Vani Hari

Vani Deva Hari(born March 22, 1979), whoblogsas theFood Babe, is an American author, activist, andaffiliate marketerwho criticizes thefood industry.She started the Food Babe blog in 2011, and it received over 54 million views in 2014.
She is aNew York Timesbest-selling author,and companies such asChick-fil-AandKraftmay have changed or reconsidered ingredients in their products following her campaigns.
Hari's ideas onfood safetyhave been criticized by scientists aspseudoscienceandchemophobia,and others have drawn attention to her financial interest through promotion and marketing ofnatural foods.
Born inCharlotte, North CarolinatoIndianimmigrant parents fromPunjab,India,Hari first attended theUniversity of Georgiabefore transferring toUniversity of North Carolina at Charlotte. After graduating in 2001 with a degree incomputer science, she worked as a management consultant forAccenture.In her early 20s, Hari was hospitalized withappendicitis.In response, she began looking into health and nutrition issues.She started the Food Babe blog in 2011, and left  Accenture in 2012 to devote her time to activism and blogging, as well as marketing dietary and other products.By 2014, her blog was receiving over 54 million views.Hari has over 97,000 Twitter followers, and an official Facebook page with over one million likes. She refers to her followers and supporters as the "Food Babe Army."
Hari has capitalised on her following by selling books, subscriptions to her eating guide,meal plans, products through which she gains affiliate commissions,and through marketing her own line of supplements under theTruvanibrand.Critics argue that the controversy she engenders through her activism helps drive sales through her site.
In 2011, Hari wrote a piece about ingredients inChick-fil-Asandwiches which she alleged to be harmful. Chick-fil-A responded to Hari's post in May 2012, inviting her to its headquarters inAtlantato discuss her concerns. As part of a larger effort to improve the nutrition of their products, Chick-fil-A announced in late 2013 it was removing dyes,corn syrup, andTBHQfrom their products. They also announced a plan to only useantibiotic-free chickenswithin the next five years.
Hari has said that PresidentBarack Obamadid not keep a promise that he made during his 2008 presidential campaign to force the labeling ofgenetically modified food(GMOs).During the2012 Democratic National Convention, which she attended as an elected delegate, Hari sat in the first row on the convention floor and held a sign that read "LabelGMOs!" duringSecretary of AgricultureTom Vilsack's speech.
In 2012, Hari wrote a blog post regardingChipotledescribing her quest to get clear answers about what Chipotle used in their food, saying: "Most of their food was contaminated with genetically modified cooking oil, corn oil, and they were using genetically modified ingredients in their tortillas. Even in the black beans there was GMO soybean oil. You couldn't even order vegetarian and avoid it. It was really unfortunate. Then, when I saw their flour tortillas' package, it said that they usetrans-fat. That's crazy."After she published her blog post, Chipotle set up a meeting with Hari where she urged them to publish their ingredients publicly.In March 2013, Chipotle's Communications Director emailed Hari with a link to a new page on Chipotle's website with the ingredients in all of their menu items, along with a statement on the sidebar, "Our goal is to eliminate GMOs from Chipotle's ingredients, and we're working hard to meet this challenge."In April 2015, Chipotle followed up on their commitment to remove GMO ingredients from their food and became the first national restaurant chain to use only non-GMO ingredients.
In March 2013, Hari posted her first petition onChange.orgaskingKraft Foodsto removeFD&C yellow#5andFD&C yellow#6food dyesfrom theirMac & Cheese. On April 1, 2013, Hari visited Kraft headquarters in Chicago bringing along a petition with over 270,000 signatures and met with executives.Following Hari's visit, Kraft toldABC NewsChicago they have "no plans to change the recipe for the original mac and cheese,"and "...the safety and quality of our products is our highest priority and we take consumer concerns very seriously. We carefully follow the laws and regulations in the countries where our products are sold."Hari replied, "People have tried to petition the FDA over and over and it hasn't worked. The best way to create change is to hold the food companies responsible."  While the dyes are legal in the U.S., Kraft uses a different formula in theUnited Kingdomwithout artificial dyes.By the end of October 2013 the petition had received about 348,000 signatures.In October 2013, Kraft announced they would change the ingredients in three of its Mac & Cheese products aimed at children, which included the use of whole grains, reduction in salt and some fats, and changing the coloring; Kraft said that the changes were not a response to the petition but rather were part of an ongoing effort to improve the nutrition of the offerings, which takes several years to plan and implement.Hari claimed credit for the changes.In April 2015, Kraft further announced that they will remove artificial dyes and artificial preservatives from all of its Mac & Cheese products by 2016.
In 2013, Hari wrote about the use of class IVcaramel colorinNewcastle Brown Aleon her blog and put public pressure on them to drop this ingredient.In January 2015,Heinekenannounced that they would stop adding class IV caramel color to their Newcastle Brown Ale, and would instead color it naturally with the same roasted malt they had previously used.Heineken's announcement came just prior to the release of her book,The Food Babe Way(February 10, 2015), that devotes a chapter to the ingredients—including caramel coloring—in some beers, wines, and liquors.
