3 I wrote about the health consequences . . . The University of California Press
published the books (2002 and 2003) and issued them in paperbound
editions (2003 and 2004). For the reactions to them, pro and con, see
www.foodpolitics.com/

4 As the social theorist . . . Mr. Schwartz’s thesis: when you have too many
choices, “freedom of choice becomes a tyranny of choice.” The book was pub-
lished by HarperCollins in 2004; the quotation is from page 2.

7 This conflict begins . . . U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005, 6th
edition (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, January 2005),
available at www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines. The pyramid, issued in April
2005, is at www.mypyramid.gov.

10 Listen to this 1959 advice . . . This came in a cookbook aimed at heart disease
prevention by Ancel and Margaret Keys, Eat Well and Stay Well (Doubleday,
1959).

10 Nutrition arguments are . . . David R. Jacobs Jr. and Lyn M. Steffen discuss
the reasons why reductive approaches to nutrition are insufficient in “Nutri-
ents, Foods, and Dietary Patterns as Exposures in Research: A Framework for
Food Synergy,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 78 (Supplement 2003):
508S–13S. The health benefits of foods are greater than the benefits of their sin-
gle components.

11 It costs more . . . I first ran across this pessimistic view in Louise B. Russell’s Is
Prevention Better Than Cure? (Brookings Institution, 1986). Kristin Leutwyler
discusses the difficulties of calculating costs and benefits in “The Price of Pre-
vention,” Scientific American (April 1995). Public health researchers argue that
prevention does pay because treatment of high-risk individuals is expensive, the
value of prevention increases over time, and ethical and quality-of-life benefits
are worthwhile societal goals. See, for example, Salim Yusuf and Sonia Anand,
“Cost of Prevention: The Case of Lipid Lowering,” Circulation 93 (1996):
1774–76; Li Yan Wang et al., “Economic Analysis of a School-Based Obesity
Prevention Program,” Obesity Research 11 (2003): 1313–24; and American Acad-
emy of Pediatrics, “Policy Statement: Prevention of Pediatric Overweight and
Obesity,” Pediatrics 112 (2003): 424–30.

11 The deep dark secret . . . The 3,900 calorie figure comes from the USDA at
www.ers.usda.gov/data/foodconsumption. Comparative international data are
available from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations at
www.fao.org/ (look for Statistical Databases/FAOSTAT/Nutrition/Food Balance
Sheets).

12 Consider what the research says . . . Research on the environment of food
choice is reviewed in popular books: Kelly D. Brownell and Katherine Battle
Horgen, Food Fight (McGraw Hill, 2003); Barbara Rolls, The Volumetrics Eat-
ing Plan (HarperCollins, 2005); and Lisa Young, The Portion Teller (Morgan
Road, 2005). On the effects of food costs, see Adam Drewnowski and Anne
Barratt-Fornell, “Do Healthier Diets Cost More?” Nutrition Today 39 (July/
August 2004): 161–68.

13 It is not enough for Kraft . . . Figures on marketing budgets of the 100 leading
national advertisers appear regularly in Advertising Age. This one is from
June 27, 2005.

13 Marketing methods are meant . . . I am indebted to David Walsh, president
of the National Institute on Media and the Family (www.mediafamily.org/), for
this phrase, which I use with his permission.

1. THE SUPERMARKET: PRIME REAL ESTATE

18 Half a century ago, Vance Packard . . . On page 3 of his book, Packard ex-
plains why he called it The Hidden Persuaders (David McKay Company, 1957).
Marketing efforts, he says, “typically...take place beneath our level of aware-
ness; so that the appeals which move us are often, in a sense, ‘hidden.’” The
“Babes” chapter is pages 105–22, and the quotation from that chapter is from
page 111. For a more recent version, see Paco Underhill, Why We Buy: The Sci-
ence of Shopping (Touchstone, 1999).

18 More recent research on consumer behavior . . . See, for example, Barbara
E. Kahn and Leigh McAlister, Grocery Revolution: The New Focus on the Con-
sumer (Addison-Wesley, 1997); Judith and Marcel Corstjens, Store Wars: The
Battle for Mindspace and Shelfspace (Wiley, 1995); and Phil Lempert, Being the
Shopper: Understanding the Buyer’s Choice (John Wiley & Sons, 2002). These
books tell retailers how to use research on consumer shopping behavior to sell
more food.

18 As basic marketing textbooks explain . . . See Gene A. German and Theodore
W. Leed, Food Merchandising: Principles and Practice, 4th edition (Lebhar-
Friedman Books, 1992). The book is dated, but the principles it describes still
hold. The quotations are from page 260.

19 Place the highest-selling food departments . . . Meat, produce, dairy, and frozen
foods generated about 14 percent, 10 percent, 9 percent, and 7 percent of super-
market sales, respectively, in 2001, according to the USDA. See “Supermarket
Sales by Category, 2001,” at www.ers.usda.gov/data/foodmarketindicators.
This site also provides data on other aspects of supermarket sales cited in this chapter.

21 Slotting fees emerged in the 1980s . . . The early history of slotting fees is re-
viewed in Lois Therrien, “Want Shelf Space at the Supermarket? Ante Up,”
Business Week (August 7, 1989): 60–61. The hearings are discussed by Ira
Teinowitz, “Senators Berate Industry Abuse of Slotting Fees,” Advertising Age
(September 20, 1999): 3; and by Pierce Hollingworth, “Slotting Fees Under
Fire,” Food Technology (November 2000): 30.

21 In the last decade, mergers and acquisitions . . . A special insert in the April
18, 2005, issue of Fortune ranks the top 1,000 companies by industry and gives
sales figures. Such figures are also readily available on the Web site of the trade
publication Supermarket News at www.supermarketnews.com.

2. FRUITS AND VEGETABLES: THE PRICE OF FRESH

25 I had read a Harvard . . . The case reviewed Wegmans’ attempt to provide in-
store counseling and health monitoring for diabetes. Although the program
proved popular with shoppers, it foundered on “short-term business issues” and
was abandoned. See “Wegmans Food Markets: Diabetes Counseling,” Harvard
Business School Case Study N9-599-057, November 6, 1998. Current informa-
tion about Wegmans stores and their philosophy and community partnerships is
at www.wegmans.com. In 2004, a new mission statement said: “Our primary
business is to help make great meals easy so our customers can live healthier
and better lives.” Fortune (January 24, 2005) ranks Wegmans first among the
“100 best companies to work for.”

28 To allow them to endure . . . William H. Friedland, “The New Globalization:
The Case of Fresh Produce,” in Alessandro Bonanno et al., editors, Columbus
to ConAgra: The Globalization of Agriculture and Food (University Press of
Kansas, 1994). The FDA definition of “fresh” is at www.cfsan.fda.gov.

