, Cereal, Rice & Pasta Group”. The old pyramid recommends 6-11 servings of this group per day. However, all other groups are each recommended for less than 5 servings per day. The new MyPlate places equal emphasis on fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins. Their website ChooseMyPlate.gov even offers further suggestions for each food group (e.g. Make at least half of your grains whole).
ReplyDeleteThe FDA does a pretty well job of keeping our food supply safe. Our food standards are higher than any other country in the world. However, there are a few things I wish would change. Corporate lobbying has caused the FDA to limit what many of the nutrition labels on food products must include. In the United States, if a pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream has 2 grams of trans fat, the label may say 0 grams as long as the pint is said to include 4 servings. If each serving of a food product is 0.5 grams of trans fat or less, then the label is allowed to round down to 0 grams of trans fat. I always ate one pint of Ben & Jerry’s at a time which I thought was trans fat free. However, thanks to the labels in Hong Kong I found out each pint contained 2 grams!
One last thing, I wish alcohol products would list the ingredients used. Lots of other countries do this!
I feel as though the FDA is not inept at what they do. I think we sometimes forget that the FDA must create the food pyramid, or what is now called my plate for every person in the Unites States. This my plate is just a recommendation of what you as an America, should eat, and based on your fitness level, or body composition, you would tailor your meals to someone reflect my plate.
ReplyDeleteThe United States has most strict food standards in the world, and since I come from a country like the Philippines, and after seeing how they handle food standards there, I am thankful we have the FDA to govern food standards in the United States.
I found this video pretty entertaining, but he brings up the point whether or not we need a FDA. I feel that the FDA is a necessity for the United States because if the FDA was not run by the government, I feel a private organization would entitle themselves as the governing food body, and in my opinion, when a non government entity takes over as a governing body to our food, you never know what ulterior motives a company could have.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/prescription/defending/ <---- Here' s a link talking about why we should have the FDA
ReplyDelete