Freedman Vs Moss
Freedman Vs Moss
Freedman Vs Moss
The two articles, How Junk Food Can End Obesity by David Freedman and The
Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food by Michael Moss, present me with new
perspectives into the food industry itself. Each writer offers different views on food processing
technology, whose image we seem to associate with the detrimental effects of chemical additives
and high amounts of sugar and fat. Moss believes big food companies greed is the source of
obesity problems in America, whereas Freedman counters such a notion with the possibilities to
use food processing to produce healthier food, or even cure obesity. Although they may have
contradictory views on the food industry, I find their statements to constitute a bigger, more
complete picture of the food industry as a whole. However, as accomplished as David Freedman
might be, I find his arguments lacking in credibility, as they are based mainly on his opinions on
the matter, not fact. On the other hand, Mosss article is much more enlightening and trustworthy.
Michael Moss starts his article with an anecdote from a scientist at Pillsbury about his
effort to address the health issue of obesity, which we would soon learn turned out to be a failure,
owing to the attitudes toward such issue of executive officers. The authority figures in the
companies dont have a sense of humor when it comes to [profit]. Theyre a very, very
aggressive company (Moss 493). Hence, they are not willing to risk the profit of the company to
address such problems, and this viewpoint will serve as the main theme of the article.
Throughout the writing, we will encounter three more similar stories revealing insight into the
inner working of different companies: Dr. Pepper, Frito Lays, and Coke, where we can see how
much effort has been put into producing all these mouth-watering products to sell us, consumers,
and how people who try to make a change can meet the end of their careers, owing to the
profitable perspectives. With information based on his investigation spanning four years into the
in-depth secret of the food industry, which involves [talking] to more than 300 people inthe
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processed food industry (477) and going through the internal company memos, strategy
papers, and handwritten notes (484), his article is full of such fascinating facts and figures
condensed into a few pages of article. This sole aspect can simply render his article more
credible than that of Freedmans, whose lack of credibility I will elaborate on next. Coupled with
his narration of the story that can be summarized as battles between few scientists in the industry
against the greedy executives, he has created a fun and enthralling yet trustworthy and thought-
provoking article. The only way we can dismiss his arguments is to assume that the whole article
Being an aspiring scientist (in other words, nerd), I have to say I am extremely fascinated
by all the science and research behind the development of such addicting recipes revealed in the
article. Who could have thought that food science can be so multidisciplinary? Obviously,
chemistry is involved in developing all chemicals in the formulas like Dr. Pepper flavoring, but
psychological concepts also have great effect in the popularity of products, with concepts like
bliss point and sensory-specific satiety utilized to make the products appeal to as many
consumers as possible. Statistical techniques are also crucial to the evaluation of effectiveness of
products, generating data compiled in a 135-page report just from a taste-testing survey by Dr.
Pepper, which helps recovering it from Red Fusion incident (Moss 481), and revealing the fact
that baby boomers were not eating fewer salty snack even as they are aging, pointing Frito-Lay
to the right marketing strategy (Moss 485). Just for Frito-Lay alone, their research facility homes
nearly 500 chemists, psychologists and technicians [conducting] research that cost up to $30
million a year using a $40,000 device and more (Moss 486). Frankly, this aspect of the article
almost makes me want to eat all those snacks in respect of the dedication poured into making
them. Almost.
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Freedman, on the other hand, starts his article with his comparison of McDonalds fruit
smoothie with a wholesome counterpart, and according to his rough calculation, the
McDonalds version contains less calories than the other (506). This is just the beginning, as we
can encounter more baseless conjectures like this throughout the article. He will then proceed to
devote half of his article to attacking the whole food movement: the group of anti-junk-food
people who embrace a wholesome diet with minimal processing. These people are dubbed
Pollanites, referring to the eating philosophy of Michael Pollan, a renowned journalist who is
also an advocate of such diet and has authored several best-selling books regarding the diet such
as Food Rules and The Omnivores Dilemmas. This half of the article can be characterized by its
lack of source materials, much consisting of Freedmans personal experience on the matter or his
urged me to fill my print-out with red highlights while parsing the article, which I did.