28 Bagged vegetables and salads. . . Aaron L. Brody, “What’s Fresh About Fresh-
Cut,” Food Technology (January 2005): 74–77.

28 Food ecologists, who look closely . . . For information about the “food mile”
movement, see the Web site of the London-based organization Sustain: The Al-
liance for Better Food and Farming at www.sustainweb.org. Brian Halweil ex-
tols the virtues of locally grown foods in Eat Here: Homegrown Pleasures in a
Global Supermarket (W. W. Norton, 2004).

29 In 2002, Congress passed a law . . . The origins of COOL in the United States
are described in General Accounting Office, “Country-of-Origin Labeling: Op-
portunities for USDA and Industry to Implement Challenging Aspects of the
New Law,” GAO-03-780, August 2003, at www.gao.gov. COOL legislation is fol-
lowed closely by Food Chemical News; the quotations are from the issues of Au-
gust 18 (page 27), and September 15 (page 31), 2003, respectively. Anti-COOL
lobbying is described in vivid detail in Public Citizen, Tabled Labels, Septem-
ber 2005 at www.citizen.org/documents/COOL.pdf.

33 The California Driscoll raspberries . . . See David Karp, “For Raspberries,
Ubiquity (at a Price),” The New York Times, July 7, 2004; and “Strawberries and
Dreams,” The New York Times, April 13, 2005. Driscoll controls about half of
U.S. raspberry production and breeds for durability and appearance. For an elo-
quent account of a farmer’s dilemma in having to choose between commerce
and taste, see David M. Matsumoto, Epitaph for a Peach: Four Seasons on My
Family Farm (HarperCollins, 1995).

3. ORGANICS: HYPE OR HOPE

37 This was corporate America . . . I would have known better if I had bothered
to check the Organic Trade Association’s Web site, www.ota.com. Its list of
member companies is so long that it has to be searched alphabetically (the A’s
alone list more than eighty members).

37 How big a business is . . . The Organic Trade Association estimates of the size
of organics are usually higher than those of USDA economists. See Carolyn
Dimitri and Catherine Greene, “Recent Growth Patterns in the U.S. Organic
Foods Market,” September 2002, at www.ers.usda.gov.

38 The emergence of this new . . . See Michael Pollan’s original and insightful
look at “The Organic-Industrial Complex: How Organic Became a Marketing
Niche and a Multibillion-Dollar Industry,” The New York Times Magazine,
May 13, 2001, and Samuel Fromartz, Organic, Inc. (Harcourt, 2006).

38 You can pick out . . . Tables of PLU codes and the foods they stand for are
given at www.plucodes.com. In 2005, the site required you to identify your job
in the produce business and gave no other option; I had to tell a white lie to use
it. Example: regular papayas are #4394, and organic ones begin with 9, as in #9-
3111.

39 Looking for a wider selection . . . The chain provides information for consumers
and investors at www.wholefoods.com.

43 Whether they can remain . . . The Maine court decision in Harvey v. Johanns
is at www.mindfully.org/Food/2005/Harvey-Johanns-Organic9jun05.htm. About
the rider, see Stephen Clapp, “Organic Industry Rider Leaves Bitter Aftertaste,”
Food Chemical News (October 31, 2005): 24–26. The Organic Consumers Asso-
ciation’s SOS (Safeguard Our Standards) campaign is at www.organicconsumers.org/sos.cfm.

44 One is Dennis Avery . . . Avery directs the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global
Food Issues (see www.hudson.org/). The advocacy group, SourceWatch, provides
information about the institute’s funding sources at www.sourcewatch.org. Avery
summarizes his reasons for disliking organics in “The Fallacy of the Organic
Utopia,” in Julian Morris and Roger Bate, editors, Fearing Food: Risk, Health,
and Environment (Butterworth-Heinemann, 1999): 3–18.

45 In 1981, a review . . . See William Lockeretz, Georgia Shearer, and Daniel H.
Kohl, “Organic Farming in the Corn Belt,” Science (February 6, 1981): 540–47.
At the time, this study seemed revolutionary. For more recent studies confirm-
ing the productivity of organic farming practices, see D. K. Letourneau and B.
Goldstein, “Pest Damage and Arthropod Community Structure in Organic vs.
Conventional Tomato Production in California,” Journal of Applied Ecology 38
(2001): 557–70; John P. Reganold et al., “Sustainability of Three Apple Production
Systems,” Nature (April 19, 2001): 427–46; and Paul Mäder et al., “Soil Fertility and
Biodiversity in Organic Farming,” Science (May 31, 2002): 1694–97. An
editorial accompanying the Science paper calls it “encouraging news for or-
ganic fans” and considers the findings conclusive (page 1589).

45 Plenty of research confirms . . . See, for example, B. P. Baker et al., “Pesticide
Residues in Conventional, Integrated Pest Management (IPM)–Grown and
Organic Foods: Insights from Three US Data Sets,” Food Additives and Contaminants
19 (2002): 427–46; and Cynthia L. Curl et al., “Organophosphorus Pesti-
cide Exposure of Urban and Suburban Preschool Children with Organic and
Conventional Diets,” Environmental Health Perspectives (March 2003), at
http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2003/5754/5754.html. See also Pat Michalak,
Water, Agriculture, and You (The Rodale Institute, February 2004).

45 Pesticides are demonstrably harmful . . . See D. Pimentel, T. W. Culliney,
and T. Bashore, “Public Health Risks Associated with Pesticides and Natural
Toxins in Foods,” University of Minnesota National IPM Network, July 30,
1996, at http://ipmworld.umn.edu/chapters/Pimentel.htm; National Research
Council, Pesticides in the Diets of Infants and Children (National Academy
Press, 1993); and Environmental Working Group reports on pesticides in chil-
dren at www.ewg.org.

4. PRODUCE: SAFE AT ANY PRICE

46 Health officials say . . . These endlessly repeated figures from the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention derive from estimates made by Paul S. Mead
et al., “Food-Related Illness and Death in the United States,” Emerging Infec-
tious Diseases 5 (1999): 607–25.

47 Because the government . . . Caroline Smith DeWaal et al., Outbreak Alert!
Closing the Gaps in Our Federal Food-Safety Net (Washington, D.C.: Center
for Science in the Public Interest, November 2005) at www.cspinet.org.

48 In 1998, the FDA . . . These are in “Guidance for Industry: Guide to Mini-
mize Microbial Food Safety Hazards for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables” (October
26, 1998). Microbial tests of imported and domestic produce from 1999 to 2003
are summarized in “FDA Survey of Domestic Fresh Produce” (June 2003), and
“FDA Survey of Imported Fresh Produce,” January 30, 2001. All are at
www.cfsan.fda.gov/.

