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Vani Hari

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Vani Hari
Vani Hari in a 2012 interview with the Charlotte Video Project
Born
Vani Deva Hari

(1980-03-22) March 22, 1980 (age 44)
Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Alma materUniversity of North Carolina at Charlotte[1]
Known forFood blogger, food activist
Websitewww.foodbabe.com

Vani Deva Hari (born March 22, 1980), also known on her blog as the Food Babe, is an American author and activist known for her criticism of the food industry. A New York Times best-selling author,[2] Hari claims companies including Kraft, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Chick-fil-A, Starbucks,[3] and Subway have changed or reconsidered ingredients in their products as a result of her campaigns.[4][5] She has been criticised by scientists and others for promoting pseudoscientific claims and beliefs in her work[6][7] which, critics note, supports a commercial interest as well.[8]

In March 2015, Time named Hari among "The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet".[9]

Career

Born in Charlotte, North Carolina to Indian immigrant parents,[10] Hari first attended the University of Georgia before transferring to University of North Carolina at Charlotte. After graduating in 2001 with a degree in computer science, she worked as a management consultant for Accenture.[6] She started the Food Babe blog in 2011, which Hari says received over 52 million views in 2014.[11][12] Her first book, The Food Babe Way, was released on February 10, 2015.

In 2011, Hari wrote a piece about ingredients in Chick-fil-A sandwiches which she alleged to be harmful. Chick-fil-A responded to Hari's post in May 2012, inviting her to its headquarters in Atlanta to discuss her concerns. As part of a larger effort to improve the nutrition of their products, Chick-fil-A announced in late 2013 it was removing dyes, artificial corn syrup, and TBHQ from their products. They also announced a plan to only use antibiotic-free chickens within the next five years.[4]

During the 2012 Democratic National Convention, which she attended as an elected delegate, Hari sat in the first row on the convention floor and held a sign that read "Label GMOs!" during Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack's speech.[13][14][15] Hari said President Barack Obama broke a promise that he made during his 2008 presidential campaign to label genetically modified food.[13]

In February 2014, Hari launched a petition on Change.org asking Subway to remove azodicarbonamide (a flour bleaching agent and dough conditioner[16]) from their sandwich bread. The petition gathered more than 50,000 signatures in 24 hours.[17] Subway responded by announcing a plan to remove the chemical from all of their sandwich breads.[5][18]

NPR performed a follow up story about Hari's petition to Subway in which several food science experts said that azodicarbonamide use in bread is reasonable and claims about its health risks are false.[19][20]

In March 2014 Hari posted another petition on Change.org asking Kraft Foods to remove FD&C yellow #5 and FD&C yellow #6 food dyes from their Mac & Cheese; by the end of October of that year the petition had received about 348,000 signatures.[21] In October, Kraft changed the ingredients in three of its Mac & Cheese products aimed at children, which included the use of whole grains, reduction in salt and some fats, and changing the coloring; Kraft said that the changes were not a response to the petition but rather were part of an ongoing effort to improve the nutrition of the offerings, which takes several years to plan and implement.[4][21] Hari claimed credit for the changes.[21]

In June 2014, Hari posted a petition asking major brewers to list the ingredients in their products,[22] something which US brewers are not required to do.[23] The next day, Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors released ingredients in many of their products.[24] The trade publication Beer Marketer's Insights called Hari's petition an "attempt of fear mongering in the name of advocacy."[23]

Criticism

Hari has been repeatedly condemned by nutritionists, doctors, chemists and other food-related professionals for adopting an unscientific, scare-mongering approach. Following Hari's Subway petition, Dr. Steven Novella, a neurologist from the New England Skeptical Society, described the campaign as "unscientific" and a case of "food-based fear mongering."[25] Dr. Joseph A. Schwarcz, director of McGill University’s Office of Science and Society and a chemistry professor, states Hari "has no understanding of chemistry or food science."[26] He describes several chemicals that Hari criticizes, such as calcium carbonate, sodium hydrogen sulfate, and azodicarbonamide as being safe.[27]

Following her beer campaign, David Gorski, a surgeon, stated that she was "peddling pseudoscience" by portraying the chemicals used in the making of beer as dangerous.[7][28]

In an October 2011 blog post, Hari questioned the efficacy of flu shots.[29][30] Influenza vaccines are recommended by health authorities worldwide, especially for people with weakened immune systems, such as children, older people, and people with chronic illnesses.[31][32][33]

In a July 2012 post (since removed), Hari quoted the ideas of Masaru Emoto, namely that microwave ovens cause water molecules to form crystals that resemble crystals exposed to negative thoughts or beliefs, such as when the words Hitler and Satan were exposed to the water.[34] Dr. Novella calls Emoto's claims "pure pseudoscience" and states that "Hari's conclusions about microwaves are all demonstrably incorrect and at odds with the scientific evidence."[35]

