Paid spokespeople are typically cagey, couching their points of view in the most reasonable terms possible. Then there's Beth Mansfield, mouthpiece for company that operates Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, quoted in the Los Angeles Times:

"The bottom line is we're in the business of making money, and we make money off of what we sell. If we wanted to listen to the food police and sell nuts and berries and tofu burgers, we wouldn't make any money and we'd be out of business."

No couching there!

So these are the options according to Beth: Nuts and berries and tofu burgers, or delicacies such as the 850-calorie footlong cheeseburger, which the Times said is three cheeseburgers laid end to end on a 12-inch roll and is under consideration for Carl's Jr.'s menu.

No choice! Outa their hands! Healthy food or healthy profit —pick one. This is what we do, OK? We're experts, and we know!

So far, I haven't ever been called the food police, and it would be tough to make it stick, since the core of my message is taking responsibliity for my actions, and I have a 155-pound weight loss maintained for almost two decades to offer as evidence. So in addition to whomever deserves that sneering epithet, there are people like me who think that that stance is shrill, unproductive, tunnel-vision twaddle, not only worthy or but requiring derision: "Gosh, your honor, I had to sell those cigarettes to kids. It was either that or go out of business!" 

Thanks to Marion Nestle, who pointed out the quote on her blog.