Recap: Food Marketing Hearing

The House Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade and the Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on voluntary food marketing guidelines developed by the Federal trade Commission, the Department of Agriculture, and the Department of Health and Human Services. Republicans on the committee hammered away at the guidelines, echoing the key talking points that industry has used, including the potential loss of jobs and the prospect that voluntary guidelines won't end up being all that voluntary. GOP lawmakers also scolded the agencies for overstepping authority and failing to deliver what Congress had initially requested.

“The Senate report language called for a study and a report to Congress. We have neither a study nor a report; rather we have a quasi-regulatory maneuver that has drawn fire from a broad range of organizations and members of Congress,” said Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI). With the exception of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA, who said he “couldn’t believe” what he was hearing from his Republican colleagues, even House Democrats were skeptical about the guidelines, though they were stopping short of agreeing with their Republican colleagues that the guidelines should be withdrawn. There seemed to be a growing consensus in the room that the debate had also changed because of the food industry’s new self-regulatory plan, which was proposed by the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative in July.

The whole hearing left a bad taste in the mouths of the food advocates, who were expecting more of a dialogue on the best nutrition principles to attack obesity. "What's surprising is that Congress holds a hearing to protect the food and advertising industry, instead of holding a hearing about protecting children," said Margo Wootan, the Center for Science in the Public Interest's director of nutrition policy. "The industry has used its power to try and intimidate the [federal] agencies."


Recap: Food Marketing Hearing House GOP Sides With Big Food and Ad Lobbies (AdWeek) Testimony (FTC) Legislators Say Food Marketing Guidelines Need Study (B&C) Government pulls back on junk food marketing proposal (LATimes)