Who's to blame for the U.S. obesity epidemic?

John Banzhaf: My colleagues and I are now planning lots more fat lawsuits.

As these threats of suing the food industry grow louder, the food industry is fighting back, launching an intensive campaign to portray lawyers like John Banzhaf as ambulance chasers.

Companies argue these lawsuits are frivolous and unnecessary. But just in case, in conferences, attorneys are gearing up to defend the industry.

Attorney Joe Price says lawyers like John Banzhaf may claim fast food is the next tobacco, but it really isn’t.

Joe Price, lawyer: A moderate amount of smoking is bad for you. A moderate amount of eating is what we all should be doing. 

And big food is not about to repeat the mistakes of big tobacco. Instead of digging in its heels, many in the food industry are embracing their critics’ ideas.

Companies are voluntarily changing their products and marketing. And perhaps no company has been more aggressive about changing than the nation’s largest food company: Kraft.

At Kraft’s company store at its headquarters in Northfield, Illinois, I walked the aisles with Lance Friedmann, Kraft’s senior vice president in charge of global health and wellness.

Over the past four years, the company known for Cheez Whiz, Kool Aid, and Oreos, says it has cut fat out of over 200 products, trimming over 30 billion calories, including a sizeable bite in one of my favorites.

Stone Phillips, Dateline: This is the one I like right here. Honey Maid low fat graham crackers. Now, this—this hats off to you.

Lance Friedmann: Thank you. You know, people love to get the favorites they’ve had for years in a healthier form.

Phillips: Tastes great with milk.

Friedmann: Just like—the way you like it right? 

But tinkering with the classics of America’s cupboard has proven anything but easy. Consider the case of the Oreo.  Born in 1912, the best-selling cookie of the 20^th century came under attack in 2003, a California lawyer sued Kraft demanding the company stop selling the cookie to children, because it contained transfat, an unhealthy substance tied to high cholesterol and risk of heart attack.

Immediately, Kraft announced it would remove the transfat. The lawsuit was dropped. But Kraft’s delicate work had just begun.

Phillips: Huge brand for you, the Oreo cookie.

Friedmann: Yes.

Phillips: Was there reluctance to tamper with a recipe that had been so successful and the ingredients?

Friedmann: When we made our announcement in the middle of 2003 that we were going to undertake a broad range of new initiatives in health and wellness, we got a lot of calls from consumers to our 800 number. And there were two messages they sent. The first one was typically, “We’re glad you’re doing this.” And the second message was, “Don’t mess with the taste of my Oreo.”

The company says it has spent over a hundred thousand hours of research to get transfat out of products.  And the new tranfat-free Oreo is now available on store shelves.

Informal taste tests say it tastes the same... tastes like an Oreo.

Last year, Kraft took another bold step, confronting the controversial issue of advertising to children.

The people behind Dunkables, Lunchables, and Scooby-Do macaroni-n-cheese pulled all TV and print ads geared towards kids, unless the products meet the company’s “sensible solutions” standards—a self-imposed set of health criteria.

Phillips: We’re talking about overall about ten percent of the products that that Kraft makes.

Friedmann: That’s right. Close to $3 billion in sales will no longer be advertised to kids 6 to 11.

Kraft says all these initiatives are market-driven. It’s what people want. But some say the company may be so diligent in part because Kraft’s majority owner—Altria—is also the makers of Phillip Morris cigarettes and they’ve been through this before.

Phillips: Tobacco companies have paid our billions of dollars as a result of anti-smoking lawsuits. Has the corporate experience in the tobacco wars influenced its thinking when it comes to the food front? 

Friedmann: You know, we’re doing this for two reasons. One, because it’s right for consumers. And two, because it’s right for our business.

With these changes, Kraft is hoping to set an example, showing that corporate responsibility can come without litigation.

Phillips: Who’s ultimately responsible?

Friedmann: Obesity and trying to address it, we believe, is a shared responsibility.

Phillips: I mean I guess inherent in that is at least some acknowledgement that foods have not been as healthy as they could be or should be?

Friedmann: We’re trying to change the products we make and how we market them.  And we think we can be part of the solution. We can be part of that effort.

Phillips: Can the industry police itself?

Friedmann: I would say judge us by our actions.

Judgement has been favorable. But not completely. Critics point out the company still targets kids, much younger than 11, bombarding them in stores with cartoon spokescharacters.

Phillips: Clifford the dog and Dora the Explorer. I mean, this is clearly aimed at very young children. I mean, who’s watching Clifford and who’s watching Dora?

Friedman: We know that there are concerns that people have about this kind of packaging and licensing program. We’re going to continue to look at that.

Phillips: We’re not seeing Dora the Explorer on packages of spinach—

Friedman: again we’re very interested on continuing a dialogue.

Phillips: So clearly you’re promoting the less healthy end of the portfolio..

Friedman: Well, one of the actually one of the things that we intend to do as part of our over-all effort in kids marketing is to introduce new products that meet our Sensible Solution standards. Those may carry the some of the licensed characters as well.

Phillips: I hear what the company line is, but I’m driving at is it’s just not the way to market food.

Friedman: Well, the way to market food is what we’re trying to do with our TV initiative first, and then our Web sites, And this is probably the next frontier. We’re going to be looking at this.

Phillips: So maybe its goodbye Sponge Bob Square Pants?

No response to that. But Kraft has decided not to renew it’s licensing agreement with Dora or Clifford.  

Still, the food industry doing away with cartoon spokescharacters altogether...  may be a job for Superman.

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