In February 2014, Hari launched a petition on her website askingSubwayto removeazodicarbonamide(anFDA-approvedflour bleaching agentanddough conditioner)from theirsandwich bread. The petition gathered more than 50,000 signatures in 24 hours.Subway later announced a plan to remove the ingredient from all of their sandwich breads, a process which began before her campaign.TheCenter For Science In The Public Interest, who advocates for its reduction, credited Hari for drawing attention to it.TheEnvironmental Working Groupsupported the removal of azodicarbonamide and urged against its use.Food scienceexperts have pointed out that the level of azodicarbonamide permitted by the FDA for use in bread is too low to pose a significant risk.
In June 2014, Hari posted a petition asking majorbrewersto list the ingredients in their products,something which U.S. brewers are not required to do.As part of this campaign, she claimed that commercial brewers "even use fish swim bladders" in their beer, as an undisclosed ingredient.NPRcited this as an example offearmongeringand lack of subject matter knowledge, asisinglass, derived from fish swim bladders, has been used as a naturalfiningagent in food and drink for centuries, and is in any case used primarily in cask ale, not vat-brewed beers, which are normally cleared by filtering.The day after she posted her petition,Anheuser-BuschandMillerCoorsreleased ingredients in many of their products.The trade publicationBeer Marketer's Insightscalled Hari's petition an "attempt of fear-mongering in the name of advocacy."Hari later claimed that she was aware of the historic use of isinglass, and was raising attention to it for the benefit of uninformed vegans and vegetarians. In October 2015 Guinness announced that they are stopping the use of isinglass in their refining process so that their beer will become vegan-friendly.
In August 2014, Hari wrote a blog post in which she claimed there is a lack of transparency when it comes to the ingredients inStarbucks' drinks.She noted that Starbucks does not publish their ingredients online and pointed out the use of class IV caramel color and the lack of real pumpkin in Starbucks'sPumpkin Spice Latte.This blog post received over 10 million views in 2014, and in the fall of 2015 Starbucks debuted a reformulated Pumpkin Spice Latte with real pumpkin and without caramel color.Hari took credit for this change, claiming to have emailed them monthly for updates.
On February 5, 2015, Hari launched a petition on her website askingGeneral MillsandKellogg'sto remove the preservativebutylated hydroxytoluene(BHT) from their cereals.The additive has been widely used in cereal packaging in the U.S. for many years. BHT has to be listed as an ingredient on food labels, and some consumer-protection advocates like theEnvironmental Working Grouphave advised people to avoid it when possible.Cereals marketed in Europe by General Mills and Kellogg's do not contain the additive. Hari's petition received over 30,000 signatures in 24 hours.On February 5, 2015, General Mills released a statement that they would be removing BHT from their cereal, stating, "This change is not for safety reasons, but because we think consumers will embrace it.  We've never spoken with Vani Hari and she did not play any role in our decision," and "...our removal of BHT from cereals is well underway and has been for more than a year."
In August 2015, Hari campaignedSubwayin conjunction withNatural Resources Defense Council,Friends of the Earth, theCenter for Food Safety, and theU.S. Public Interest Research Groupto commit to buying meat produced without the routine use ofantibioticsand to provide a timeline for doing so.In October 2015, Subway announced they would transition to chicken raised without antibiotics in 2016 and turkey within the following 2–3 years, and would also transition beef and pork raised without antibiotics by 2025.
Her petition about Kraft's ingredients received over 365,000 signatures, and her Subway petition received over 50,000 signatures in the first 24 hours.Her site had a reported 52 million visitors in 2014 and over 3 million unique visitors per month.
In March 2015,Timenamed Hari among "The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet".
Hari's first book,The Food Babe Way, was released February 10, 2015. The book was #4 on theNew York Timesbestseller list for March 1, 2015 in the "Advice, How-To & Miscellaneous" section. It remained on the list for five weeks.It also appeared as #1 for nonfiction on theWall Street Journalbestseller list for the week ending February 15, 2015.
Hari released her second book,Feeding You Lies: How to Unravel the Food Industry's Playbook and Reclaim Your Health, in February 2019. The book appeared on the Wall Street Journal bestseller list for the week ending February 23, 2019.The Daily Beast also listed it amongst 12 Best Selling Books Published in February 2019.
Hari has received wide criticism concerning the accuracy, consistency, and presentation of her many claims.
Hari is a former management consultant who has a degree in computer science, and has no expertise in nutrition or food science.In response to criticisms that she lacks training in these fields, Hari has stated, "I never claimed to be a nutritionist. I'm an investigator."According tohorticulturalscientistKevin Folta, Hari's lack of training often leads her to misinterpret peer-reviewed research and technical details about food chemistry, nutrition, and health.ChemistJoseph A. Schwarczalso criticizes her lack of scientific knowledge, saying: "It isn't hard to deconstruct her arguments. Most of them are so silly. Her basic tenet is guilt by association."
