The founder of KIND bars, Daniel Lubetzky, is channeling $25m of his own money into a public advocacy organization called Feed the Truth, to “expose and counteract” the influence of food industry lobbyists over public health.

Why? Because according to him, “Big Food” companies have too much say over FDA regulations, and, in turn, public opinion about what’s healthy.

Case in point: The stigma against fat

In 2015, the FDA sent KIND a letter requesting that they remove the word “healthy” from the packaging and marketing of their snack bars.

That’s because, according to regulations, you can only claim something is healthy if it is “low in saturated fat” (aka, it contains less than 1g of saturated fat per typical amount consumed, and less than 15% of the calories come from saturated fat).

In comparison, KIND’s Fruit & Nut Almond & Apricot bars have 3.5g of saturated fat per 40g bar (about 18% of the total calories).

On the flip side, these guidelines still allow some high-sugar products to use “health food” labeling.

Now Lubetzky’s calling them out

He claims that corporations like Coke and Nestle have had a huge impact on research performed by the FDA, and portrayed foods with high sugar and sodium to be relatively harmless — in part by villainizing fat.

And there’s a ton of truth to that.

The food and beverage industry spends billions lobbying regulators and funding complementary research that often suggests that the verdict’s still out on the negative impact of salt and sugar (though many health professionals would disagree).

Clearly, there’s a problem here

And we’d love for Feed the Truth to blow the lid off this case as much as the next guy, provided Lubetzky can stay as removed from it as he claims.

KIND clearly has a vested interested in clearing fat’s name for the sake of its own products, but Lubetzky says he’ll have nothing to do with deciding the organization’s approach. Hmm…

This article originally appeared at: http://thehustle.co/kind-food-industry?utm_source=daily&utm_campaign=2%2F17-billboard&utm_medium=email&utm_content=kind-food-industry.

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