"Occasional" French fry eaters take note: just one junk food meal can cause damage to your arteries says new research out of the ÉPIC Center of the Montreal Heart Institute.

Important nutrition facts may soon appear on the front of food labels, hopes the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute, who this week announced a new labeling system called "Nutrition Keys" to make important health data that much more accessible.

Nutrition Keys, which is voluntary, asks food producers to display calories, saturated fat, sodium, and sugar content on the front of food packages; currently nutrition facts appear on the back of most food products.

Nutrition labels and symbols would best benefit shoppers if they appeared on the front of food packages and focused on calories, saturated fat, trans fat and sodium—the top four overconsumed nutrients, according to a new report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

The not-so-fab four are strongly associated with many of America’s health woes, including obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers.

The IOM recognizes that packages have limited space, so its expert committee believes information on cholesterol, fiber, added sugars, vitamins and other nutrients that are listed on Nutrition Facts panels (right) can remain on the back.

Probably not the first thing that comes to mind when you think McDonald’s is vegetables, but after all, those greasy French fries you’re eating started off as fresh potatoes and McDonald’s has announced plans to reduce pesticide use in its American potato suppliers:

McDonald’s has committed to survey its current U.S. potato suppliers; compile a list of best practices in pesticide reduction that will be recommended to the company’s global suppliers; and communicate findings related to best practices to shareholders, and in the company’s annual corporate social responsibility (CSR) report.

Bard College student Katherine Burstein, a member of the college’s Committee on Investor Responsibility, said: "Through our work with the Responsible Endowments Coalition--which works on responsible investment issues with colleges and universities across the nation--we learned about the measures companies can take to reduce the undesirable effects of pesticide use, and decided to engage McDonald's on the issue.”

McDonald's said in a statement that its U.S. potato suppliers are already working with their growers to "advance sustainable pesticide practices, such as reductions and alternative methods."

Environmental advocates are hailing the effort, saying it will benefit the health of consumers, farm workers and local agricultural communities. The very same people McDonald’s horrible food is slamming with heart disease, obesity, stroke and diabetes.

Okay, pesticides are bad, but McDonald’s has bigger problems, like why their burgers don’t decompose. If you leave a McDonald’s hamburger in your jacket pocket and then check on it a year later, it’ll look exactly the same. No worse for ware.

Via SustainableBusiness News.