Focus on fitness may help eliminate childhood obesity   

While food and beverage concerns have dominated the government’s battle on childhood obesity, the food industry is attempting to shift the focus to fitness. The Grocery Manufacturers Association is backing bi-partisan legislation that would integrate fitness into school curriculums, reversing a recent trend of  physical education program de-emphasis.


FDA overhaul gets the nod from consumer groups  

A plan to overhaul FDA to focus more attention on food safety issues appears to be gaining traction. A number of consumer groups and other organizations gathered in Washington recently to support legislation in the House and Senate that would accomplish that goal. The Pew Charitable Trusts, Consumer’s Union, Consumer Federation of America and the Center for Science in the Public Interest gathered in late April to voice support for House and Senate versions of the Food Safety Modernization Act. The House also is considering the FDA Globalization Act, which would overhaul FDA and, among other things, place new food processing and handling recordkeeping requirements on farms and restaurants. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which issued a report calling for an FDA overhaul, estimates 76 million food-borne illness cases occur in the United States every year.