OAN’s Noah Herring
1:20 PM – Monday, May 22, 2023
Michelle Obama recently launched a new juice brand that would fail standards set by her own administration.
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Plezi, a company the former First Lady co-founded, has released a line of low-sugar juices that contain 75 percent less sugar than many leading fruit juice brands. According to a Bloomberg report, 12 independent health professionals and organizations have found that the current flavors that Plezi released do not meet the health requirements to be served to kids in elementary and middle schools.
“Under the Obama-era school-meal regulations currently under review, US elementary and middle schools may only serve water, milk, or 100% fruit or vegetable juice with no added sweeteners (the regulations do permit schools to dilute juices with water) — and none of Plezi’s four current flavors meet these criteria,” the report read.
Experts have agreed that Plezi drinks are a small improvement on soda, with several health professionals categorizing them as an ultra-processed food.
Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, described the drinks as “standard industry, ultra-processed products not to be promoted to kids.”
Calley Means, a former consultant for Coca-Cola said that he was “sick to [his] stomach” seeing Michelle Obama promote an unhealthy children’s beverage.
Countering these statements, Plezi’s CEO Leah Dunmore, believes the drink is an example of a good processed food and “[To] label Plezi as an ‘ultra-processed food,’ is at best cynical if not intellectually dishonest,” Dunmore said in an email.
The drinks are currently available at Target and will soon be sold in Walmart stores.
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