Michelle Obama Urges Companies to Use Less Sugar, Fat & Salt

Our First Lady is now serving as a conscience to food companies.

Indeed, Michelle Obama is now urging the nation's largest food companies to "step it up" and make healthier foods by using less sugar, fat and salt.

What's more, she is also encouraging them to make efforts to reduce the marketing of unhealthy foods to children.

What's intriguing is that the Grocery Manufacturers Association – whose members include Kraft Foods Inc., Coca Cola Co. and General Mills Inc., known for its sugar-salt-and-fat-filled foods – invited her to speak at its science forum.

At her talk Tuesday – even though she exhorted them to make their products healthier – the attendees even gave her a standing ovation, as the Huffington Post's Mary Clare Jalonick pointed out.

"We need you not to just tweak around the edges but entirely rethink the products you are offering, the information that you provide about these products, and how you market those products to our children," she advised the food companies.

Mrs. Obama also asked for less confusing food labels and portion sizes, increased nutrients and less bad ingredients.

As the Huffington Post's Jalonick notes, "This is the first time she has confronted the food companies that make the snacks and junk food that stuff grocery aisles and school vending machines."