Kraft Launches Initiative to Fight Obesity

July 1, 2003 -- The largest food company in the United States, Kraft Foods, announced today it is launching a global initiative to fight obesity.

"Kraft is committed to product choices and marketing practices that will help encourage healthy lifestyles and make it easier to eat and live better," co-CEO Betsy Holden said in a statement.

The problem is apparent on almost any grocery store shelf: So much food, and so much of it loaded with fat or sugar.

Kraft, the multinational company that makes thousands of products ranging from Oreo cookies and Velveeta cheese to Oscar Mayer wieners, said in the statement that it plans to:

Limit portion sizes of single-serve packages. Reduce the fat and sugar content of some foods. Provide nutritional labeling in all countries, even those that don't require it. And eliminate marketing in schools.

"All of the proposals Kraft has made could have a tremendous impact on public health," said Marion Nelson, the head of the nutrition department at New York University.

Health or Image Concerns?

It could also have a tremendous impact on the company's image and finances. Major food makers are seen increasingly as part of the cause of the obesity epidemic. Lawmakers are considering a "fat tax," and lawyers are threatening lawsuits.

Dr. Derek Yach, executive director of noncommunicable diseases at the World Health Organization, told ABCNEWS: "Many food companies know what happened with the tobacco companies and fear they could run into the same vilification and the same penalties."

Obesity among adults in the United States has doubled since 1980 and tripled among adolescents, according the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In the past, said Yach, many companies denied the obesity epidemic and that they had a major role in trying to solve the problem. Not any more.

"They are acknowledging that this is not just an issue of individual responsibility," he said. "There are corporate activities that could improve some of the problem."

Would You Like Apples With That?

McDonald's this summer will test a Happy Meal giving customers the choice of french fries or apple slices. And Kellogg's has bought separate companies to produce vegetarian foods and all-natural cereals.

Kraft cannot say how much its new initiative will change Cheez Wiz or any other individual product. The company plans to form a panel of experts to come up with "standards and measures" it can apply to each of its foods.

Many public health officials, however, question whether Kraft will actually do what it has promised.

"The difference with Kraft," said Nelson, "is a credibility problem it has to overcome, in that it's owned by Philip Morris, a cigarette company with a long list of practices that were not exactly in the best interests of public health."