Task: The Politics of Nutrition Advice
Choose a country outside of the U.S. and discuss the politics behind the nutrition advice that a government gives to its citizens. In doing so, follow the guidelines and organization laid out below. Single-spaced, 12 point font, and maximum 5 pages. Template for the Task A: Keep the roman numerals and the organization. I. Summary of the Government’s Nutrition Advice (1-2 page) This section should summarize a given government’s nutrition advice and cover the following information: General Institutional Set-ups Which government agencies or political actors give nutrition advice that is widely circulated among citizens? What is the main mission of this government agency (you can check out the agency’s website and find the mission statement). Is there a conflict of interests in this government agency’s missions, such as the USDA? The Nutrition Advice Summarize the nutrition advice. If it’s helpful, you can use one visual image that the government used in its nutrition guideline (e.g., food pyramid, serving amount, etc). This visual image or figure should not take more than 0.5 page space and you have to cite source at the bottom. Which year was this nutrition advice given? Who was the targeted population (general citizens, school-age children, pregnant women)?, What was the major motive behind the government’s nutrition advice then?

No need to give an overview of historical development of nutrition advice—you can focus on a particular time period of your choice (specify in the memo; e.g., 1975 or 2010 etc) or the most recent episode. The nutrition guideline summarized here can concern all citizens, or a specific targeted population (e.g., school-age children, pregnant women, older population etc). Possible sources (these are suggestions; feel free to use different sources): (1)“Food-based dietary guidelines” prepared by Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations http://www.fao.org/nutrition/nutrition-education/food-dietary- guidelines/en/ (2) “International Nutrition Resources” put together by the USDA: https://www.nal.usda.gov/human-nutrition-and-food- safety/international-nutrition (3) Google scholar (4) Factiva (subscription through UCSD library; establish VPN to access from off- campus sites) II. Compare this nutrition advice to the U.S. government’s around the same time period by using Marion Nestle’s book chapters (on Canvas). Discuss the similarities and differences between the two countries regarding (1) the type of governments’ agencies that give nutrition advice, (2) the contents of the advice, and (3) major concerns that triggered the nutrition advice by the governments. (1-2-page).

Source: Nestle (2003) and your research summarized in section I. Make sure to cite Nestle or other sources. III. Winners and Losers (1-2 pages) First summarize your guess (before doing research) regarding which interest groups (farmers, producer of particular type of food, processed food industries, consumer organizations etc.) benefit or lose from the nutrition advice summarized in section I and why (if relevant, cite some readings that help you guess the winners and losers). Your guess can diverge from the outcome of your research. Then find out whether your guess was correct or not by researching who voiced support vs. opposition to the nutrition advice summarized in Section I. You might be able to find how the government revised its nutrition guidelines, responding to these pressures (Nestle’s reporting of this process is superb). This part of the research is the most challenging. It’s okay if you cannot find the definitive answer –then, you should report the process of your research accurately (i.e., what sources you used, what key word combination for the on-line search) and report that you cannot find the definitive answer (which won’t affect your grade for this section). Possible sources (feel free to use different sources, but these are the best): (1) reports prepared by a given government’s agency that is responsible for nutrition advice, (2) transcripts of comments made by organized interests (e.g., farmers, food industries, processed food companies, consumer organizations) at Congressional/Parliamentary hearings or bureaucratic agencies’ hearing sessions, (3) Factiva, (4) google scholar. IV. Bibliography (this section does not count toward 5-page limit). See the guidelines for this section at the end.