The Washington Post is helping food police groups disparage pizza restaurants.
“Pizza chains are making a desperate attempt to avoid posting calories on menus,” The Washington post claimed in an April 7 article. Except it wasn’t The Washington Post, it was a former Post staff writer, Jane Black, who now works for a left-leaning nonprofit — the Food and Environment Reporting Network (FERN).
FERN produces “reporting on food, agriculture, and environmental health through partnerships with regional and national media outlets.” It also turns out that left-wing moneyman George Soros and liberal climate activist Tom Steyer, among others, gave thousands of dollars to FERN. Its Managing Editor, Brent Cunningham, is also the former deputy director of the Columbia Journalism Review. The group has more than 40 media partners, including the Post.
The article denouncing pizza makers declared that the American Pizza Community (APC) was fighting a law that would “help beat back the obesity epidemic.” The law, passed as part of ObamaCare, mandated all chain restaurants with more than 20 locations to add calorie labels to their menus. The law will take effect on May 5.
Black’s article never asked if it was the government’s responsibility to mandate calorie counts in the first place, or whether the decision would better be left to consumers.
Instead, Black appealed to Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), who accused the pizza industry of “lobbying to keep this information from their customer.” CSPI is a left-wing “food police” group that has attacked everything from fresh produce, drinking water, bread and eggs. It advocates strong regulation because “it takes more than willpower” to make healthy choices.
Black buried the admission that “The APC does not object to menu labeling,” in the middle of her article.
According to APC chairman, Tim McIntyre, the “one-size-fits-all solution doesn’t fit everyone,” especially those in the pizza industry.
For example, Domino’s Pizza (which under the law would be required to label calorie counts on their menu) has millions of possible pizza combinations, making it nearly impossible to list the calorie counts for each one. Nevermind that a large portion of pizza orders are made by phone.
Black countered McIntyre’s argument by saying that the Food and Drug Administration claimed it would only require calorie counts on items already listed on menus. She further accused pizza restaurants of trying to hide calorie counts from their patrons by only listing the count per slice, not per pizza.
Most shameful is that The Washington Post has partnered with FERN and chose to promote Black’s pizza shaming non-story.
FERN’s staff includes a former Columbia Journalism Review deputy director and a former foreign editor for The Nation. FERN’s 46 media partners included other left-wing Soros-funded outlets including The American Prospect, Earth Island Journal, High Country News, NPR and The Intercept.
ABC, NBC News, The Atlantic, Slate, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Guardian, Al Jazeera America and others have also partnered with FERN.
