As someone who writes regularly about food and who worked as an advertising/regulatory lawyer for one of the world's largest food conglomerates, I didn't think there was a lot that could surprise me about the processed food industry. Then I picked up Melanie Warner's new book, Pandora's Lunchbox,...

With the closing of USDA's period for public comment on the new proposed competitive food rules, there has been a lot of discussion about the food and beverages offered to school kids via vending machines, school stores and cafeteria snack bar or "a la carte" lines.

But what...

About two months ago I was prescribed an antibiotic, doxycycline, for a sinus infection. The medicine came with a warning that you shouldn't lie down for thirty minutes after taking it, but I somehow managed to forget all about that, popping a pill in my mouth with just a small sip...

Food activist Nancy Huehnergarth tweeted this troubling Dairy Reporter item last Friday, which indicates that International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) and the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) are asking the Food & Drug Administration for permission to add aspartame and other artificial sweeteners to the flavored...

After months of delay, the USDA released its proposed rules governing the nutritional quality of so-called "competitive" foods and beverages offered on school campuses.

To refresh everyone's memory, competitive food and beverages are those offered in competition with the federally subsidized school meal, and are sold via vending machines, school...

The Girl Scouts organization has been criticized in recent years by some parents, bloggers and activists over the organization's annual -- and quite profitable -- cookie sale fundraiser.  The complaints range from the cookies' artificial and/or unhealthful ingredients, the general promotion of cookie consumption in an era...

Chris Liebig of A Blog About School shared with me a recent post in which he describes how his school is handing out Dairy Queen coupons for perfect attendance. Chris points out how this scheme is misguided in about ten different ways -- his post is definitely...

On my Houston ISD school food blog, The Spork Report, I once shared a candid photo of a Houston middle schooler's "lunch:"  a bag of  Baked Flamin' Hot Cheetos doused in cheesy nacho sauce:

Both of those...

I wanted to share with you a very good article in an upcoming issue of The Nation which assesses the progress -- or lack thereof -- made by Michelle Obama's Let's Move! initiative in combating childhood obesity.

In a balanced and thorough assessment of the First Lady's efforts, the...

A public school teacher named Brian left a comment on my blog, The Lunch Tray, regarding the new and controversial school food calorie caps. His story is an important one - read on:

. . . .I am a 1st grade teacher in a...

The controversy over the new school food calorie limits is intensifying.

Just to bring everyone up to speed:  the old school food regulations only had calorie minimums, which made sense given the National School Lunch Program's original purpose of combatting childhood malnutrition.  Now in an era of childhood obesity, the...

Iowa Congressman Steve King, a critic of the new school food regulations, made news earlier this week by introducing a bill to roll back the regulations' new calorie limits. Called the "No Hungry Kids Act," King's proposed legislation (co-sponsored by fellow Republican Tim Huelskamp) would allow schools to serve unlimited calories to children...

You may have read about a controversial decision by the New York City Department of Education to discontinue a popular NYC school lunch program run by Wellness in the Schools (WITS).

WITS oversees "Cook for Kids," an initiative which trains school cafeteria staff members in scratch-cooking, partners leading...

The Huffington Post reported yesterday that the story of Jamie Oliver's fraught attempt to improve the school food in Los Angeles Union School District, documented on his Food Revolution show last summer, is going to be adapted into a feature-length movie.  Ryan Seacrest (producer of Food Revolution) will...

In recent years we've heard that gathering regularly for a family dinner has all kinds of beneficial effects on our children, from improved academic performance to a lower incidence of drug use. But in a piece in last Sunday's New York Times, two researchers challenge those claims.

Their study,...

Despite their participation in the Children's Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, a self-regulatory industry group pledged to reduce the marketing of unhealthy products to children, the food industry continues to aggressively promote its least nutritious cereals to children.

That's the troubling, but perhaps not surprising, conclusion of a new...

The biggest news in the kid-and-food world yesterday was a joint announcement by the White House and the Walt Disney Company in which Disney promised to phase out the advertising of junk food on its child-directed television channels, web sites and radio stations.  The ban will include Saturday-morning cartoons airing...

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made headlines by announcing his administration's plan to ban the sale of sugary drinks offered in containers larger than 16 ounces. The proposed "large soda" ban would affect food service establishments like restaurants, movie theaters and street vendors, but would not affect...

One of the most dismaying aspects of the recent passage of new federal school meal standards was the collective caving by Congress to pressure from various food manufacturers seeking to protect profits.

The most notorious of these episodes was the fight over the continued classification of pizza as a school...

Yesterday's press conference held by Beef Products, Inc., attended by no less than three governors, two lieutenant governors, and the Under Secretary for Food Safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was a masterpiece of crisis management. I'm still working my way through the raw footage -- you can view it...