Critics state that Hari lacks credentials in nutrition or food science (she is a former consultant who studied computer science) and that lack of training often leads her to misinterpret peer-reviewed research and technical details about food chemistry, nutrition and health.[7][8]

References

  1. ^ Sheridan, Ann (August 29, 2012). "Food blogger hopes to get Obama's attention". NBC News.
  2. ^ "Best Sellers: Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous". newyorktimes.com. newyorktimes. Retrieved March 7, 2015.
  3. ^ Little, Katie (February 7, 2014). "That Chemical Subway Ditched? McDonald's, Wendy's Use it Too". NBCNews.com. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
  4. ^ a b c Strom, Stephanie (December 30, 2013). "Social Media As A Megaphone To Pressure The Food Industry". The New York Times.
  5. ^ a b Horowitz, Bruce (February 10, 2014). "Subway to remove chemical from bread". USA Today.
  6. ^ a b Purvis, Kathleen (September 8, 2014). "Charlotte's Food Babe has lots of fans – and some critics". Charlotte Observer.
  7. ^ a b c Stanford, Duane (September 17, 2014). "Food Babe's attacks draw 'quackmail' backlash". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014.
  8. ^ a b Godoy, Maria (December 4, 2014). "Is The Food Babe A Fearmonger? Scientists Are Speaking Out: The Salt". NPR. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
  9. ^ "The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet". Time.
  10. ^ Buckley, Bob (April 9, 2013). "'The Food Babe' takes on processed foods". MyFox8.com. WGHP. Retrieved March 15, 2015.
  11. ^ Susannah Cahalan (March 29, 2015). "The controversial rise of the 'Food Babe'". New York Post. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  12. ^ Parvati Shallow (April 1, 2015). "Vani Hari sounds the alarm for changing the food industry". CBS. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  13. ^ a b Somers, Meredith (September 5, 2012). "Delegate's front-row seat a bully pulpit on what we eat". The Washington Times. Washington, D.C.: Unification Church. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  14. ^ Perlmutt, David; Bryan, Florence; Mayhew, Justin (September 4, 2012). "Fried chicken, political buttons and a little darkness: Delegates find it all". The Charlotte Observer. Charlotte, North Carolina: The McClatchy Company. Archived from the original on March 9, 2014. Retrieved May 6, 2014.
  15. ^ Dougherty, Elizabeth (September 18, 2012). "DNC Delegate Stands Up To Obama And USDA At Convention". News Talk Florida. Largo, Florida: Genesis Communications Network. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
  16. ^ FDA Frequently Asked Questions on Azodicarbonamide (ADA) Page Last Updated: 20 June 2014
  17. ^ Donaldson James, Susan (February 5, 2014). "Subway Takes Chemical Out of Sandwich Bread After Protest". ABC News.
  18. ^ Miller, Tracy (February 6, 2014). "Subway will remove additive found in plastics from its bread after blogger's online petition". New York Daily News. New York City. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
  19. ^ Cornish, Audi (March 6, 2014). "Almost 500 Foods Contain The 'Yoga Mat' Compound. Should We Care?". National Public Radio. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
  20. ^ Cornish, Audi (March 6, 2014). "Almost 500 Foods Contain The 'Yoga Mat' Compound. Should We Care? (Audio Transcript)". National Public Radio. Retrieved November 18, 2014.
  21. ^ a b c Staff writer (October 31, 2013). "Kraft to remove artificial dyes from three macaroni and cheese varieties". The Guardian. New York City. Associated Press. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
  22. ^ Pisani, Joseph (June 12, 2014). "Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors Post Beer Ingredients". Associated Press.
  23. ^ a b Sacks, Brianna (June 13, 2014). "Pressed by blogger, Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors post beer ingredients". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  24. ^ "Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors list ingredients in key brands". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Associated Press. June 13, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2014.
  25. ^ Novella, Steven (February 28, 2014). "More Yoga Mat Hysteria". Neurologica. NeuroLogicaBlog. Retrieved April 29, 2014.
  26. ^ White, Nancy J. (June 14, 2014). "Why Big Food fears the 'Food Babe'". The Toronto Star.
  27. ^ Schwarcz, Joseph A. (April 26, 2014). "The Food Babe is anything but an expert on food matters". The Gazette. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  28. ^ Gorski, David (June 16, 2014). "Vani Hari (a.k.a. The Food Babe): The Jenny McCarthy of food". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  29. ^ Hari, Vani (October 4, 2011). "Should I get the Flu Shot?". Food Babe. Retrieved September 1, 2014.
  30. ^ "Charlotte's Food Babe has lots of fans – and some critics". Charlotte Observer. 2014. Retrieved December 20, 2014.
  31. ^ CDC
  32. ^ WHO Vaccine use
  33. ^ European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control Q&A on vaccines
  34. ^ Crislip, Mark (October 18, 2013). "Scam Stud". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
  35. ^ Novella, Steven (April 30, 2014). "Microwaves and Nutrition". Science-Based Medicine. Retrieved September 1, 2014.

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