Cheryl Wischhover, a freelance Beauty/Health/Fitness writer inElledescribed Hari's tactics as "manipulative", "sneaky", and "polarizing rather than productive." Wischhover also wrote about cases of Hari deleting and failing to acknowledge past articles, and stated "The fact that she tried to 'disappear' these stories makes me distrust and discredit anything else she has to say, and it's mindboggling that others still take her seriously."In December 2014, aNational Public Radioarticle compared her activism to fear mongering.A 2015Slatearticle described her writings as using "maliciousmetonymy" to be deceptive.Referring to thewhole foodmovement,Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies, and public health atNew York University, says Hari "gives the movement a bad name" and prefers Hari focus on more important issues.
Yvette d'Entremont, science writer and former analytical chemist, writing forGawker, criticized the lack of scientific support for Hari's claims, and described her writing as "the worst assault on science on the internet".
Following d'Entremont's article, Marion Nestle stated that d'Entremont's criticisms were "valid scientifically", and that "the difficulty with the kinds of compounds that Vani Hari has been dealing with is that they're present in the food supply in very small amounts, and therefore it's very hard to test whether small amounts are harmful or not harmful, so the science is uncertain, it's nuanced, it's very hard to talk about." Her concern with Hari is that she "turns these things into something that's black or white—very easy for people to understand, but not necessarily accurate."
Hari has also been accused of banning dissenters from the Food Babe LLC social media accounts in order to create anecho chamber.Social media groups for people who have been banned by Hari have sprung up as a result of these tactics.
Hari has been criticized by scientists and others for promotingpseudoscience.Kevin Folta has accused Hari of being "afraid of scientific engagement". Folta stated that while her campaigns have been driven by "honest intention", they had the effect of spreading scientific disinformation.Chemistry professor Joseph A. Schwarcz, director ofMcGill University's Office for Science and Society states Hari "has no understanding of chemistry or food science" and that "her scientific background is nonexistent".He describesazodicarbonamide, a chemical Hari opposes the usage of, as being safe for use in food but unessential.In 2015 skepticBrian Dunninglisted FoodBabe.com as #7 on a "Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Websites" list.Following her beer campaign,David Gorski, a surgeon, stated that she was "peddling pseudoscience" by portraying the chemicals used in the making of beer as dangerous.
In a July 2012 post (which has since been removed), Hari quoted the ideas ofMasaru Emotothatmicrowave ovenscause water molecules to form crystals that resemble crystals exposed to negative thoughts or beliefs, such as when the words "Hitler" and "Satan" were exposed to the water.Steven Novellacalls Emoto's claims "pure pseudoscience" and states that "Hari's conclusions about microwavesare all demonstrably incorrect and at odds with the scientific evidence".She later described the post as not her "most impressive piece of work" and noted that it was written when she had first started blogging. In a widely discredited2011 post, Hari warned readers that the air pumped into aircraft cabins was not pure oxygen, complaining it was "mixed with nitrogen, sometimes almost at 50 per cent" despite ambient air being 78% nitrogen. Hari deleted the post, later claiming it contained an "inadvertent error".
In an October 2011 blog post, Hari claimed getting the flu is not dangerous but getting a flu shot is,and the following daytweetedthat flu vaccines have been "used as a genocide tool in the past". The tweet was subsequently deleted.Hari's position was criticized as false and dangerous by theAmerican Council on Science and Health.
InThe Food Babe Way, Hari states: "There is just no acceptable level of any chemical to ingest, ever." This quote was noted byThe Atlanticin its review of the book,used as apull quote, and criticised at length. The statement was widely commented on by public organizations promoting science, such as McGill University's Office for Science and Societyand the American Council on Science and Health.
In an article inBloomberg Businessweek, Duane D. Stanford wrote that Hari has an apparent financial interest by generating controversy in order to draw traffic to her website to increase ad sales and drive readers to buy a subscription to her organic Eating Guide, which Hari says is her primary source of revenue.Hari's critics have drawn attention to heraffiliated marketingpartnerships with organic and non-GMO brands from which she profits by recommending them over mainstream brands.
A 2015 article inSkeptical Inquirerdetails products Hari declares as having toxic ingredients while Hari promotes and receives sales commissions for products containing the same or similar ingredients.Hari's claims of toxicity have been dismissed by experts in science and medicine as incorrect or exaggerated.Hari in the past removed a product from her site when attention was drawn to it as containing chemicals she has spoken against, a body scrub called Fresh, which containedbutylated hydroxytoluene(BHT). However, Hari claims that BHT is not as toxic if applied to skin as opposed to ingested.
Vani Hari is married to Finley Clarke.