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The cover of Salt Sugar Fat

Salt Sugar Fat

Michael Moss, 2013

See how food companies combine biology, product engineering, convenience, and marketing to make restraint difficult for consumers and for the industry itself.

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8 parts, about 25 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • See how food companies join biology, product testing, convenience and advertising to put sugar, fat and salt within constant reach
  • Learn why fat is felt but hard to count, why sweetness hides energy, and how fruit imagery makes a sugary drink feel wholesome
  • Understand why industry reform is fragile, from a meeting where restraint failed to a salt cut reversed after sales weakened

Who it is for

  • Shoppers who want to see through labels and packaging
  • Parents deciding what to buy for children's snacks and breakfasts
  • Readers curious how corporate incentives shape public health and food policy

What the summary covers

  1. The Meeting Where Restraint Failed3 min
  2. From Preference to Precision3 min
  3. Convenience and Persuasion Multiply Exposure3 min
  4. Ubiquity and the Health Halo3 min
  5. Fat You Feel but Do Not Count3 min
  6. The All in One Product and the Conflicted Referee3 min
  7. Why Reform Reverses3 min
  8. Knowledge, Incentives, and Agency4 min

Recommended by

  • Michael PollanAuthor of The Omnivore's Dilemma
    [Michael] Moss has written a Fast Food Nation for the processed food industry. Burrowing deep inside the big food manufacturers, he discovered how junk food is formulated to make us eat more of it and, he argues persuasively, actually to addict us.
  • Ron SuskindPulitzer Prize winning author and journalist
    This book should be read by anyone who tears a shiny wrapper and opens wide. That’s all of us.
  • Alice WatersChef and founder of Chez Panisse restaurant
    In this meticulously researched book, Michael Moss tells the chilling story of how the food giants have seduced everyone in this country.
  • Marion NestleProfessor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University
    This is a truly important book, and anyone reading it will understand why food corporations cannot be trusted to value health over profits and why we all need to recognize and resist food marketing every time we grocery shop or vote.

About the author

  • Michael MossJournalist and author who won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting
    • San Francisco State University alumnus
    • Before The New York Times he reported for The Wall Street Journal, New York Newsday, The Atlanta Journal Constitution, The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel and High Country News
    • Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2006 and 1999
    • Gerald Loeb Award for Large Newspapers
    • Salt Sugar Fat was a number one New York Times bestseller and has been translated into 22 languages

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