To name a few of such fallacies, his analysis on Sea Cake from Real Food Daily is
derived from a recipe [found] onlinewhich seem very close to what I ate (512) with no
description whatsoever of how the two recipe are connected in any conceivable way. When he
tries to incriminate wholesome food restaurants as less healthy than the usual ones, he has to
order kale chips and herb-cornmeal-crusted eggplant parmesan (513) from the menu that also
offers AUTUMN GRAIN SALAD and PAD THAI KELP NOODLES (CG) (To be fair, the
menu at Caf Gratitudes green color pallet and the premise of healthy organic restaurant may
make you conflate flat bread pizzas and salad bowls, which have no clear distinction in the
page.) When he cherry picks Vegan Cheesy Salad Booster as an example product from
Wholefood and compares it with Big Mac (512), saying the former contains three times the fat
content of the latter, he almost gets it right. The Salad Booster contains 35% of fat content at
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serving size of 14 grams (Calories in Vegan), and Big mac contains 13% fat at serving size of
197 grams (Calories in Big), by weight. What he does not mention is that no one sprinkles 197
grams of cheesy granules on their salad in a single meal! His claim about Silicon Valley food
paragraph. As if the internet is not technology! One of the companies he cited, Wholeshare,
utilize e-commerce to organize buying-club-like groups, which reduce the cost of organic food
considerably (Schatz). All these points filled my reading experience with cringing moments as
the author kept making claims he could not, and did not, prove. Honestly, when it comes to
evaluating the validity of a claim, I can do an even better job than him.
His other half, on the other hand, presents us with his interesting opinions on the junk
food industries. He argues that, contrary to what Pollanites believe, The health concerns raised
about processing itself [are not related to obesity] (517), and that the processing itself, if utilized
correctly, can alleviate or even end the obesity pandemic. Not that this section is free of fallacies;
it is just as red as the other half. But many of his claims do make sense. It is also true that
ordering up 50,000 new farmers markets featuring locally grown organic squash blossoms is
not a plausible solution to the obesity problem American people face this day (522). He also
includes several food processing techniques that can help producing healthy foods which are as
tasty as regular fast food, including scent engineering (528), texture engineering (530), and fat
philosophy; while Pollan focuses on changing the bad diet habit of the American people,
Freedman instead says that such method can be unaffordable, and solving obesity at its core, the
This then poses the main conflict between Freedmans and Mosss articles. While Moss
blames the food industry itself as the cause of the western diet, Freedman claims that the
Pollanites impede the food industrys shift toward healthier diet. Mosss narrative is clear: while
some scientists in the companies can see the problem they were causing, the higher-ups just care
more about profit, thus the industry stays the same. His stories of the Coke executive can testify
to that, citing the drinks and drinkers model used by the company to consider the consumers
and figure out how to drive more ounces into more bodies more often (492). Freedman, on the
other hand, claims that because the wholesome-food movement is getting in the way of
strategies that could work better (532). He claims that wholesome diet that Pollan promoted is
infeasible for the poor, and by avoiding fast food we have put big food companies like
McDonalds in a situation that they cant afford to make their food healthier since they need as
much profit as possible. Therefore, wholesome-food advocates are detrimental to the healthy
food development. However, in my opinion, it can be as easily said that the pressure against
McDonalds generated by Pollanites can press them to adjust their recipes to be healthier as well,
since buying their products means we are supporting the current obesogenic recipes. In an
interview, Freedman himself stated that [the argument incriminating Pollanites] was the weakest
The way I see it, Freedmans points are simply much weaker than those of Mosss. Not
only does Freedman write all the absurdities I have pointed out above, even his writing style
testifies against the seriousness of his claims. Looking at his more casual and slangy word
choices like scarf down, drive-thru, Big Food, and junky fare, along with his uses of
informal phrases like about-to-be-best-seller when referring to Pollans book, one can
promptly deduce his unserious and irreverent nature. Mosss diction, on the other hand, makes
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him and his article look far more sophisticated. Uncommon words like cordial, curb,
qualms, sedentary, and stature, which I honestly dont understand the first time I read until
I get to look them up (some of which I still cant remember the meaning now), complements his
well-researched sources to produce a great article. The lack of informality in his writing also
highlights the spoken phrases from quotes he inserts sporadically, lightening up the article.