49 In October 2005 . . . “FDA Issues Nationwide Alert on Dole Pre-Packaged Salads”
(October 2, 2005) at www.fda.gov/.

49 Processers know this . . . See Aaron L. Brody, “What’s Fresh About Fresh-
Cut,” Food Technology (January 2005): 74–77.

50 One type of wax is carnauba . . . For the produce industry’s position on waxes,
see www.aboutproduce.com/ (note: site no longer active as of 2/07). Toxicity testing is described at www.inchem.org.

51 Critics say they do . . . Dennis Avery’s criticisms of organic production are
taken on by Brian Halweil of Worldwatch in “Cultivating the Truth About Or-
ganics,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 21, 2000.

51 In the first study . . . This is Avik Mukherjee et al., “Preharvest Evaluation of
Coliforms, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Organic
and Conventional Produce Grown by Minnesota Farmers,” Journal of
Food Protection 67, no. 5 (2004): 894–900.

53 The Organic Trade Association . . . This group sponsors the not-for-profit
Center for Organic Education and Promotion (to which it would like donations to be sent).
See www.ota.com/.

53 Consider what you have to do . . . For a basic review of the complications of
such studies, see Sharon B. Hornick, “Factors Affecting the Nutritional Quality
of Crops,” American Journal of Alternative Agriculture 7, nos. 1 and 2 (1992):
63–68. Because most studies do not control for such factors, “it is almost
impossible to make valid and meaningful comparisons.”

53 Nevertheless, a few intrepid . . . See, for example, Bob L. Smith, “Organic
Foods vs. Supermarket Foods: Element Levels,” Journal of Applied Nutrition 45
(1993): 35–39; Marina Carbonaro et al., “Modulation of Antioxidant Com-
pounds in Organic vs. Conventional Fruit (Peach, Prunus persica L. and Pear,
Pyrus communis L.),” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 50 (2002):
5458–62; and Danny Asami et al., “Comparison of the Total Phenolic and
Ascorbic Acid Content of Freeze-dried and Air-dried Marionberry, Strawberry,
and Corn Grown Using Conventional, Organic, and Sustainable Agricultural
Practices,” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 51 (2003): 1237–41.

54 It’s the mix . . . One explanation for the protective effects of phytochemicals is
that they stimulate enzymes that detoxify carcinogens. The body has many en-
zymes that act on toxic chemicals. “Phase 1” enzymes can either deactivate car-
cinogens or activate them, and “phase 2” enzymes are more likely to deactivate
them, but both kinds can do either, depending on circumstances. This makes it
unlikely that any singlephytochemical or nutrient can account for the protec-
tive effect of fruits and vegetables against cancer and other diseases. See M.
Paolini and M. Nestle, “Pitfalls of Enzyme-Based Molecular Anticancer Di-
etary Manipulations: Food for Thought.” Mutation Research 543 (2003): 181–89.

55 In this matter, I defer . . . Joan Dye Gussow, “Is Organic Food More Nutri-
tious: And Is That the Right Question?” Organic Farming Research Foundation
Information Bulletin, Fall 1996.

5. GENETICALLY MODIFIED, IRRADIATED, AND POLITICIZED

57 The FDA explains . . . FDA policies, procedures, and consultations on food
biotechnology are at www.cfsan.fda.gov.

58 Roughly 10 percent . . . Sujatha Sankula et al., “Impacts on US Agriculture of
Biotechnology-Derived Crops Planted in 2004—An Update of Eleven Case
Studies,” National Center for Food and Agriculture Policy at
www.ncfap.org/whatwedo/biotech-us.php.

59 In September 2004 . . . This was reported by Stephen Clapp, “Anti-Biotech
Groups Charge Contamination of Hawaiian Papaya,” Food Chemical News
(September 20, 2004): 6.

61 Hawaii Pride discloses . . . The company explains the technique and its rea-
sons for using it, and answers FAQs on its Web site, www.hawaiipride.com.

62 The USDA’s pyramid food guide . . . This can be found at
www.mypyramid.gov/.

63 Unbelievable as it may seem . . . Mary K. Serdula et al., “Trends in Fruit and
Vegetable Consumption Among Adults in the United States: Behavioral Risk
Factor Surveillance System, 1994–2000,” American Journal of Public Health 94
(June 2004): 1014–18.

63 Or perhaps like many people . . . Potato chips are an expensive way to eat po-
tatoes. Potatoes were less than $1 a pound in July 2004, but the cheapest chips I
could find at my local convenience store were $1.19 for 5.5 ounces, which
comes to $3.46 per pound. See Table in Chapter 30.

63 Because surveys and other studies . . . See, for example, Adam Drewnowski
and Nicole Darmon, “Food Choices and Diet Costs: An Economic Analysis,”
Journal of Nutrition 135 (2005): 900–904; and Karen M. Jetter and Diana L.
Cassady, “The Availability and Cost of Healthier Food Items,” AIC Issues Brief
No. 29, University of California Agricultural Issues Center, March 2005. The
counter-intuitive study is Jane Reed, Elizabeth Frazão, and Rachel Itskowitz,
“How Much Do Americans Pay for Fruits and Vegetables?” USDA Economic
Research Service, Bulletin No. 790, July 2004, at
www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aib790.

6. MILK AND MORE MILK

68 Dairy foods are supposed . . . The quotation comes from Judy Putnam and
Jane Allshouse, “Trends in U.S. Per Capita Consumption of Dairy Products
1909 to 2001,” Amber Waves (2003): available at www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves.
For a review of the benefits of dairy foods from an industry perspective, see Lori
Hoolihan, “Beyond Calcium: The Protective Attributes of Dairy Products and
Their Constituents,” Nutrition Today 39, no. 2 (March/April, 2004). Hoolihan
works for the California Dairy Council.

68 How dairy foods are produced . . . Data on dairy trends come from the previ-
ous citation as well as from a USDA briefing paper dated July 6, 2004, at
www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/dairy/background.htm.

69 More than most foods . . . The severest critic is surely Robert Cohen. See his
Milk: The Deadly Poison (Argus Publishing, 1998). Cohen runs the anti-dairy
Web site: www.notmilk.com.

70 Most Americans eat dairy foods . . . Figures on dairy production and sales
come from the USDA’s annual compendium of agricultural statistics, available
at www.usda.gov/nass/pubs/agstats.htm.

71 The USDA requires . . . The industry side of the checkoff is managed by
Dairy Management, Inc., an alliance formed by the National Dairy Council,
the American Dairy Association, and the U.S. Dairy Export Council, and ex-
plained at www.dairycheckoff.com/. Educational campaigns of the Milk
Processor Education Program are given at www.whymilk.com/. In 1998, during the
administration of Bill Clinton, his secretary of Health and Human Services,
Donna Shalala, appeared in a milk mustache advertisement. Apparently, cal-
cium no longer works as a selling point for milk. In 2005, the California Milk
Processor Board (the one responsible for the “Got Milk” campaign) stopped
mentioning calcium in its advertising. See Suzanne Vranica, “Milk Campaign
Drops Calcium Pitch,” The Wall Street Journal, October 12, 2005.

