It is with great pleasure that I announce the unveiling of The Food Label Movement, which you can check out at:
With my nutritionist friend, I have co-founded this organization to appeal to the Canadian government to improve food labelling regulations. I especially feel passionate about this project because it combines my two loves: health and rhetoric.
The rhetoric of food packages is truly something to marvel at. Food manufacturers are able to neglect to say an astonishing amount of important information (for example, not stating whether a product contains genetically modified ingredients), while emphasizing other parts of the food which are negligible (for example, using the phrase “made with whole grains!” when the product only contains 2% whole grains).
As a writer, editor, and communications specialist, I know that there is a lot of value in being able to strategically promote a product (case in point: I’m doing it right now with trying to promote The Food Label Movement). But I think that one of the most important parts about rhetoric is to try to be as transparent as possible with it (case in point: I just stated what I am doing in the previous sentence).
Increasing transparency would be beneficial to everyone. It would allow the consumer to understand exactly what they are eating, and it would allow the food manufacturer to know exactly what the consumer wants. I believe that it would improve health across the entire country because consumers would be able to make educated decisions about what they eat, which in turn would lead to people being more productive economically (because they wouldn’t have to worry as much about their health once it was improved, and they would also find themselves more energetic once their health was improved) and the country being in a better situation financially because there wouldn’t be as much money spent on health care (how’s that for a wordy sentence? And yes. I like brackets).
Food labels – which include the front of the food package, the nutrition facts table, and the ingredient list – have so much potential to inform consumers. Join The Food Label Movement to show your support for the cause: sign our petition, become a sponsor, donate to the movement, and march with us in Winnipeg in the summer of 2011. Food products need a rhetoric makeover.