Chapter 2, In The Book: “Food Politics: How the Food Industry
Influences Nutrition and Health”
By: Marion Nestle
Presented By: Samantha Privratsky
• Conflict of interest by USDA (United States Department
of Agriculture) when aiming to protect agriculture AND to
advise the public about diet and health issues
• Marion Nestle exemplifies this issue through her analysis
of the 1991 Food Pyramid Controversy
 (1991)USDA Secretary, Edward R. Madigan, rejected the Printing of
the latest, The Eating Right Food Pyramid, because he claimed that, “It
is confusing to Children.”
•
(1956-1979)The Basic
Four Guide
(1991) The Eating Right
Pyramid

 The relative size unity suggests that a person should
eat an equal amount of all four food groups, even if
the suggested servings read differently
Servings(some serving sizes unknown):
Meat 2-3 servings; 4-6 ounces/servng
milk 2-3 cups;
Vegetables/Fruit = 4 or more
Grain = 4 or more

Servings: (some serving sizes unknown)
Meat = 2-3 servings
Milk = 2-3 cups
Vegetables = 3-5 servings
Fruit = 2-4
Grain = 6-11
Explicitly hierarchical: majority of foods from
grain, vegetables, fruit; image suggests eating
less meat and dairy than the other food
groups

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• In 1992 the USDA came out with a revised image of the “Eating Right”
Pyramid after 1 year of further research and incessant publicity
• Spent 1 Million Dollars only to confirm the previous research conducted by
the DHEW:
•
Even though the meat and dairy producers preferred the Bowl image guidelines
because the shape suggested greater equality among food groups, Research showed the
pyramid image providing the most clarity and understanding for the general public
• Only a few changes were made to The Eating Right Pyramid and yet the
USDA secretary justified the costs, “We spent 855,000 on comprehensive
tests to answer concerns raised by commodity groups, nutritionists, and
health care professionals…..The results clearly indicate that the “Food
Guide” was the most effective symbol” (Secretary Madigan, April, 28,
1992).
THE FOOD GUIDE PYRAMID (1992)
Changes made on image from
1991-1992:
•
•Title (‘Eating Right’ to ‘Food
Guide’) due to Complaints
from Kraft Foods
•Recommended servings
located outside the pyramid
and not within food groups
•Increase in meat serving
size: “Basic Four” = 4-6oz
•“Food Guide” = 5-7oz
• 1977 Dietary Goals, Congress Under Pressure to support
Health promotion :
• to reduce chronic disease(Heart Disease, Diabetes, etc..)
• prevent public nutrition deficiencies
• reduce the cost of healthcare
•USDA and DHEW (Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare) were competing for the control of nutrition education
and research
USDA won this battle with the help of President Jimmy
Carter, a Democrat ,who wanted control over these issues
•
 (1977) Farm Bill (Public Law 95-113), Congress granted USDA shared
responsibilities over dietary advice to the public with DHEW(Department of
Health, Education, and Welfare)
 (1988) House Appropriations Committee reaffirmed USDA’s “lead agency”
responsibility for dietary guidance

DHEW argued that more “appropriate” agencies , which work within the
DHEW, should be responsible for education and research on diet and health,
Agencies such as:

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Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Center for Disease Control (CDC)
National Health Institute of Health
• USDA’s Human Nutrition Information Service (HNIS)
• (1980 )Developed a Food Wheel Dietary Guideline based off of serving size
and daily servings per food group, however; the food industry requested to
downplay any “eat less” suggestions
• (1988-89) developed the Pyramid symbol to focus on eating a variety of foods
and not on “eating less”
• Research , focus groups, showed that participants easily caught on to the
proportionality concept: people knew just by looking at the pyramid that
they were supposed to eat more servings of bread than dairy
• The HNIS conducted nearly 10 years of extensive research
• Pyramid Food Guide had passed six levels of USDA policy review and
three divisional reviews; it was fully cleared for publication at every
political level within USDA
•Why did Secretary Madigan block the printing of
the “Eating Right Pyramid?”
•Wednesday, April 10th: “Eat Less Meat” Front page news due to
Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine(PCRM) advocating for four
new vegetarian food groups.
•April 13th: publicity highlighting the “progress” achieved creating the
Pyramid symbol because it suggests that we eat less meat and dairy and
therefore will increase our health and wellbeing
•April 15th: Secretary Madigan scheduled a meeting with
the Cattlemen’s association two days after the Washington
Post story appeared.
• Cattlemen among other trade associations were not content
with their position on the pyramid and argued that it would
negatively affect their business
• Now Appears as an Icon, in education, nutrition, textbooks, but also in advertisements,
cookbooks etc….
•The pyramid has developed food pyramids for ethnic and cultural groups to suit almost any
dietary preference
•The Food Pyramid has not shown to be effective in meeting the 1977 “Dietary Goals” and
lowered healthcare costs goals set by the USDA, therefore, further research is necessary.
1956-1979 Basic Four
1992-2005 The Food Guide Pyramid
1980-1991 Eating Right Pyramid
2005 Food Pyramid
•Website for MyPyramid contains a link to the new “Know your
Farmer, know your Food”
•Obama Administration giving funds to support local food
within schools and in communities to benefit local farmers
•Also funds to support EBT low income cards so they can have
access to farmers markets and healthy local food.
•There are many other food pyramid spin offs from the original
1992, and 2005 versions which are specifically science based
anddo not agree with the USDA versions.
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/knowyourfarmer?navtype=KY
F&navid=KYF_MISSION