Decades-Old Food Pyramid Replaced by Food Plate

The federal government's food pyramid has been refined for decades, most recently in 2005, when colored bars and a stick figure were adopted. One prominent nutritionist called it "foodless and useless." In the midst of an obesity epidemic, First Lady Michelle Obama stood in her White House garden today to officially unveil the new symbol, a plate divided into four sections with one-word labels. James Painter, Chair of the School of Family and Consumer Sciences at Eastern Illinois University, has studied government food icons from 66 countries.