Changes over Time

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Here are a few food-related-events occuring over a past 50 year period.

1950’s – USDA creates four basic food groups: milk, meat, fruits and vegetables, and breads and cereals.

1954 – Swanson unveils the first TV dinners.

1955 – Ray Kroc opens his first McDonald’s franchise.

1963 – Weight Watchers is incorporated and the first public meeting is held in a loft in Queens.

1967 – Amana introduces the first domestic Radarange microwave oven.

1977 – Portion sizes start to swell. Hamburgers expand by 23% in the next 20 years; a plate of Mexican food gets 27% bigger; soft drinks increase by 52%; snacks (potato chips, pretzels, crackers) grow 60%.

1989 – February is declared National Snack Food Month by the Snack Food Association. A month-long campaign results in a 41% increase in snack food consumption.

1990s – Foods labeled “Low-Fat” and “Lite” hit their stride.

1991 – The World Wide Web is born.

1992 – USDA Food Pyramid is created.

1998 – Olestra, a non-digestible, nutritionless fat substitute is approved by the FDA for use in no-fat snacks.