By Susie Davidson

Advocate Correspondent

WASHINGTON, DC - What strikes fear into the hearts of restaurants, food manufacturers and concession stands isn't the economy.

It's Mike Jacobson.

Co-founder and executive director of the non-profit, consumer health advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), he's been a thorn in the side of producers and providers of fat and salt-laden Americana culinary favorites for thirty years.

Never heard of him? Pull out any item in your fridge or cabinet, and check the nutrition label. That's his doing.

Remember hearing about the coconut oil in movie theatre popcorn a few years back? Mike too. Chinese and Mexican restaurant studies on the evening news? Mike.

His crusades, aimed at increasing nutrition awareness in consumers, haven't lacked for special effects. He's been on TV newscasts with a chisel and a 50 pound block of hydrogenated vegetable shortening. And he brought 170 decayed teeth to the Federal Trade Commission in 1977 as a statement against television advertising of sugar-infused children's foods.

How did he embark on this path? It certainly wasn't ingrained. A Chicago native, his Ashkenazi family stuck to their tradition.

"As a child," he recalls, "I ate a typical Jewish Midwestern diet: hamburgers, corn on the cob, lamb chops, whole milk, occasional soft drinks, and, in high school, fast-food burgers and fries. And, of course, bagels with cream cheese or butter, fried potato pancakes, and other treats on holidays or Sunday mornings.

"In other words, my parents and us kids never gave a whole lot of thought to nutrition. We ate what the customs of the time dictated."

How did he go from this to leading a bandanna-masked group at 1970's USDA meetings in protest over the lack of an advisory panel or consumer representative? To posing with $1,000 worth of fast food for People? Speaking at the Consumer Federation of America in 1974, with maraschino cherry-frisked fruit cups, about the perils of Red Dye No. 2? Holding three beakers of congealed fat on TV, representing that contained in a Quarter Pounder, french fries and a shake?

Well, Judaism.

"Somehow, the Jewishness in me, like in so many other people," Jacobson, who holds a Ph.D. from neighboring MIT, explains, "subconsciously encouraged me to get involved as a public interest advocate, trying to make the world a better place.

"That must reflect in some way the strong emphasis that Judaism places on caring for others."

More specifically, food labeling improvement began thusly: "At my friend Sue's house for Hanukah one year, I discovered that her Manischewitz sweet potato pancakes mix did not contain any sweet potatoes!"

Once bitten by the nutrition bug, he was relentless. CSPI, whose members number nearly one million, puts out the monthly "Nutrition Action Healthletter", known for its "Food Porn" columns, "Best Bites" and "Thumbs Downs". Betty Crocker Fruit Flings, with 1/8 teaspoon of fruit and the rest dye and flavor, haven't a chance here.

His food safety and nutrition books include "What Are We Feeding Our Kids?" (Workman, 1994), "Cooking With the Stars" (CSPI, 1993), "Safe Food: Eating Wisely in a Risky World" (Living Planet Press, 1991), "The Fast-Food Guide" (Workman, 1986, 1991, "Eater's Digest: The Consumer's Factbook of Food Additives" (Doubleday, 1972, 1976) and "Nutrition Scoreboard" (Avon, 1975). His articles have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Smithsonian, New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Miami Herald among others. He's testified at myriad congressional hearings and has been on 60 Minutes, MacNeil/Lehrer, Dateline, Today…you get it.

In 1996, the Food and Drug Administration conferred its highest award, the Special Citation medal, upon Jacobson.

What do he, his wife Donna Lenhoff, general counsel for the Women's Legal Defense Fund, and their 9 year old daughter eat? Egg-white omelettes, low-fat milk and lots of fruits and vegetables. Whole grain foods, vegetarian fare. Frozen yogurt, low fat desserts. Nothing in his home or office is high in fat, sugar or salt.

In Jacobson's fridge or life's work, there simply ain't no place for schmaltz.