72 An investigative report . . . Nicholas Zamiska, “How Milk Got a Major Boost
from Food Panel,” The Wall Street Journal, August 30, 2004.

72 The issues are legion . . . Potassium is the latest issue. The committee developing
the 2005 Dietary Guidelines said everyone should eat three daily servings
of dairy products because that much is needed to meet the Dietary Reference
Intake (DRI) for potassium, as explained in Institute of Medicine (IOM), Dietary
Reference Intakes for Water, Potassium, Sodium, Chloride, and Sulfate
(National Academies Press, 2005). The IOM set the DRI for potassium at a
level twice as high as the 1989 standard to compensate for the blood
pressure–raising effects of eating too much salt (sodium chloride). Dairy foods
contribute 18 percent of the potassium in U.S. diets, but 33 percent of the
sodium. Other sources of potassium are meat, poultry, and fish (17 percent),
vegetables other than potatoes (14 percent); potatoes (11 percent); fruits (11 per-
cent); beans (10 percent); and grains (9 percent). Given this distribution, and
the amount of sodium in dairy foods, it is curious that the committee singled
out dairy foods to be eaten in larger amounts. See S. Gerrior, L. Bente, and H.
Hiza, “Nutrient Content of the U.S. Food Supply, 1909–2000,” USDA Home
Economics Research Report No. 56, November 2004.

73 To prevent osteoporosis . . . Institute of Medicine, Dietary Reference Intakes
for Calcium, Phosphorus, Magnesium, Vitamin D, and Fluoride (National
Academies Press, 1997).

73 The need for eating that much . . . High calcium levels also do not make
sense to Roland L. Weinsier and Carlos L. Krumdieck, “Dairy Foods and Bone
Health: Examination of the Evidence,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
72 (2000): 681–89. For another view, see Janet C. King, “The Milk Debate,”
Archives of Internal Medicine 165 (2005): 975–76.

74 In response to this extraordinarily confusing . . . B. E. Christopher Nordin,
“Calcium Requirement Is a Sliding Scale,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
71 (June 2000): 1381–83. His article begins: “It must be a source of some sur-
prise to rational scientists that the human requirement for calcium, an
apparently inoffensive nutrient that contributes so much to our physical stability,
arouses strong emotions in many breasts.”

74 Dairy foods provide 15 percent . . . This percentage includes butter. See S.
Gerrior, L. Bente, and H. Hiza, “Nutrient Content of the U.S. Food Supply,
1909–2000,” USDA Home Economics Research Report No. 56, November
2004. Production figures come from the USDA at www.ers.usda.gov/
AmberWaves, and www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/dairy/background.htm.

75 Commercial milk does not come straight . . . The University of Guelph ex-
plains milk processing with diagrams and a flowchart at
www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca/dairyedu/fluid.html.

77 The study placed thirty-two . . . Michael B. Zemel et al., “Calcium and Dairy
Acceleration of Weight and Fat Loss During Energy Restriction in Obese
Adults,” Obesity Research 12 (April 2004): 582–90; and “Dairy Augmentation of
Total and Central Fat Loss in Obese Subjects,” International Journal of Obesity
29 (2005): 391–97. Information about the patent arrangement was posted on the
International Dairy Food Association Web site, www.idfa.org/, May 1, 2004. The
Dairy Council lists favorable studies under “Science Supporting the Dairy-
Weight Management Connection” at www.nationaldairycouncil.org/. Zemel’s
financial arrangements with dairy groups are discussed in Stephanie Thompson, “Dairy
Scientist Decides to Milk His Research for All It’s Worth,” Advertising Age (June 20, 2005),
and in David Schardt, “Milking the Data,” Nutrition Action Healthletter, September, 2005.

77 Thus the role of dairy trade . . . The Dairy Council’s full-page, full-color weight-
loss advertisement appeared in The New York Times on January 23, 2004. An ear-
lier ad on December 3, 2003, said: “One approach [to losing weight] is getting at
least 3 servings a day of milk, cheese or yogurt instead of some of your current
choices.” For a news analysis of the weight-loss campaign, see Melanie Warner,
“Chug Milk, Shed Pounds? Not So Fast,” The New York Times, June 21, 2005.

78 In June 2005, the Physicians . . . Physicians Committee for Responsible Med-
icine, “Doctors Group Files Suit Against Kraft, General Mills, Dannon, and
Dairy Trade Groups for False Dairy Weight-Loss Claims” (press release), June
28, 2005, at www.pcrm.org.

78 In the meantime, the research . . . Heart disease studies are reviewed by P. C.
Elwood et al., “Milk Drinking, Ischaemic Heart Disease and Ischaemic Stroke.
i. Evidence from the Caerphilly Cohort. ii. Evidence from Cohort Studies,”
European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 58 (2004): 711–17and 718–24.

79 The cancer studies . . . The large review is from the World Cancer Research
Fund and American Institute for Cancer Research (AICR), Food, Nutrition,
and the Prevention of Cancer: A Global Perspective (1997). The AICR statement
comes from a press release issued February 26, 2002. The breast cancer state-
ment is from Patricia G. Moorman and Paul D. Terry, “Consumption of Dairy
Products and the Risk of Breast Cancer: A Review of the Literature,” American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition 80 (2004): 5–14. See also C. Rodriguez et al., “Cal-
cium, Dairy Products, and the Risk of Prostate Cancer in a Prospective Cohort
of United States Men,” Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention 12
(July 2003): 597–603.

7. MILK: SUBJECT TO DEBATE

80 Your heart yearns . . . For current advertising, see www.lactaid.com.

82 If you are extremely sensitive . . . S. B. Matthews and A. K. Campbell, “When
Sugar Is Not So Sweet,” Lancet 355 (April 15, 2000). For a review of Dairy
Council–sponsored studies, see Lois D. McBean and Gregory D. Miller, “Allaying
Fears and Fallacies About Lactose Intolerance,” Journal of the American
Dietetic Association 98 (1998): 671–76. See also Fabrizis L. Suarez et al., “Lac-
tose Maldigestion Is Not an Impediment to the Intake of 1500mg Calcium
Daily as Dairy Products,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 68 (1998):
1118–22. The authors conclude that “extensive publicity concerning the ill ef-
fects of lactose has resulted in a widespread belief that lactose malabsorption in-
duces severe problems...a major educational campaign will be required to
reverse this misperception.”

