Weeks after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sent Hampton Creek Foods a letter warning that its Just Mayo is misbranded because it does not contain eggs, emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act reportedly indicate that the American Egg Board (AEB) and a public relations firm made a concerted effort to remove Just Mayo from the market. The emails reportedly detail the actions the group undertook, including a complaint to FDA, an attempt to convince Whole Foods to stop selling Just Mayo, aid to Unilever in its litigation against Hampton Creek, and payments to food bloggers who post about how “real and sustainable foods, like eggs,” fit into their lifestyles. Details about Unilever’s lawsuit against Hampton Creek appear in Issue 549 of this Update. Public health attorney Michele Simon posted the emails on her blog, alleging that AEB likely broke laws during its attempt to quash Hampton…
Category Archives Other Developments
The University of Connecticut Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity has issued a report claiming that food companies “disproportionately target their TV advertising for fast food, candy, sugary drink and snack brands to black and Hispanic consumers.” Focusing on restaurant, food and beverage companies that spent at least $100 million on advertising in 2013 as well as participants in the Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative, the report reviews the number of advertisements for fast food, sugar-sweetened beverages, snack foods, dairy products, 100-percent juice, water, fruits and vegetables that appeared on “Spanish-language TV and black-targeted TV programming.” The authors also used syndicated market research data from Nielsen to compile media spending by brand and product, in addition to estimating “exposure to TV advertising by black, Hispanic, and all children and adolescents in 2013.” In particular, the report notes that 26 companies spent $675 million in food-related advertising on Spanish-language…
Britain’s Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) has published a report condemning government policies aimed at reducing the consumption of sugar. “Just as fat seems to have been given an amnesty, so sugar is now in the dock,” according to report co-authors Rob Lyons and Christopher Snowdon. “So what exactly is the evidence that sugar is deadly? Can one substance really be responsible for a plethora of chronic diseases? If so, are the calls for action to reduce sugar consumption – including taxes and regulations – justified?” See IEA News Release, July 15, 2015. Issue 573
“Pass (on) the Salt: The Business Case for Sodium Reduction” is the title of a July 29, 2015, webinar organized by California-based law and policy group ChangeLab Solutions. Program faculty, including two ChangeLab staff attorneys, will reportedly discuss various institutional (e.g., state governments, hospitals) initiatives to limit the number of salty foods provided or available for purchase in the workplace and how such campaigns “can result in a positive return on investment.” Issue 572
Shareholder advocacy group As You Sow has reportedly withdrawn a shareholder resolution after General Mills Inc. agreed to “consolidate and disseminate guidance to growers of key commodities such as corn and soy on how to protect and minimize the impact of neonicotinoids and other pesticides to pollinators.” According to a July 8, 2015, press release, the company will support the White House’s Pollinator Health Task Force strategy by working with a non-profit conservation group and suppliers to craft policies meant to reverse the decline in honeybee populations. “Many of the crops that General Mills buys depend on pollinators,” said As You Sow’s Environmental Health Program Manager Austin Wilson. “By investing in supply-chain sustainability, General Mills is ensuring the future of its supply chain and its profitability.” Issue 572
With help from an Allstate Insurance research team, the City of Chicago has reportedly developed a model to predict which food establishments might fail inspections among the more than 15,000 restaurants within the city’s jurisdiction. The research teams analyzed nearly 100,000 sanitation inspection reports to create the prediction model, which assesses the likelihood that a food establishment will commit a critical violation. According to a city report, key factors include (i) whether the establishment has a previous critical or serious violation, (ii) the three-day average high temperature, (iii) nearby garbage and sanitation complaints, (iv) nearby burglaries, and (v) the length of time the establishment has been operating. The city tested the model in a double-blind retrodiction of September and October 2014, finding that following its algorithm would have resulted in 69 percent of violations being found in the first month compared to the 55 percent that the existing inspection order…
California-based law and policy advocacy organization ChangeLab Solutions has issued a voluminous white paper reviewing legal issues surrounding potential strategies to address the marketing of “unhealthy” foods and beverages purportedly directed to children younger than age 5. The report details various policy considerations with respect to outdoor advertising, broadcast media, digital and print media, childcare settings and schools, government procurement and vending, government property and government sponsorship, land use planning/zoning, retail environments, taxation, and hospital infant-formula giveaways. Issue 571
A Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (JHSPH) report on Mexico’s sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax has concluded that “strong advocacy work, scientific evidence, and knowledge of the political context can be important facilitators to policy change that promotes obesity prevention and control.” The case study highlights the strategies used by civil society organizations, public interest lobbyists, health and government officials, and other SSB-tax proponents to (i) build coalitions, (ii) persuade legislators to support the initiative, (iii) generate media attention, and (iv) leverage the perspectives of national and international experts. In particular, it notes that successful advocacy campaigns must “understand the political context to capitalize on windows of opportunity.” “Overall, it is essential that policy proponents know the political context—the system’s structure and the needs of political actors—to act on opportunities that could promote public health goals within broader government pursuits and reforms,” notes the report. “Regardless of the underlying…
Friends of the Earth (FOE) has released a report claiming that so-called food and agriculture industry front groups use covert tactics to influence the public discourse around agriculture, organic production and sustainability, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Titled Spinning Food: How Food Industry Front Groups and Covert Communications Are Shaping the Story of Food, the report alleges that these front groups not only co-opt blogs, social media and other seemingly independent platforms to spread PR messages on behalf of industry, but ally with third-party outlets—such as National Geographic and The New York Times—to create “an echo chamber of industry talking points on anti-GMO labeling, attacks on organic agriculture and a defense of agrochemicals.” “Rather than responding to changing market demands by shifting the way they do business, these companies are trying to preserve market share and win key policy battles by using ‘tobacco-style’ PR tactics,” opines the report. “While the…
French restaurateurs and food critics are calling for new food-labeling rules after a documentary airing on France 2 reported that some of the country’s food manufacturers have been using vegetable fat-based substitutes for fresh milk when producing cheese products. In “Artificial Cheese on Your Plate” (“Du Faux Fromage Dans Votre Assiette”), cheese producers are reportedly shown stocking bags of processed cheese made with water, vegetable fat, lactic acid, table salt, and potassium sorbate, while others are shown mixing genuine mozzarella with cheese made without milk to create a popular substitute known as “50-50.” Many of the cheese substitutes also contain palm oil. A nutritionist told the documentary producers that the cheese substitutes lack the positive qualities of real cheese because they contain saturated fat without providing calcium as well. See The Daily Telegraph, June 14, 2015. Issue 569
