So1o. The F.D.A. Should Be Bolder Than Wal-Mart - Room for Debate. Wal-Mart’s new initiative to market more healthful foods and to reduce produce prices is unprecedented and will certainly improve the public’s health, particularly among the many low-income consumers relying on Wal-Mart for their groceries.
Wal-Mart's plan deserves praise, but it's no substitute for bolder and more concrete measures from the government. Retailers have always been passive middlemen between producers and consumers. But several years ago, Wal-Mart used its marketplace muscle to reduce the environmental footprint of the products it carries (and of its whole operation). Now it is using that same muscle to push manufacturers to move a little more rapidly than they would have otherwise. Some news accounts have put Wal-Mart’s actions in the context of childhood obesity, but the real benefit should be reflected in lower rates of cardiovascular disease. Diets high in sodium are a major cause of heart attacks and strokes. Entrepreneurship. Changer le monde. The Long Tail.
Unilever Says ‘New Business Model’ Necessary for Food Security. Unilever, the world’s second-biggest consumer-goods maker, said companies must target sales growth without increasing their consumption of natural resources to ensure food security in the future. “We need to grow differently,” said Chief Executive Officer Paul Polman, according to the e-mailed text of a speech scheduled for delivery this evening in London at the annual City Food Lecture.
“We cannot choose between growth and sustainability. We have to deliver both.” Companies and governments must make longer-term investments to guarantee sufficient natural resources for the future, from investing in farming practices and agriculture to encouraging free trade, Polman said. “For big companies, like Unilever, this will mean developing new business models, which will allow them to decouple growth from their environmental impacts,” he said. Biofuel Risks Polman said the growing use of biofuel subsidies to encourage renewable-energy use creates risks for food supplies.