82 Nevertheless, the lactose . . . Patricia Bertron, Neal D. Barnard, and Milton
Mills, “Racial Bias in Federal Nutrition Policy. Part i: The Public Health Implications
of Variations in Lactase Persistence. Part ii: Weak Guidelines Take a
Disproportionate Toll,” Journal of the National Medical Association 91, no. 3
(1999): 151–57 and 201–8. Lactose intolerance, these authors say, is normal. The
Web site of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is www.pcrm.org.
The Dietary Guidelines are at www.healthierus.gov/dietaryguidelines, and
the pyramid is at www.mypyramid.gov/.

82 My files contain . . . Marc T. Goodman et al., “Association of Dairy Products,
Lactose, and Calcium with the Risk of Ovarian Cancer,” American Journal of
Epidemiology 156, no. 2(2002): 148–57.

84 Careful examination of . . . Hermann E. Wasmuth and Hubert Kolb, “Cow’s
Milk and Immune-Mediated Diabetes,” Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 59
(2000): 573–79; and Deryck R. Persaud and Alma Barranco-Mendoza, “Bovine
Serum Albumin and Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus: Is Cow’s Milk Still
a Possible Toxicological Causative Agent of Diabetes?” Food and Chemical Tox-
icology 42, no. 5(2004): 707–14.

85 In part because of such . . . Peter J. Huth, Donald K. Layman, and Peter H.
Brown, guest editors, “The Emerging Role of Dairy Proteins and Bioactive Pep-
tides in Nutrition and Health,” Journal of Nutrition 134, no. 4(Supplement
2004): 961S–1002S. The “S” in the page numbers indicates that this is a paid,
sponsored supplement. The quotations are from the editors’ introduction on
page 961S.

85 Milk cartons . . . Beta-lactam antibiotics are penicillins and cephalosporins.
Farmland is owned by Parmalat. See www.parmalat.com/.

86 A decade later, U.S. dairy farmers . . . Andrew Pollack, “Maker Warns of
Scarcity of Hormone for Dairy Cows,” The New York Times, January 27, 2004.
Monsanto cut production by half at its Austrian rbST facility after an FDA in-
spection revealed problems with quality control.

88 The IGF-1issue . . . See Andrew G. Renehan et al., “Insulin-like Growth Fac-
tor (IGF)-1, IGF Binding Protein-3, and Cancer Risk: Systematic Review and
Meta-Regression Analysis,” Lancet 363 (April 24, 2004): 1346–53. This paper re-
views a large number of previous studies of IGF-1and health risks.

88 The lingering doubts . . . The Web site of Horizon Organic is
www.horizonorganic.com/.

89 These particular critics . . . The Hudson Institute is at www.hudson.org. De-
tails of its funding by foundations such as Koch, Olin, and Scaife, and various
agriculture and food corporations (McDonald’s among them), are listed by the
Center for Media and Democracy at www.sourcewatch.org.

89 Looked at another way . . . Data on growth of the organic dairy business come
from Catherine Greene and Amy Kremen, “U.S. Organic Farming in 2000–2001:
Adoption of Certified Systems,” USDA Agricultural Information Bulletin 780
(February 2003); and Organic Trade Association, “The OTA 2004 Manufac-
turer Survey,” June 2004, at www.ota.com.

8. DAIRY FOODS: THE RAW AND THE COOKED

92 Calories and Fat in . . . Figures in the Table are rounded to the nearest half-
gram from USDA data on food composition at
www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search.

94 The New York City Health . . . The reasons for the short sell-by date in New
York City turn out to be as much about politics as health. The safety (cold
chain) explanation is obviously true, but I have heard others: local milk compa-
nies want to make it more difficult for companies in New Jersey and Connecti-
cut to sell milk in NYC; unions for NYC milk delivery drivers want deliveries to
be more frequent; milk producers don’t want to have to worry about keeping
milk unspoiled for as long.

95 I am not opposed . . . The Web site of the Northeast Organic Farming Associ-
ation Massachusetts chapter deals with the raw milk issue more responsibly
than most. See www.nofamass.org. For the FDA position on raw milk, see
Linda Bren, “Got Milk? Make Sure It’s Pasteurized,” FDA Consumer
(September/October 2004) at www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2004/504_milk.html.

95 By some accounts . . . Paul A. Cotton et al., “Dietary Sources of Nutrients
Among U.S. Adults, 1994to 1996,” Journal of the American Dietetic Association
104 (2004): 921–30. The data are based on a USDA analysis of one-day diet
records obtained from 10,000 adults.

96 If you are a dairy producer . . . These figures come from the University of Ver-
mont at www.dasc.vt.edu/links.html. A quart of milk weighs 2 pounds. For infor-
mation about basic cheese making, see the Web site of David Fankhauser,
a professor at the University of Cincinnati, at
http://biology.clc.uc.edu/Fankhauser/Cheese/Cheese.html.

97 Outbreaks of illness . . . Caroline Smith DeWaal et al., Outbreak Alert! Clos-
ing the Gaps in Our Federal Food-Safety Net (Washington, D.C.: Center for
Science in the Public Interest, November 2005) at
www.cspinet.org/foodsafety/index.html.

9. YOGURT: HEALTH FOOD OR DESSERT

101 It is because of the health mystique . . . Donna Berry, “2004 Cultured Dairy
Foods: A World of Opportunity,” Dairy Foods Magazine (April 16, 2004), avail-
able at www.dairyfoods.com. See also “Taste Test Organic Yogurt,” Organic
Style (September 2004): 58.

101 In 1973, Alexander Leaf . . . See Alexander Leaf, “Every Day Is a Gift When
You Are Over 100,” National Geographic (January 1973): 93–118. The commer-
cial is described by Sharon R. King in an obituary for a man who worked for
Dannon from 1942 to 1981, eventually becoming its president: “Juan Metzger,
79, Is Dead; He Put the Fruit in Yogurt,” The New York Times, September 10,
1998. Leaf later reduced his age estimates in an editorial in Journal of the Amer-
ican Geriatrics Society 30 (August 1982): 485–87. As for whether Bulgarians ac-
tually ate yogurt, see Michael Specter, “Yogurt? Caucasus Centenarians ‘Never
Eat It,’” The New York Times, March 16, 1998. On the other hand, Daniel
Carasso, the son of the founder of Danone, was close to 100 years old when
PepsiCo decided not to buy Groupe Danone. “Yogurt, it has been said, helps
prolong life,” said Thomas Fuller: “PepsiCo Says It Won’t Try to Buy French
Company,” The New York Times, July 26, 2005.

102 The text following the asterisks . . . The criteria are available on the Web site
of the National Yogurt Association, www.aboutyogurt.com/.

103 Fortunately, Consumer Reports . . . “Probiotics: Are Enough in Your Diet?”
Consumer Reports (July 2005): 34–35.

104 If you give foods . . . See Cornelius W. Van Neil et al., “Lactobacillus Therapy
for Acute Infectious Diarrhea in Children: A Meta-Analysis,” Pediatrics 109, no.
4 (2002): 678–84. A meta-analysis combines the results of many studies.

