Michelle Obama’s anti obesity campaign gets industry’s endorsement

Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, the alliance of food manufacturers that accounts for 20-25 percent of food consumed in the United States, promised to trim down 1 trillion calories by the end of 2012 and 1.5 trillion calories by the end of 2015.

Need of the hour
David Mackay, chairman of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation and the chief executive officer of Kellogg, said the plan is designed to "provide consumers with additional healthier food options that help them achieve and maintain a healthy diet."

"This is precisely the kind of real private-sector commitment that we need. And I hope that more will follow the example that they've set," First lady said at a news conference at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.

Michelle initiated the "Let's Move!" campaign a couple of months ago with an endeavor to end childhood obesity.

The industry, which has been under enormous pressure from state and local governments regarding junk-food taxes and other anti-obesity measures, finally caved in and responded positively.

Ms Obama had urged food corporations "to move farther, faster" and barely a week back, a special Task Force had announced its findings on Childhood Obesity in the White House.

"What the White House is doing is consistent and relentless. The food companies are having their feet held to the fire for making kids fat. That's awkward. And it is not good for business," said Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University.

Periodic assessment
The White House officials aver that these companies will be held accountable and their progress towards the cause would be assessed every year.

The task of this assessment has been entrusted to the Partnership for a Healthier America, a nonpartisan organization for which the first lady serves as honorary chair. The first such report is tentatively slated for 2013.

Meanwhile, some public-health campaigners averred that it is a Hobson’s choice for the companies to go the nutritional way given the growing awareness about obesity and subsequent hike in demand for more healthful products.

"My guess is that they were going to do this anyway. The hidden motive here is to convince government to back off and not regulate the industry," said Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. "

Brownell however hailed the industry’s initiative and said, "Any step in the right direction is welcome, even if it's a tiny one."