From the General Mills response (PDF linked to the article):
The Proposal‘s financial implications for American families and the U.S. economy
are enormous. If all American children were to adopt the eating habits the IWG proposes, this would
impose massive costs on American businesses, agriculture, and families. The annual cost of a diet
consisting of the most commonly consumed foods that satisfy the Proposal‘s nutrition standards is
around 60% higher than the cost of the current diet. Even if no parents at all adopted the dietary
changes themselves and only served their children the foods desired by the IWG, a full dietary shift
by children alone would cost consumers over $100 billion a year in additional food bills. And this
does not even take into account the value of the time lost to preparing these ―IWG-approved‖
foods –which are generally unprocessed, raw items that require far more preparation time than the foods in
the current diet. There would be dramatic changes in agricultural production as well – including
billions of dollars in reduced demand for American grain, and billions of dollars in increased reliance
on imported fruits and vegetables.
Two myths that the food industry continues to perpetuate are that real food costs more and that real food takes too long to prepare. I find it interesting that General Mills also posits that changes to the American diet would necessarily mean a reliance on imported food--as though American farmers could not contribute to a growing market for fruits and veg or that Americans are incapable of turning manicured lawns to food space.
Much of the General Mills response deals with cereal grains. So a bowl of rolled oats is more expensive than Sugar Bombs or a challenge to cook?
Here I am, drinking coffee and surfing the Internet, while beets boil on the stove. They'll take a few minutes to chop, a couple more to squeeze a lemon, add olive oil and chopped scallions for a marinade. Into the fridge and ready to go. I need to wash some salad greens too--such labor intensive work!