104 In 2004, a group . . . Oskar Adolfsson, Simin Nikbin Meydani, and Robert M.
Russell, “Yogurt and Gut Function,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 80
(August 2004): 245–56. The authors say that the National Yogurt Association re-
quested this “critical and objective review” for which they were paid an unspec-
ified honorarium.

104 Yogurt has been . . . See Malinda Miller, “Dairy Products Industry Profile,”
Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, Iowa State University, May 2005, at www.agmrc.org/agmrc/commodity/livestock/dairy/dairyproductsprofile.htm.
Current figures on production are available from the USDA at
http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/reports/nassr/dairy/pdp-bban/daryan04.txt. The Web sites
of commercial yogurt companies provide nutritional information. For infor-
mation about yogurt brands, see www.dannon.com/, www.yoplait.com/, and
www.stonyfield.com/.

105 An entire science . . . Jürgen Schrezenmeir, Michael de Vrese, and Knut
Heller, editors, “International Symposium on Probiotics and Prebiotics,” Amer-
ican Journal of Clinical Nutrition 73 (Supplement 2, 2001): 361S–498S. Spon-
sors included the International Dairy Federation, Danone, Nestlé, Nordmilch,
Yakult, and several other international companies selling dairy foods. For a re-
view of the immunity-boosting potential of probiotics and prebiotics—and their
marketing potential—see Linda Milo Ohr, “Nutraceuticals and Functional
Foods,” Food Technology (January 2005): 65–70: “The immunity market is en-
tering exciting times. It is still a young area with potential for growth.”

105 The trade journal . . . Pierce Hollingsworth, “Culture Wars,” Food Technology
55 (March 2001): 43–49.

105 This marketing opportunity . . . See Stephanie Thompson, “Yoplait’s Re-
venge Is Portable Yogurt That Kids Slurp Up,” Advertising Age (September 11,
2000): 28 and 30.

106 Stonyfield may be organic . . . Groupe Danone bought 40 percent of Stony-
field in 2001. The “partnership” was so successful that it picked up another 45
percent in 2003. Stonyfield’s president and employees own the remaining 15
percent. Its Web site, www.stonyfield.com/, states that Groupe Danone stays out
of the company’s day-to-day business operations.

106 Many of these products . . . One good reason to mention fermented dairy
foods is to have an excuse to recommend Bill Mollison, The Permaculture Book
of Ferment and Human Nutrition (Ten Speed Press, 1997). The chapter on fer-
mented dairy foods is particularly enlightening, especially if you have a burning
desire to know what natural rennet is, or how to make ghee (Indian clarified
butter), lassi (flavored yogurt drink), haloumi (Greek fried cheese), or karish
(Egyptian soft cheese).

10. MARGARINE: ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTES

111 The fats in soybeans . . . Figures on the composition of margarines and ingre-
dients come either from product labels or from the USDA Nutrient Data Labo-
ratory at www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search. “Saturation” refers to the
proportion of hydrogen to carbon in fatty acids. Every available carbon bond in
saturated fatty acids is completely filled—saturated—with hydrogen. Unsatu-
rated fats have one unfilled bond. Polyunsaturated fats have two or more un-
filled bonds.

112 My trans-fat file . . . The early study is from Leo H. Thomas, “Mortality from
Arteriosclerotic Disease and Consumption of Hydrogenated Oils and Fats,”
British Journal of Preventive and Social Medicine 29 (1975): 82–90. For later
work, see Alberto Ascherio et al., “Trans Fatty Acids and Coronary Heart Dis-
ease,” New England Journal of Medicine 340, no. 25(1999): 1994–98. It is inter-
esting to note that American Heart Association scientists called for labeling the
types of fat in margarines in 1961(Appendix ii to “Dietary Fat and Its Relation to
Heart Attacks and Strokes,” Circulation 23 (January 1961): 131–36.

113 Blame it on France . . . This history is recounted by S. F. Riepma, then presi-
dent of the National Association of Margarine Manufacturers, in The Story of
Margarine (Public Affairs Press, 1970). That trade association still flourishes and
provides a history of margarine (under the heading, “Fun Facts & Figures,” on
its Web site, www.margarine.org/). The name derives from one of the original
fatty acids used to make margarine, margaric acid, named after margarite
(Greek: pearl) because of its pearl-like luster.

114 Americans readily accepted. . . A tablespoon of U.S. margarine now contains
10 percent of the Daily Value for vitamin A with its 80 to 100 calories.

115 For more than forty years . . . An early review is by Helen B. Brown and Irvine
H. Page, “Lowering Blood Lipid Levels by Changing Food Patterns,” Journal of
the American Medical Association 168, no. 15 (December 13, 1958). The 1959
book by Ancel and Margaret Keys is Eat Well and Stay Well (Doubleday). From
1961 on, American Heart Association policy statements have appeared regularly
in its professional journal, Circulation, and are distributed as pamphlets. Advice
to limit trans fats appears in Ronald M. Krauss et al., “AHA Dietary Guide-
lines,” Circulation 102 (2000): 2284–99.

115 The most obvious is palm fruit oil . . . See Ellie Brown and Michael F. Jacob-
son, Cruel Oil: How Palm Oil Harms Health, Rainforest, and Wildlife (Wash-
ington, D.C.: Center for Science in the Public Interest, 2005).

116 You would never know. . . C. S. Koh and Celina Lim, Nutritional Benefits of
Palm Oil, Malaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council, 2004. The Council’s Web
site is at www.mpopc.org.my.

116 To that end, the United . . . Margo A. Denke, Beverley Adams-Huet, and Anh
T. Nguyen, “Individual Cholesterol Variation in Response to a Margarine- or
Butter-Based Diet: A Study in Families,” Journal of the American Medical Asso-
Ciation 284 (2000): 2740–47. The advertisement appeared in The New York
Times, December 8, 2000.

11. MARGARINE: YOU CAN BELIEVE IT’S NOT BUTTER

119 Margarine is an odd . . . If there are benefits, they are quite small. See Nina S.
Sørensen et al., “Effect of Fish-Oil-Enriched Margarine on Plasma Lipids,
Low-Density-Lipoprotein Particle Composition, Size, and Susceptibility to Ox-
idation,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 68 (1998): 235–41.

119 The 100 percent vegan margarines. . . See
www.earthbalance.net/product.html.

120 These last include . . . Datem stands for diacetyltartaric acid esters of mono-
glyceride.

120 The answer: another miracle . . . Two articles in Food Technology 58 (2004)
explain current options for reducing trans fat and the many other methods un-
der investigation: G. R. List, “Decreasing Trans and Saturated Fatty Acid Con-
tent in Food Oils” (January): 23–31, and Donald E. Pszczola, “Fats: In
Trans-ition” (April): 52–63.

