Foodspin Portal

Welcome to the Foodspin Portal on Powerbase

This article is part of the Foodspin project of Spinwatch. Foodspin is a project dedicated to exposing and reporting on the spin and lobbying efforts of the food industry. It is part of Powerbase—your guide to networks of power, lobbying and deceptive PR. We track the activities of food companies, front groups and PR agencies who disseminate misleading information about issues such as nutrition, obesity and the food supply chain. Powerbase has a policy of strict referencing and is overseen by a Managing editor and a Sysop and several Associate Portal editors. Priority food pages UK level Westminster Diet and Health Forum - What does it do? National Obesity Forum, is it just a front group? How are the Associate Parliamentary Health Group and Policy Connect related? Mediasmart - what is its function? Change4Life and Business4Life how do they work? Save Kids TV - Front group or genuine campaigning organisation? Advertising Education Forum and Food Advertising Unit - needs expanding British Nutrition Foundation - How active is the BNF today? EU and Global level Codex Alimentarius International Obesity Taskforce - Is it a front group? European Parliament Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety World Sugar Research Organisation - Needs expanding International Food Information Council International Life Sciences Institute European Food Information Council EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity & Health

Obesity Obesity has already reached epidemic proportions in many Western countries. We ask whether organisations such as Association for the Study of Obesity and National Obesity Forum are playing a constructive role in the debate on obesity, or whether they simply promote the interests of companies with a stake in obesity-related policy. The portal looks at how obesity-related groups have often been funded by companies such as LighterLife, GlaxoSmithKline and Kelloggs. Food front groups Major players in the food industry have consistently acted collectively to influence public views of food to their advantage. Spending vast sums of money on advertising, the food industry also has created various front groups which, despite innocuous-sounding names, are little more than spokespeople for the industry. Groups such as the International Life Sciences Institute and the British Nutrition Foundation appear at first to be professional, neutral organisations. Such organisations are, however, little more than slyly disguised industry-backed front groups promoting a one-sided agenda for industry. Claims of independence and neutrality amount to little more than window-dressing.

Categories Categories associated with this page: Foodspin Food Industry lobby groups Foodspin Front Groups Food and Agriculture Industry Foodspin Government Agencies Food lobbyists and PR consultants Foodspin Policy Groups Food NGO's and Consumer groups|- References and Resources

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