On September 17, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the USDA will partner with the NDC and the NFL on their new youth-led health and wellness program, Fuel Up to Play 60. The program, launching to more than 60,000 schools nationwide this fall, will empower youth to take charge of their own health by being more active and eating healthier foods as well as improve the overall health of their school environment and community.

The program is open to all children and participation is quite simple:

1. Kids must Pledge to make their bodies and their schools healthier by committing to eat healthy, play at least 60 minutes every day, and participate in fun activities in and out of school.
2. Kids must Track their progress online or on paper, including their new healthy eating and exercise habits.
3. Kids accumulate Points on their Fuel Meter by sticking to their healthy habits, referring their friends and getting their schools and teachers involved. Each point they accumulate increases the student’s chance to win prizes.

The competition, which starts October 15 and lasts until March 15, is divided into two terms: From mid-October to December 15 and then from February 1 to March 15, 2010. Students in each state who have amassed the most points at the mid-term will win an iPod touch and an NFL gift card.

The two grand prizes will be awarded to one individual at the end of the competition. And grand they are! One lucky and healthy child will partner up with an NFL player for a Fuel Up to Play 60 promotion and receive a healthy makeover complete with a day spent with an NFL player and his personal trainer.

The Fuel Up to Play 60 is a fun and effective way to get thousands of kids from 4th to 10th grades to improve their nutrition and physical activity.

For more information or to register your child, go to the Fuel Up to Play 60 website.

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NFL Fights Childhood Obesity with Fuel Up to Play 60

For products to use the USDA labeling it must contain at least 95% organic ingredients that have not had any chemicals, fertilizers, pesticides or genetically modified organisms used.

For products to use this ECOCERT logo all ingredients must be 100% of natural origin.


For products to use the NPA Certified logo the ingredients must be 95% natural or from natural sources that are renewable. Packaging must be from recycled materials and no animal testing.


In a world where we are bombarded with logos and messaging to influence our purchase behavior, pay attention to the three logos above to help ensure you are buying products that are truly good for our environment and good for you as well.

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Logos That Really Mean “Green” or Organic Foods

Developed by two doctors, Drs. Adam Drewnowski and Victor Fulgoni, the Nutrient Rich Foods (NRF) Index is a validated, objective, and consumer-driven guide that ranks foods according to how nutrient-rich they are. Using the USDA Healthy Eating Index as a base, this new NRF Index takes into account all of the nutrients a given food contains, not just the ones to avoid or limit, like fat, sodium or sugar grams.

This kind of ranking system, which is also referred to as nutrition profiling, was discussed in the recent issue of the Journal of Nutrition and is being lauded as an empowering tool that allows consumers to choose the most nutrient-dense foods. Since numerous diseases and weight-related conditions are due to eating too much or not getting enough of the proper nutrients, the NRF has the power to lead consumers to a healthier diet and lifestyle when it is used appropriately.

The Index is still being organized into a consumer-friendly format so that anyone can use it and apply it to their eating choices. The NRF calculation analyzes the sum of nine nutrients to consume, including protein, calcium, magnesium, iron, fiber, potassium and vitamins A, C and E and then subtracts them from the sum of three nutrients to restrict like saturated fats, sodium and added sugars. What results is an NRF number that reflects how nutrient-rich a particular food is.

It will be interesting to see how the NRF Index will translate into packaging labels and how or rather if, this ranking system will pass through the regulatory standards that will allow it be printed on food labels.

See other examples of these new nutritional food ranking systems.

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Nutrient Rich Foods Index Ranks Nutritional Quality of Food

• On average our food travels 1,500 miles from the farm to our plate

• Because of the long distances that food travels, we no longer eat with the seasons and therefore eat produce that does not provide our bodies with all their nutritional benefits

• Grocery stores now boast over 47,000 products to choose from – most of which can sit on shelves for weeks or even months

• In present day, four companies control more than 80% of our poultry and meat production

• 30% of U.S. land is fields of corn, most of which is used to feed cows because of how cheap it is and because it keeps cows fat. All of this despite the fact that cows should only eat grass

• In the 1970s the FDA conducted more than 50,000 food inspections a year, in 2006 there were only 9,000 inspections

• Kevin’s Law, while not currently passed into law by government, would empower the USDA to shut down any contaminated food plants. This would have helped the widespread salmonella outbreak  that occurred recently due to a contaminated peanut facility and could have helped prevent the many who became sick

• 1 in 3 Americans will contract diabetes

• While we have been programmed to think fast food is cheap food,  we will pay much higher health care costs from the consequences of eating this fast food

If you demand good, wholesome food, farmers will deliver. It is up to us to decide what food we want to be putting on our table. Eat in season, eat locally and plant a garden of your own. These are some of the best ways to help yourself be healthy, help your family be healthy, help your environment be healthy and help our animals be healthy, too.

If you are hungry for change, visit www.foodincmovie.com to learn more about how you can take part.

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We are Still Hungry for Change with Food Inc.

Biden co-chairs the Food Safety Working Group along with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. The theme will be contamination prevention.

“The focus is to have a completely different emphasis than we’ve had in the past,” Biden said. “We’re going to make our new priority preventing (food contamination) from happening in the first place.”

The goal is also to tighten up loose regulatory laws. One example of how current rules have been detrimental is the Nestle Toll House Brand refrigerated cookie dough recall that happened this summer. When FDA inspectors toured the company’s plant, the company refused to provide complaint logs and pest-control records. This was perfectly legal under the current rules.

Under the proposed new rules, companies will have to provide the records, according to food safety expert Michael Taylor, senior adviser to FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg.

Here are the proposed changes, which are immune to political opposition since they don’t have to be approved by Congress:

• Within 90 days, there will be an improved alert system at foodsafety.gov to give consumers access to food safety information.
• New safeguards designed to cut salmonella in raw eggs, E. coli in ground beef and other pathogens in leafy greens, melons, and tomatoes.
• A better tracking system will be implemented to spot the origins of outbreaks.
• Improve the typically bad communication between government agencies that regulate food safety.
• There will be new positions at the Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture to oversee food safety.

(via: USA Today)

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Government Plans to Improve Food Safety

The documentary-style feature shows how the majority of the food we consume is controlled in the hands of just a few giant food manufacturers whose sometimes deplorable and shocking processing practices have not only been hidden from the American consumer but have had the consent of the government’s two food regulatory bodies, the FDA and USDA.

The movie, which features interviews with In Defense of Food author Michael Pollan and Eric Schlosser of Fast Food Nation, is more than just a jaw-dropping expose that graphically shows our food travels from farm (or machine) to fork, but it also motivates all of us to think twice before we order a hot dog at the baseball stadium, grab a box of sugar corn popped cereal or select a few tomatoes from our mass grocer for a summer salad.

As a Variety magazine movie critic commented, “Food Inc. does for the grocery store what Jaws did for the beach.”

What is equally compelling about the movie is that Food Inc. is part of a larger and growing movement to ensure more honesty in how our food is being grown, processed and manufactured. In addition, Food Inc. doesn’t just leave you feeling like the only way to safeguard your health is to grow your own garden, raise your own livestock and hull your own wheat. Accompanying the movie is a comprehensive take-action website that helps you become involved in the Hungry For Change movement. From no longer drinking sodas and other sweetened beverages to reading food labels, eating at home more and urging Congress to pass more food safety laws, Food Inc. empowers us with tools for change that you can start employing today.

Yes, it’s a terrying look into our nation’s food industry but Food Inc. is also an incredibly important movie that is worth every dollar of your $10 movie ticket. But you will probably want to forego the popcorn and post-movie burger and fries.

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Food Inc. is Hungry For Change