Freedman also often makes baseless claims, as I have mentioned earlier, that will be elaborated
on for one or two paragraphs, and dropped away quietly, spawning short snippets with no hard
evidence backing them up throughout the article. An example of this nature can be found in his
description on food companies in Silicon Valleys, where he spends two paragraphs naming a few
food companies, calling their (supposed) lack of use of technology a monstrosity, and then drops
the argument entirely, never to be seen again (510). Moss, on the other hand, does not have to
resort to making claims by himself, as his stories based on his 4-years research can express all
his views without him exerting anything. His three subsections, each telling a single, linear story,
are effective in expressing his concern over the profit-oriented nature of food industries.
Even Freedmans central claim, that food processing can solve the obesity problem, is
just an empty statement, as he never once says in his article that the food industry will be willing
to change the way they sell their products, sacrificing their profits for the goods of society. In this
regard, Freedman does not even disagree with Moss, as he cites a failure like McDeluxe to go
with Mosss telling of failed attempts to change the companies. I consider it clear that he believes
the food processing industry holds the greatest power when it comes to solving obesity problem,
but he does not seem to believe that this is possible, or that the food industry will actually
Therefore, the two articles constitute a bigger, more complete picture, and thus can be
synthesized into a single one as follow: The big food companies had been generating
unimaginable income from their recipes, the fruit of their years of research. However, their effort
to get consumers to consume more and more of their products resulted in an epidemic of obesity
among American people. Concerned with the effects they are causing on the society, some
scientists inside the companies decide to step up and tried to make the problem known to the
authority. They knew how much power science holds, and if used correctly, the techniques like
texture and flavor engineering used to fabricate edible products can be utilized to produce
delicious yet healthy foods. Unfortunately, profits were still the first and foremost goal of the
companies, so they inevitably failed, with some of them meeting the end of their career. The
wholesome-food movement then played a complicated role, either impeding or encouraging the
industry to shift toward healthier recipes, based on the perspective through which we see them.
Even if the food science is so powerful, should we wait for the industry to change? No, I
dont think so. This will certainly not happen soon, at least not in a few years. It is quite common
knowledge nowadays that junk food makes you fat and sick, so keep relying on it while waiting
passively for anything to change will not help. This is why I believe Freedmans claims against
Pollan is so invalid. Even though the food industry holds the greatest power in fighting against
obesity, Pollan at least gives us a way to keep ourselves healthy while other people wont. Sure,
it will not be applicable to everybody, but in small, personal scale his guidelines can be effective
in keeping away from obesity. Moss would agree with this, as he has seen with his own eyes the
stubbornness of the food industry. It is important to pressure them to change for the betterment,
but we certainly cant count on them to change our diet for us.
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In conclusion, yes, I think Freedmans article is full of nonsense, but he does make a
valid point: the food industry is the key to cure obesity once and for all. However, we have seen
from Mosss anecdotal article that it will be difficult to achieve, as all the big food companies
have invested heavily amount into developing their profits-generating products, and they are not
going to abandon that easily. However, there is still hope, since there are still people out their
fighting to change the industry to better the diet of the whole country. Lets hope that they or
rather WE succeed, and meanwhile, despite Freedmans advice, I will still avoid McDonalds
as usual.
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Works cited
mcdonalds-big-mac-cheeseburger-i21100.
living-intentions-vegan-cheesy-salad-i324333.
Moss, Michael. The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food. They Say, I Say with
Freedman, David H. How Junk Food Can End Obesity. They Say, I Say with Readings, edited
Johnson, Nathanael. No, Fast Food Isnt Actually Good for You: In Defense of
in-defense-of-pollanites/.
Schatz, Robin D. Food Startup Wholeshare Updates The Old-Fashioned Buying Club With E-
www.forbes.com/sites/robindschatz/2016/03/30/wholeshare-brings-the-old-fashioned-
food-buying-club-into-the-digital-age/2/#453942fa30c9.
Soto-Escageda, Jos Alberto, et al. "Does Salt Addiction Exist?." Salud Mental 39.3 (2016): 175-