Predictions for 2013 in food politics

The FDA will approve production of genetically modified salmon:

Because these salmon are raised in Canada and Panama with safeguards against escape, the FDA finds they have no environmental impact on the United States.

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 required calorie information to be posted by fast-food and chain restaurants and vending machines.

The FDA's draft applied to foods served by movie theaters, lunch wagons, bowling alleys, trains and airlines, but lobbying led the FDA to propose rules that no longer covered those venues.

When the USDA issued nutrition standards for school meals in January 2012, the rules elicited unexpected levels of opposition.

Congress intervened and forced the tomato sauce on pizza to count as a vegetable serving.

Unhappy prediction: an uproar from food companies defending their "right" to sell junk foods to kids in schools and more congressional micromanagement.

Grassroots efforts will have greater impact:

Because so little progress can be expected from government these days, I'm predicting bigger and noisier grassroots efforts to create systems of food production and consumption that are healthier for people and the planet.

In 2013, I'm looking forward to publication of the 10th anniversary edition of Food Politics and, in September, my new editorial cartoon book with Rodale Press: Eat, Drink, Vote: