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Photo: Kraft.com
A health advocacy group is calling on the city of Irving, Texas, to back out of its deal with Kraft Foods, which paid $75,000 to sponsor next month's implosion of Texas Stadium.
"These are not food products government should promote," says Susan Levin, director of nutritional education for the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine. "The city says it's fighting childhood obesity, but it's taking money from the company that makes Velveeta."
Kraft plans to use the event to promote its new "Cheddar Explosion," a mac-and-cheese dinner billed as having "bigger shapes" and "more cheese sauce." The star of the hoopla will be the winner of an essay contest Kraft conducted to find a tween to press the detonation button.
"Because it's targeted to kids, it's especially egregious," Levin says. "I understand we all need financial support, but this is poor judgment."
City officials rejected the doctors' group's offer of $75,000 to shelve its contract with Kraft and instead use the Apr. 11 event to spotlight childhood obesity. The group proposed unfurling a giant banner reading "Cheese really blows you up."
Mayor Herbert Gears told the Dallas Morning News he thought the anti-cheese banner was "tacky" and "offensive," words some diehard Cowboys fans have used to describe the commercialization of the stadium's demolition. Still, Gears stands by the plan, citing the additional $150,000 Kraft has promised to local charities and food banks.
"You've got to talk to them about lasting change and habits – water instead of soda pop and the role exercise and managing portions plays," Gears told the paper, outlining his non-explosive strategy for reducing childhood obesity. He suggested the group give its $75,000 to existing health programs.
"We're not trying to run behind Kraft, cleaning up their messes," Levin grumbles. "It's ridiculous for government to lock arms with them."
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3-15-2010 @2:27PM johnjfoote said... The government should have no place in telling people what to eat or what insurance to buy. Thomas Jefferson is turning in his grave as we speak ,what next? When you can have sex? What gender child you must have? This administration is so far out of line! Wake up America !
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3-15-2010 @9:06PM al said... Did you say Thomas Jefferson? I just read that Texas "educators" are re-writing their high-school textbooks to downgrade or eliminate anything referring to our third president. It seems they consider him too "liberal". That's too bad--because he would surely have loved to taste that new macaroni and cheese!!
3-15-2010 @5:21PM Jim said... Hmm, interesting about the Thomas Jefferson statement. However, I also find anyone branding him a liberal a little dissingenious. He was a thinker...something a liberal or conservative adherent (by being a sheep of either side of the spectrum) cannot claim. Oh, and regarding seperation of church and state, which Jefferson was credited with sculpting, here is something the anti-Christians of the far left should remember about thim: On January 1, 1802, Jefferson wrote to that group of Danbury Baptists, and in this letter, he assured them—he said the First Amendment has erected a wall of separation between church and state, he said, but that wall is a one-directional wall. It keeps the government from running the church, but it makes sure that Christian principles will always stay in government. Wow, is that liberal OR conservative? No, he was a THINKER, not a political lemming like most libs or neocons.
3-15-2010 @5:52PM phil said... Ditto!
3-15-2010 @5:39PM RockNetWebChick said... This administration? Corporate America has been running this country for years. Where do you think both political parties get the majority of their campaign contributions? That's right. From corporations. What happens when you get campaign contributions from corporations? That's right. You do whatever they tell you to do. This practice didn't start last January. It's been going on for decades. Get out of your cave every once in a while.
3-15-2010 @5:52PM William Bischoff said... What "Administration" is it that you think is promoting Kraft Mac and Cheese? I see nothing wrong with the food itself, because no diet is going to consist of one food. But to suggest this President and his Administration has anything to do with it is ludicrus. Michelle Obama grows a vegetable garden herself, to promote the idea of eating good healthy foods. When people like yourself allow your politics to cloud your judgement and your thinking to this extent, it proves that you are all over the top with angst about your Party. If you can't find something of substance in the opposition Party, to complain about, you sink to THIS LEVEL? How pathetic!
3-15-2010 @6:19PM john said... Good for the doctors! Let's make sure the doctors also teach our children the correct way to wipe their little asses.
3-15-2010 @7:15PM mike said... The government should be keeping known carcinagens and other toxins like hydogenated industrial oils and high fructose corn syrup out of the public food supply. But oh yea! Kraft is the government arent they... I forgot. Your right, Thomas Jefferson would be on the board of both Monsanto and Goldman Sachs if he were alive today. Sleeping on a bed of cash. Screw the stupid public, they get what they deserve. FAT!
3-15-2010 @7:33PM csi8299 said... Jefferson meant that the State could never dictate religious practice to the church; he never in his wildest dreams meant that the two should be separate and apart, as you imply. He APPROVED putting "In God We Trust" on the currency; so much for "separation of church & state".
3-15-2010 @11:27PM Pat said... No big deal cause I don't think there's in cheese in Kraft macaroni & cheese.
3-15-2010 @8:08PM Theodosia said... States and even Cities retain some sovereignty. That was a Irving, Texas official decision, not a Federal Goverment decision. Please get the facts correct before you write. We would not want someone to thing wrongly of the writer.
3-15-2010 @2:28PM Amanda said... Give me a break! Mac and Cheese doesn't make children fat, parents who feed them too much do! There is nothing wrong with any type of food in moderation! People need to stop blaming soda, candy, mac and cheese, or other other fattening foods for our obesity problems. Parents need to teach their children that foods like that are treats and are not meant to be eaten on a regular basis.
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3-15-2010 @2:45PM Linda said... Amen!!!
3-15-2010 @4:48PM S. Gifford said... It is the parents job but most aren't doing their jobs to teach their own children. That's why this generation of children are the first that will not live as long as their parents.
The government is paying most of the obese families medical bills so they should have a say in what you eat.
3-15-2010 @4:57PM Mike R. said... S. Gifford, your a moron. How do you know the goverment pays for most of the obese peoples health care? Are you just prejudice against obese people? Yep. And don't bother writing that I must be obese, I am not. I just don't believe in the goverment taking away our right every time you turn around. Maybe you will allow Omama to do it to you, but most people don't think like that. Get a life and worry about yourself
3-15-2010 @2:51PM Linnie said... Don't you guys understand that this government is getting us prepared for National Health Care by telling us what to eat, when to eat, taxing soda, telling us what we should weight, taking snacks out of schools. I understand that eating healthy and feeding our children healthy food, but do you really think this government cares about the health of our people or do you think that when we get the National Health the government won't have to dish out money to pay. Don't you all see that medications that used to be prescription because they were too dangerous for people to just pull off the shelves are now on the shelves...all of a sudden they're not dangerous for us to take now...it's because the government doesn't want to PAY! You'll see that more and more medications will be over the counter just as you see in Europe.
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3-15-2010 @2:58PM keith said... give me a break. whiney people that are too lazy to keep the stuff from coming into your house, then you(parents) should be punished for it.. its the adults job in the house to insure what your kids are exposed to. you can't do your job, then turn kids over to state. you SHOULD'NT be allowed to parent anybody!
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3-15-2010 @3:14PM coscorron said... It's not like if Mac & Cheese is served by itself. I love the stuff but it doen's mean I ate it all the time and everyday. I say let the implosion begin!!!
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3-15-2010 @2:59PM Glimmer said... I am waiting for the government to worry about what they are allowing to be done to our food, such as adding growth hormones, etc., where are the food police where/when they are needed?
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3-15-2010 @3:04PM Claire said... *** "The city says it's fighting childhood obesity, but it's taking money from the company that makes Velveeta." ***
Maybe the government should also stop taking money from Big Tobacco and Big Booze, too.
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