First Lady backs Walmart obesity move

Michelle Obama has joined forces with Walmart for a five-year healthy food campaign in a rare corporate endorsement by a US First Lady.

President Obama’s wife has helped to draft a programme in which the retail giant drops prices on fruit and vegetables, makes its pre-packaged food healthier, and encourages its 60,000 suppliers to follow suit.

Under the Let’s Move project, aimed at combating childhood obesity, especially among the poor, Walmart will also increase support for nutrition programmes, develop packaging labels to make healthy food more identifiable, and tackle the problem of ‘food deserts’ in some areas of the US.

Despite the president’s 2007 pledge to boycott Walmart’s stores because of the way the company treats its staff, Michelle Obama called the programme ‘a victory for families, but most of all… a victory for our children’.

She said: ‘Walmart’s plans have the potential to transform the marketplace and help Americans put healthier foods on their tables every single day. We are really gaining some momentum on this issue. We’re beginning to see things move.’

Bill Simon, Walmart’s president, said: ‘No family should have to choose between food that is healthier for them and food they can afford. With more than 140 million customers each week, Walmart is uniquely positioned to make a difference by making food healthier and more affordable to everyone.’

Former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin has attacked the project, however, saying the First Lady wants the government to dictate what Americans eat.