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Posts Tagged ‘food police’
March 20th, 2014 at 8:49 pm
New Food Labels: A $2 Billion Exercise in Irrelevancy
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Troy Senik, CFIF Senior Fellow, former speechwriter for George W. Bush and senior editor of Ricochet, discusses First Lady Michelle Obama’s push for new FDA nutritional labeling guidelines and the lessons learned from California’s regime of high taxes, oppressive regulation and rampant litigation.

Listen to the interview here.

November 20th, 2013 at 1:04 pm
Big Government Comes to Little Kids’ Lunch Boxes

Kristen Bartkiw thought she provided her two children with wholesome, filling meals when she sent them to daycare with lunch boxes filled with roast beef, potatoes, carrots, oranges and milk. The government, however, didn’t agree.

Bartkiw, who lives in rural Manitoba, Canada, was fined $10 for providing her kids with a lunch that was not a “balanced meal according to the Canadian Food Guide.”  Parents packing their children’s lunches are required to include “one milk, one meat, one grain and two fruits/vegitables.” The lunches Bartkiw packed for her children lacked the appropriate grain component.

Under the outrageous Canadian food guidelines, daycare workers were forced to supplement Bartkiw’s children’s lunch with a grain – in this case Ritz Crackers – to comply with the federal regs.

The daycare that was required to fine Bartkiw and force feed her kids a fistful of crackers finally grew so tired of serving as the food police for the Canadian government, that it stopped allowing parents to pack lunches for their children. The childcare provider is now saddled with the extra hassle and expense of cooking a hot lunch for every child in the facility.

It’s one thing to encourage child care workers to keep an eye out for instances in which children are not receiving adequate food or proper care. It’s another thing entirely for the government to command childcare workers to fine and harass loving parents for not packing the exact lunch that bureaucrats want children to have.

June 20th, 2012 at 9:24 am
Ramirez Cartoon: Which Is a Bigger Threat to America?
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Below is one of the latest cartoons from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Ramirez.

View more of Michael Ramirez’s cartoons on CFIF’s website here.

September 15th, 2011 at 4:02 pm
Michelle Obama’s War on Breadsticks
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Oh, the policy initiatives of a First Lady. In most White Houses, they’re confined to feel-good exhortations to increase child literacy or avoid the temptations of drugs. And at their best, they’re an opportunity for the president’s spouse to take a stand on an issue better handled by civil society than government. That’s not without merit. The voice of an influential public figure can certainly change popular attitudes for the better.

What’s a little dismaying however, is when what starts as an earnest appeal to self-improvement becomes an excuse for nannyism and artificial quotas. Consider this, from the Daily Caller:

Bending to the whims of Michelle Obama, Darden Restaurants — the company that owns the Olive Garden, Red Lobster, LongHorn Steakhouse and other restaurant concepts — announced Thursday that it will cut the “calorie footprint” and sodium levels in its meals and create new kids’ menus to comply with the first lady’s public health objectives.

With Michelle Obama, Darden unveiled its plans for all 19,000 of its restaurants in 49 states at an Olive Garden restaurant in Hyattsville, Md., in front of a prominent sign advertising the first lady’s “Let’s Move!” campaign.

The company pledged to reduce the overall calories and sodium in its meals by 10 percent over the next five years, and by 20 percent over 10 years.

Is the First Lady’s goal to suck all the joy out of life? Has our concept of limited government been so diminished that we’ll accept being hectored by the waiter at the Red Lobster over how many cheddar bay biscuits we’ve had because it’s a directive from Michelle Obama’s office?

The First Lady is certainly right that Americans could stand to step up their excercise regimes and cut back on the calories. But taking away options is the low road to virtue. If her case is compelling, it’ll sink in on the merits. If not, those are the wages of living in a free society.

As for those cheddar bay biscuits, I have five words for Mrs. Obama: “… from my cold, dead hands.”

July 29th, 2011 at 10:03 am
Podcast: Why We Should Fear the Food Police
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In an interview with CFIF, Julie Gunlock, senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum, discusses the government’s growing involvement in our food choices and why it is not the government’s job to tell adults what they can or cannot eat.

Listen to the interview here.