The
self-appointed food police are at it again. On a Nov. 14 edition of NBCs
“Today,” investigative reporter Jeff Rossen dedicated his “Rossen Reports”
segment to “berry imposters.” He referenced “experts” in his hit piece on any
company that dared use the word “fruit” on its labels. These experts are none
other than the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
CSPI is the lefty food activist organization whose attacks recently included launching an entire site dedicated to attacking Coca-Cola [1], and was one of the most outspoken proponents of soda bans [2] across the country.
Rossen interviewed CSPIs president and co-founder Michael Jacobson in his segment. Jacobson stated that there are “no berries whatsoever” in a number of products and referenced them as “berry imposters” – CSPI’s typical, hyperbolic style.
The example given was the dried blueberries found in many cereals and breakfast foods. Even though these foods contained dried blueberry bits, as listed on the label, this was not good enough for Jacobson. “It’s fake,” he told Rossen.
Rossen even began his piece by stating, “No one thinks you’re getting a full day’s serving of fruit in a box of cereal.” These companies don’t claim to replace fruit for consumers, and most boxes clearly say the word “flavor.” Still, CSPI finds it absolutely unconscionable to have something strawberry flavored if it doesn’t actually contain strawberries.
Jacobson even mentioned CSPI’s current lawsuit against Coca-Cola for their production of strawberry-kiwi flavored Vitamin Water. Once again, Vitamin Water doesn’t claim to have strawberries or kiwis in their drink. This lawsuit is just another case of CSPI activism.
CSPI had been all but worshipped by the media. When mentioned, CSPI is rarely, if ever, labeled as a liberal organization – they are consulted as experts [3] on all things bad for you. CSPIs solution to everything is more regulation or taxation instead of allowing people to make choices for themselves on what to consume.