Summary Of The Extraordinary Science Of Junk Food By Michael Moss

Michael Moss is an award-winning reporter. He and his team were awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting in 2010 when he and his team presented the very real and atrocious facts about contaminated hamburger meat. Michael Moss has also written various other books and articles pertaining to the issue of corruption in the food industry. He received excellent reviews regarding his most famous book, Sugar Fat and Salt: How the Food Giants Hooked Us. Michael Moss makes his viewpoint on junk food very clear. In particular, Moss’s article, “The Extraordinary Science of Junk Food” Michael describes how the major food industries are aware that they are making conscious efforts to distribute unhealthy food to the public and reap the rewards

When a marketing team is put onto a job it is their duty to use every tool they have to market the product as effectively as they can. When they succeed it is a job well done, they do not speculate if they deceived the buyer. Today we have regulations and laws that require advertising to be truthful and information on the product readily available. This way the consumer has all the information they need to make an educated purchase. Michael Moss’s argument suggests that the average consumer isn’t aware about the effects of heavy junk food consumption. For example, in the article it says, “…he was engaged in conversation with a group of food-science experts who were painting an increasingly grim picture of the public’s ability to cope with the industry’s formulations—form the body’s fragile controls on overeating to the hidden power of some processed foods to make people hungrier still” (260). This quote generalizes the public and suggests that everyone has fallen under the spell of the food companies. This quote is trying to paint a picture of all Americans sharing the same pains about overeating junk food. To say that “… an increasingly grim picture of the public’s ability to cope with the industry’s speculation” is a little farfetched to say the least. Junk food is only a problem when it is overeaten and that requires multiple purchases. That means that there has to be multiple instances of consumer negligence for a problem to begin. Then it

They are the ones mixing the syrups together and creating the perfect formula of Coke. These companies are purely just trying to make as much money as they can. They aren’t actively trying to hurt the people but instead make the most profits. By scientifically studying 3,904 different tasting Dr. Pepper batches they were able to create the best tasting soda thus, creating the most profitable soda as well. By barely changing the number of milliliters in a soda can result in the savings of millions of dollars. For instance, “…they could use 1.69 milliliters and achieve the same effect. The potential savings is merely a few percentage points, and it won’t mean much to individual consumers who are counting calories or grams of sugar. But for Dr. Pepper, it adds up to colossal savings….a lot of money. Millions” (265). This quote shows that companies aren’t thinking about how they are going to hook the buyer to their product but rather how can they keep the customer happy and be the most cost effective. Another example of this is with line extensions. After Lunchables notices the potential that arose by offering multiple different versions their sales soared. “Annual sales kept climbing, past $500 million, past $800 million; at last count, including sales in Britain, they were approaching the $1 billion mark” (268). Food giants were putting money into new ideas and new ways to make money and it was paying off. In no way