121 One Sunday morning . . . This flier was inserted in the Sunday New York
Times, March 28, 2004.

122 Industry-sponsored research . . . For a review, see R. A. Moreau, B. D.
Whitaker, and K. B. Hicks, “Phytosterols, Phytostanols, and Their Conjugates
in Foods: Structural Diversity, Quantitative Analysis, and Health-Promoting
Uses,” Progress in Lipid Research 41, no. 6 (2002): 457–500.

124 Dietary intake of trans . . . David B. Allison et al., “Estimated Intakes of Trans
Fats and Other Fatty Acids in the US Population,” Journal of the American Di-
etetic Association 99 (1999): 166–74. Figures for saturated-fat intake, which are
self-reported, come from “Trends in Intake of Energy and Macronutrients,
1971–2000,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (February 6, 2004): 80–82.

125 This may not sound . . . Nestlé lists nutrition information for these products at
www.coffee-mate.com.

12. SOY MILK: PANACEA, OR JUST ANOTHER FOOD

127 If you do not like . . . Vegetarians differ, having in common only that they do
not eat red meat (beef, pork, lamb). Partial vegetarians eat everything else, and
lacto-ovo vegetarians eat dairy foods and eggs but no fish or poultry. These diets
tend to be more healthful than conventional diets. Vegans eat no foods from an-
imal sources at all and are especially interested in soy products as sources of
protein. Their diets require special sources of vitamin B 12 (which is mainly derived
from animal-based foods) but are otherwise nutritionally adequate when
calories are adequate. See Patricia K. Johnston and Joan Sabaté, “Nutritional
Implications of Vegetarian Diets,” in Maurice E. Shils et al., Modern Nutrition
in Health and Disease, 10th ed. (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, 2006),
1638–54.

127 Enthusiasts for soy foods . . . The “shining star” phrase turns up frequently on
Internet sites devoted to soy foods. See, for example, www.soyatech.com/ and
www.unitedsoybean.org.

128 And soybeans contain . . . Siyan Zhan and Suzanne C. Ho, “Meta-Analysis of
the Effects of Soy Protein Containing Isoflavones on the Lipid Profile,” Ameri-
can Journal of Clinical Nutrition 81 (2005): 397–408. This concludes that soy
proteins with isoflavones reduce total cholesterol and LDL (the bad) choles-
terol, but increase HDL (the good) cholesterol—under some, but not all, cir-
cumstances.

128 Soy is so heavily promoted . . . For the history of soy foods, see Thomas
Sorosiak, “Soybeans,” in Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild Coneè Ornelas, edi-
tors, The Cambridge World History of Food, vol. 1 (New York: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press, 2000), 422–27. Market competition is discussed by Jennifer L.
Rich, in “U.S. Farmers Look Back...and See Soy Growers in Brazil Shadow-
ing Them,” The New York Times, July 10, 2001.

129 In 2003, American farmers . . . These figures come from www.soystats.com, a
site run by Syngenta (a soybean producer) under the auspices of the American
Soybean Association. The site reports production figures in million metric tons
(MMT). One metric ton is about 2,200 pounds; 1 MMT is 2.2 billion pounds. In
2003, the United States produced 66 MMT of soybeans. Of the 40 MMT for
domestic use, 32 were processed into meal (28 of which went to livestock feed)
and 8 were processed into oil.

129 The federal government helps . . . Information about the Soybean Promotion
and Research Program (“Checkoff”) is on the USDA’s Web site at
www.ams.usda.gov/lsg/mpb/rp-soy.htm.

130 Much such research . . . The National Soybean Research Laboratory Web site is
www.nsrl.uiuc.edu/, and many pages are devoted to soy research and education.

131 Food technology research . . . The quoted advertisements (and the later one)
appeared in a “Soy Takes Center Stage” supplement to Stagnito’s New Products
Magazine (December 2002). Butter Buds is owned by Cumberland Packing,
which also makes substitutes for salt (Nu-Salt) and sugar (Sweet’N Low). Nutri-
ant is owned by The Kerry Group (Kerry America).

132 As a result, HRT . . . Judith Wylie-Rosett, “Menopause, micronutrients, and
Hormone Therapy,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 81, no. 5 Supple-
ment (2005): 1223S–31S. See also Louise A. Brinton et al., “Hormones and En-
dometrial Cancer—New Data from the Million Women Study,” Lancet 365
(2005): 1543–51.

133 Soy companies and trade associations. . . See Mark Messina, John Erdman
Jr., and Kenneth D. R. Setchell, editors, “Fifth International Symposium on
the Role of Soy in Preventing and Treating Chronic Disease,” American Journal
of Clinical Nutrition 79, no. 5 Supplement (2004): 1205S–93S. The industry-
sponsored supplement includes a few papers and dozens of abstracts of pre-
sentations and posters from a sponsored symposium in September 2003.
Cautionary comments by the editors and others appear on pages 1229S–33S.
The quotation is from an abstract on page 1254S.

134 In 2004, I saw . . . The ad appeared in The Telegraph Magazine, April 17, 2004.

135 Skeptics urged caution . . . Articles about soy in Nutrition Action Healthletter
are: Bonnie Leibman, “The Soy Story” (September 1998) and David Schardt,
“Got Soy? A Good Food...But No Miracle Worker” (November 2002). Alice
H. Lichtenstein’s editorial “Got Soy?” in the American Journal of Clinical Nu-
trition 73 (2001): 667–68, critically reviews research on soy and health since
1999. More recent research appears in the symposium volume cited in the note
“Soy companies and trade associations...” above.

136 Indeed, the research . . . See Mark Messina, “Soy Isoflavone Intake and the
Risk of Breast and Endometrial Cancers,” The Soy Connection (Spring 2005).
This newsletter, sponsored by the United Soybean Board, was bound into the
April 2005 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

137 You now can buy thousands . . . Donald E. Pszczola, “From Soup to Soynuts:
The Broadening Uses of Soy,” Food Technology 59 (February 2005): 44–55.

13. A RANGE OF MEATY ISSUES

138 We do not lack . . . These figures come from USDA “Agricultural Statistics
2005,” at www.usda.gov/nass/pubs/agstats.htm. Other figures in this chapter
about meat consolidation, consumption, and nutrient values also come from
USDA sources: James M. MacDonald et al., “Consolidation in U.S. Meatpack-
ing,” Agricultural Economic Report No. 785, February 2000, at
www.ers.usda.gov/publications/Aer785; Michael Ollinger et al., “Structural Change in
the Meat, Poultry, Dairy, and Grain Processing Industries,” Economic Re-
search Report No. 3, March 2005, at www.ers.usda.gov; Judith Jones Putnam
and Jane E. Allshouse, “Food Consumption, Prices, and Expenditures,
1970–97,” USDA Statistical Bulletin No. 965, April 1999; S. Gerrior and L.
Bente, “Nutrient Content of the U.S. Food Supply, 1909–99: A Summary Re-
port,” USDA Home Economics Research Report No. 55, June 2002; and Paul
A. Cotton et al., “Dietary Sources of Nutrients Among US Adults, 1994 to 1996,”
Journal of the American Dietetic Association 104 (2004): 921–30.

