Every year, as the holidays come to a close and resolutions kick in, many Americans vow to lose weight. Despite their best wishes, there’s no reset button on holiday excess, and therefore nearly half of Americans admit to committing to a diet but failing after just six months.

Boasting before-and-after pictures of dieters, fad-diet marketers often make sweeping promises that tell followers they will “lose weight fast.” 

Happy New Year! January marks the unofficial “official” start of the diet season. The pressure of New Year’s resolutions, coupled with added weight (and guilt) from overindulging over the holiday season, seems to send the nation into a dieting frenzy year after year. 

Changes in food-safety regulations aren’t just limited to the U.S. I recently took part in an international food-safety meeting in China, during which representatives from 19 nations talked about changes underway in food-safety regulations in their respective countries.