Rating: 
Summary: Bashing Food Myths!!!
Review: "Food Politics" is a really enlightening and educational read for anyone who eats! I was recommended this book by my professor who I became a teaching assistant to (the class is Nutrition in Medicine). Being a foodie who believes in fresh ingredients and minimal processing, this book not only reiterates what I know (and believe), it also presents new information about the competitive food industry. During the time I read the book, I began realizing the food industry's actions on my daily experience, such as grocery shopping. I also realized that they have succeeded brainwashing the "Variety is good for the diet" motto not only to me but also my loved ones.
I got pretty disillusioned with both the government and the food industry after reading this. Not that I've never known about Senate/Congress lobbyists and corruption, it's just that I never realized the extent that it happens! Nevertheless, "Food Politics" is a beneficial read for anyone interested in finding out more about the industry.
Rating: 
Summary: I don't think most of these reviewers read this book
Review: DO any of these authors live in California? Is all this going on in some McDonalds heavy midwestern back water? B/C this is NOT my reality! Regardless of the hour, I cannot turn on the news w/out hearing alarmist "statistics" about how unforgivably fat Americans are! This is all ofcourse intercut w/ads for designer drugs to "control" fat through the wonder of outputting fatty oily stools. (OF course I find the almost ethereally uplifting and lengthy ads about why putting your 4 yr. old on ritalin much more disturbing, causing me to wish there was some way I could transport my wickedly fat @$$ back to what used to be planet earth. I hope this anorexic thinking author atleast reserves a fraction of his/her consternation for the diet industry-which it has been proven (by actually telling peole what these authors recommend "eat less-move more," cut fat out completely with fake foods-fill up on those politically correct eath sustaining carbs. Because when it really comes down to it who cares about your health-we only care about how you look!) has in the long run made people morbidly obese diabetics uncontrollably obsessed with food. Sort of like the same way making certain drugs illegal fuels crime. But hey the solution really is encouraging (Yes actually encouraging!) insurance companies to discriminate against people on the basis of weight and publicly humiliate and abuse their children at school. (I guess that isn't happening enough already!) It's only a matter of time before smoking, bulimia and anorexia are brought back and lauded for their appetite supressing affects. Call me crazy, but I find the pressure of a soda much less irresistable than the pressure to look like I just walked out of a prison labor camp.
Rating:
Summary: If you liked Fast Food Nation
Review: Eric Schlosser writes about FOOD POLITICS, "If you eat, you should read this book." But while Schlosser revealed to a mass public the disturbing business of fast food, Marion Nestle takes on most of the food industry, and not without consequences (you can view a letter she received from a lawyer representing the sugar industry on the website for this book).She argues that basic nutrition science is simple. Yet there is mass confusion about what to eat and what effects foods have. And the reason for all of this misinformation is that it benefits food producers to have an innocent flock of customers who are left uncertain of how to judge what is healthy from what is not. She clearly explains what means the food industry uses to influence policies to their benefit, often at the expense of public health. And she gives detailed examples that illustrate the extent to which some companies and industries go to sell their products. While her suggestions for reform may be somewhat wanting, her descriptions of how decisions about food get made on political levels is masterfully researched and she is always respectful of science. While those people with vested interests in certain industries may label her a communist, she is merely critiquing a history of policies and marketing strategies that have, to be sure, provided us with an abundant food supply, but have also led to increased obesity and high rates of chronic diseases.
Rating:
Summary: Read this Book, Then...
Review: FIGHT FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Professor Ignacio Chapela courageously spoke out
against the UC $25 million research agreement with
the biotechnology giant Novartis. He published an
article demonstrating that native corn in Mexico had
been contaminated by genetically engineered corn.
Being a prominent critic of the university's ties to
the biotech industry, Dr. Chapela had his tenure
denied despite overwhelming support by his peers at UC
Berkeley and experts around the world.
The implications that these actions have on academic
freedom are frightening. They threaten scientists in
the future from working to seek truth in different
forums without undue influence. Scientists will no
longer be able to ask questions that might seem
uncomfortable even for the university to pose, such as
those in pursuit of precautionary science or in
opposition to corporate control over the university
research agenda.
You can get involved:
1. Call, email or write the UC Berkeley Chancellor
Birgeneau and the Academic Senate.
Phone: 510-642-7464
Fax: 510-643-5499
Email: Chancellor@Berkeley.edu
Snail Mail: Office of the Chancellor, 200 California
Hall # 1500, Berkeley, California, 94720-1500
(Academic Senate = PHONE: 510-642-4226; FAX:
510-642-8920; E-MAIL: acad_sen@berkeley.edu
2. Visit www.tenurejustice.org or write
tenurejustice@riseup.net
Rating:
Summary: Why right libertarian economics will never work.
