Food Manufacturers to Cut 1.5 Trillion Calories from Products by 2015

First Lady Michelle Obama is at it again. Her “Let’s Move” campaign to fight childhood obesity is really making serious strides. Yesterday she announced an agreement where Big Food players will cut one trillion calories from their food products and beverages by 2012 and 1.5 trillion by 2015, according to the Wall Street Journal's Market Watch blog.

The agreement is between the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation (whose members include the likes of Kellogg’s, Hershey's, and Coca-Cola) and the Partnership for a Healthier America, the organization implementing the Let's Move campaign. Michelle Obama is the organization's honorary chair. The manufacturers will create and expand lower-calorie lines of products by changing recipes and cutting portion sizes.

So the really horribly bad for you foods will now become slightly less horrible for you. The situation reminds me of something my mom used to say when pricey clothes went on sale: "Brings it down from ridiculous to expensive."

Despite the tendency to make such snide comments about this situation, we must acknowledge that Big Food is stepping up (finally!). They are working with critics to do something to change America's food environment. And while some of us wouldn't mind if these companies reduced their calories so much that their products disappeared altogether, I have to admit that that's never going to happen, so we have to take the victories we can get.

Ms. Obama also pointed out that the industry's cooperation is essential to changing America's weight problem. “Solving the obesity epidemic requires far more than anything government can do alone, and today’s announcement represents an important step forward to providing Americans with healthier choices so that they can choose to lead healthier lives,” she said in a statement. “This is precisely the kind of private-sector commitment we need."

Photo: sanjoyg via Flickr