Industry must stop 'food addiction' attacksIndustry must stop 'food addiction' attacks

Richard

This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors and management of Nation’s Restaurant News.

If anti-food-industry activists have their way, “chili cheeseburger” eventually will be synonymous with “crack cocaine.” 


The new theory suggests that a restaurant is little better than a meth dealer, hooking customers on addictive foods — “bet you can’t eat just one” — cooked up by an evil genius in a laboratory. Is your company adding sugar to cereals? You might as well be peddling heroin on the playground.


For the last decade these activists have laid the groundwork needed to convince consumers and legislators that food processors are driving a nationwide “addiction” to food. 


Their attack is twofold.


The first step ...