Review: Government in bed with the industry. Government wins through private sector employment, companies win by selling you dirt cheap harmful garbage. You lose.
I'd take the first 3 reviews submitted with a grain of salt.
Rating:
Summary: Stunning!
Review: If you want to know about the ins and outs of food science or the food industry, this book will be disappointing. But if you're interested in how the food induatry (agriculture, food processing, retail and restaurant) influence and dominate our governments' approach to food, this book is the one for you. Dr. Nestle, a nutrition scientist, has spent years consulting with the USDA and other government agencies dealing with food. She had a lot to do with creation and publication of the famous "food pyramid." In this work, she was subject to relentless lobbying by food companies determined to prevent the government from recommending that people eat less of their products. They sent whole armies of lobbyists, not just to Washington, but to state governements, universities, and anywhere else they could influence food science. They donate money to universities, fund studies of their own, give gifts to legislators and woo regulators. They frequently get their own corporate representatives appointed to regulatory and administrative positions. As a result, they have watered down or changed any attempt to advise eating less fat, less sugar, or less of anything. I think the great value of this book is revealing how our government works. This is not just about food. Every facet of government is subject to corporate influence and domination. You can really see this in the insurance companies' ability to derail health insurance reform, and the drug companies' blocking drug purchases from foreign countries. Perhaps we can take our government back, step by step. Food Politics is a good teaching tool for those who want to fight back. David Spero RN...
Rating:
Summary: More About Politics Than Food
Review: If you want to know about the ins and outs of food science or the food industry, this book will be disappointing. But if you're interested in how the food induatry (agriculture, food processing, retail and restaurant) influence and dominate our governments' approach to food, this book is the one for you. Dr. Nestle, a nutrition scientist, has spent years consulting with the USDA and other government agencies dealing with food. She had a lot to do with creation and publication of the famous "food pyramid." In this work, she was subject to relentless lobbying by food companies determined to prevent the government from recommending that people eat less of their products. They sent whole armies of lobbyists, not just to Washington, but to state governements, universities, and anywhere else they could influence food science. They donate money to universities, fund studies of their own, give gifts to legislators and woo regulators. They frequently get their own corporate representatives appointed to regulatory and administrative positions. As a result, they have watered down or changed any attempt to advise eating less fat, less sugar, or less of anything. I think the great value of this book is revealing how our government works. This is not just about food. Every facet of government is subject to corporate influence and domination. You can really see this in the insurance companies' ability to derail health insurance reform, and the drug companies' blocking drug purchases from foreign countries. Perhaps we can take our government back, step by step. Food Politics is a good teaching tool for those who want to fight back. David Spero RN...
Rating:
Summary: Read Before You Eat!
Review: Marion Nestle's book Food Politics is fantastic! This book may be the biggest expose in the food industry since Upton Sinclair's The Jungle! Nestle's fresh perspective on the food industry and the goverment's influence on our eating habits is sure to be the most popular and talked about controversy since the tobacco industry was targeted by health officials! It's huge! And, Food Politics is written in a very clear and concise manner. The style in which it is written will interest a wide audience - not only will people in the nutrition and food fields enjoy the book, but it will also captivate people in the business and healthcare industries, consumers, federal workers, advertising, public relations and marketing industries, people in agriculture, public policy makers, and basically anyone who buys and eats commercial foods. This book totally changed the way I view not only the food industry and government but how I am choosing my own foods on a daily basis. I found the book to be insightful and interesting. This book is a must read!
Rating:
Summary: The other side of the food inustry...
Review: Prof. Marion Nestle covers all the bases in this comprehensive and shocking inside look at the American food industry, and its collusion with government and "science." Food Politics goes a long way toward exposing the underbelly of the current obesity epidemic, and related diatetes, cancer and heart disease. Nestle shows how even the agencies designed to protect public interest in this area are corrupted by vested interests. And she makes clear how the "paradox of plenty" is driving us to eat more and move less. Also recommended: The Hungry Gene by Ellen Ruppel Shell, another scupulously researched expose that puts the obesity epidemic into historical, political and scientific perspective.
Rating:
Summary: "Reader from Europe" is clueless.
Review: Regarding the review below: Hurray, we found the culprit!, February 23, 2003 -- Reviewer: A reader from Europe. What "Reader" fails to realize is that although there are other factors leading to obesity, this book is not about ALL of the reasons. This book is about ONE reason, and that is what the author has effectively covered. Interesting the reviewer used his or her review as an opportunity to take a jab at Americans in general. Makes me question whether the reviewer was actually discussing the book, or his/her personal feelings about America.
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