Next on Michelle's Hit List: Restaurant Industry

First lady to prod restaurateurs for smaller portions
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 7, 2011 6:34 PM CST
Michelle Obama's Next Target: Restaurant Industry
This May 11, 2010 photo, first lady Michelle Obama speaks at an event at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, to discuss the findings of the Childhood Obesity Task Force report.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Michelle Obama is taking her next shot at obesity, calling on the National Restaurant Association to enact nutrition reforms similar to those she has worked out with Walmart and the nation's schools, the New York Times reports. The first lady is pushing for restaurants to serve smaller portions and make sure that kids' menus provide more fruits and vegetables and less saturated fat and sugar.

The move is an extension of Obama's approach to nutrition reform, which emphasizes partnering with industry to enact change. Nonetheless, critics worry that her initiatives could be co-opted and neutered by business leaders whose motives are less than pure. “The best initiatives can be subverted for special interest, and it’s important to be vigilant when we form partnerships with industry," says one nutrition doctor. Yet the Times notes that Obama vets proposals thoroughly and scientifically before she lends anything her name.
(More Michelle Obama stories.)

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