ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the roles of industry and government in treating obesity as a public health problem. Conventional thinking was that a person becomes overweight or obese due their own choices, and that the adverse consequences of being overweight or obese were borne by the individual alone. The American Beverage Association has spent millions of dollars lobbying against soda taxes. A study funded by the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation in 2013 found that 82% of sales growth between 2006 and 2011 for the companies that are part of this foundation was driven by low-calorie products. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that nearly a third of global food produced is either lost or wasted. The industrialized world wastes considerably more food than that wasted in developing countries. Food loss and waste has obvious economic implications to producers of food, distributors of food, and finally to households which ultimately consume the food.