139 According to figures . . . It is sometimes imprecise to talk about cows. It helps
to remember that bulls are males, steers are castrated males, cows are females,
and cattle usually refers collectively to steers and cows.

139 I saw these emotions . . . Information about this remarkable conference is at
www.yale.edu/agrarianstudies/chicken.

140 We eat meat, they say . . . See, for example, T. Colin Campbell and Thomas
M. Campbell II, The China Study (Benbella Books, 2005): “Plato...made it
perfectly clear: we shall eat animals only at our own peril” (page 345).

141 The education campaigns of . . . The Beef Checkoff is at www.beefboard.org;
the Pork Checkoff is at www.otherwhitemeat.com; and the National Pork Pro-
ducers Council is at www.nppc.org.

141 Despite the reach . . . The checkoff ruling is discussed in Linda Greenhouse,
“In Free-Speech Ruling, Justices Say All Ranchers Must Help Pay for Federal
Ads,” The New York Times, May 24, 2005. Her article quoted the dissenting opin-
ion written by Justice David Souter, who observed that checkoff ads are
designed by beef-producer groups: “If government relies on the government-
speech doctrine to compel specific groups to fund speech with targeted taxes, it
must make itself politically accountable by indicating that the content actually
is a government message, not just the statement of one self-interested group the
government is currently willing to invest with power.”

142 In 2004, the company paid . . . See Nat Ives, “Tyson Is Counting on Protein to
Bulk Up Its Image in a Campaign to Push Its Chicken, Beef, and Pork,” The
New York Times, August 4, 2004.

143 On surveys of daily dietary . . . See Centers for Disease Control and Preven-
tion, “Trends in Intake of Energy and Macronutrients—United States, 1971–
2000,” Mortality and Morbidity Weekly Report 53, no. 4 (February 2004): 80–82.

145 The USDA makes . . . See Carole Sugarman, “Labeling Meat and Poultry,”
The Washington Post, April 3, 1991; USDA, “Nutrition Labeling of Meat and
Poultry Products,” FSIS Backgrounder, January 1993; and “Truth in Burgers”
(editorial), The New York Times, June 4, 1994. USDA labeling rules are at
www.fsis.usda.gov.

146 In 2005, the advocacy group . . . The Public Citizen report, “Tabled Labels”
(September 2005) is at www.citizen.org/documents/COOL.pdf. See Stephen
Clapp, “House-Senate Conference Approves COOL Delay, Organic Rider,”
and “Industry Case Influences COOL Debate: Public Citizen,” Food Chemical
News (October 31, 2005): 1, 24–25 and (September 19, 2005): 1, 28, respectively.

146 Instead, the National Livestock . . . The quotation appeared on the Web site
of this meat trade association (www.nlpa.org) in fall 2004, but has since disap-
peared. The position of the meat industry on COOL is given in a September
2004 backgrounder by the American Meat Institute (AMI) at www.meatami.com:
“If consumers want a country-of-origin label and are willing to
pay the additional costs associated with such a program, the meat industry will
meet that demand, as it meets consumer demands for a wide variety of prod-
ucts.” Since then the AMI has lobbied for further delays.

147 Meat is not the only . . . Benjamin Caballero and Barry M. Popkin, The Nutri-
tion Transition: Diet and Disease in the Developing World (Academic Press,
2002).

147 Scientists began to link . . . World Cancer Research Fund and the American
Institute for Cancer Research, “Food, Nutrition, and the Prevention of Cancer:
A Global Perspective,” 1997. The American Cancer Society guidelines are at
www.cancer.org.

148 Cardiologists, alarmed . . . Irvine H. Page et al., “Atherosclerosis and the Fat
Content of the Diet,” Circulation 16 (1957): 163–78. See also Central Commit-
tee for Medical and Community Program of the American Heart Association,
“Dietary Fat and its Relation to Heart Attacks and Strokes,” Circulation 23 (Jan-
uary 1961): 133–36.

149 In 2004, the committee . . . You can view the advisory committee’s report and
see how the USDA and Department of Health and Human Services changed it
to create the 2005 Dietary Guidelines at www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines.

14. MEAT: QUESTIONS OF SAFETY

151 Since 1990, CSPI . . . See Caroline Smith DeWaal et al., Outbreak Alert!
Closing the Gaps in Our Food-Safety Net (Washington, D.C.: Center for Sci-
ence in the Public Interest, November 2005) available at www.cspinet.org. The
USDA posts press releases about recalls of meat and poultry by year at
www.fsis.usda.gov/Fsis_Recalls/index.asp.

156 The Coleman Natural . . . Its Web site is www.colemannatural.com. HACCP
rules require the USDA to test for Salmonella on an unannounced basis, and
companies to test for the generic form of E. coli (a marker of fecal contamina-
tion) in 1 out of every 300 beef carcasses, 1,000 hogs, 3,000 turkeys, and 22,000
chickens. See USDA, “Pathogen Reduction: HACCP Systems: Proposed
Rule,” Federal Register 61 (July 25, 1996): 38806–989.

156 In the frozen food . . . The company discusses its irradiation practices at
www.HuiskenMeats.com.

157 They say that if . . . The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s position
on food irradiation is posted at www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dbmd/diseaseinfo/foodirradiation.htm.

158 In January 2004 . . . See Mike Freeman, “Accounting Dispute Led to Demise of
SureBeam,” The San Diego Union-Tribune, January 14, 2004, at
www.mindfully.org/Food/2004/Surebeam-Accounting-Dispute14jan04.htm.
A story on April 6, 2004, provided further details. More recent articles about SureBeam
are at www.signonsandiego.com. The Texas A&M electronic beam facility is explained at
www.tamu.edu/ebeam/facility.htm.

159 If you were to eat meat . . . I discussed the science and politics of mad cow dis-
ease in much greater detail in the last chapter of my book Safe Food: Bacteria,
Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism (University of California Press, 2004).

159 How they arise and spread . . . The latest idea—quite unconfirmed—is human-
to-cow-to-human transmission. The thought is that BSE emerged in cows that
had eaten bone meal imported to England from India; the meal might have con-
tained the remains of humans who died of vCJD. See Alan C. F. Colchester and
Nancy T. H. Colchester, “The Origin of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy:
The Human Prion Disease Hypothesis,” Lancet 366 (2005): 856–61.

161 Its weirdest decision . . . See Donald G. McNeil Jr., “U.S. Won’t Let Com-
pany Test All Its Cattle for Mad Cow” and “Barred from Test