5 Quotes & Sayings By Marion Nestle

Marion Nestle is a professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University. She holds the title of Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health. Nestle has worked for many years to promote changes in the food system that improve nutrition and public health. She has served on the National Advisory Committee for the Healthy Eating Index; advised both the U.S Read more

Secretary of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Surgeon General; served on the board of directors of the Center for Science in the Public Interest; written or edited several books; edited "Food Politics" (a collection of essays), "Food Politics II" (a follow-up collection), "Feeding 7 Billion" (the first report of its kind on how America's food supply is managed), "How Not to Die," and "What to Eat" (two bestselling diet books); and co-authored, with Richard A. Mattison, "Nutrition Against Disease."

1
To speak only of food inspections: the United States currently imports 80% of its seafood, 32% of its fruits and nuts, 13% of its vegetables, and 10% of its meats. In 2007, these foods arrived in 25, 000 shipments a day from about 100 countries. The FDA was able to inspect about 1% of these shipments, down from 8% in 1992. In contrast, the USDA is able to inspect 16% of the foods under its purview. By one assessment, the FDA has become so short-staffed that it would take the agency 1, 900 years to inspect every foreign plant that exports food to the United States. Marion Nestle
2
Food safety oversight is largely, but not exclusively, divided between two agencies, the FDA and the USDA. The USDA mostly oversees meat and poultry; the FDA mostly handles everything else, including pet food and animal feed. Although this division of responsibility means that the FDA is responsible for 80% of the food supply, it only gets 20% of the federal budget for this purpose. In contrast, the USDA gets 80% of the budget for 20% of the foods. This uneven distribution is the result of a little history and a lot of politics. Marion Nestle
3
I follow my own advice: eat less, move more, eat lots of fruits, vegetables, and grains, and don't eat too much junk food. It leaves plenty of flexibility for eating an occasional junk food. Marion Nestle
4
How we grow food has enormous effects on the environment - climate change as well as pollution of air, water, and soil. Marion Nestle