European Food Information Council

This article is part of the Foodspin project of Spinwatch.

EUFIC logo

The European Food Information Council (EUFIC) claims to be a 'science based' information source on food, but actually functions as a food industry lobby group. It is co-funded by the European Commission and works with the Commission's EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity & Health.

On its website the Council describes itself as:

a non-profit organisation which provides science-based information on food safety & quality and health & nutrition to the media, health and nutrition professionals, educators and opinion leaders, in a way that consumers can understand. In response to the public's increasing need for credible, science-based information on the nutritional quality and safety of foods, EUFIC's mission is to enhance the public's understanding of such issues and to raise consumers' awareness of the active role they play in safe food handling and choosing a well-balanced and healthy diet...."

Location

The main offices for the European Food Information Council are located in Brussels, Belgium, but the organisation's network reaches across other European countries. The EUFIC is co-financed by the European Commission and the European food and drink industry. It is governed by a Board of Directors which is elected from member companies.

People

Scientific advisory board

According to EUFIC:

The primary role of the Scientific Advisory Board is to ensure that EUFIC's information and communication programmes are based on reviews of scientific evidence which have the support of the scientific community at large so that the information is representative, factually correct and truthful.

Members of the scientific advisory board as of March 2009 are:

• Renate Frenz, Past Honorary Chairman, European Federation of Association of Dieticians (EFAD), Germany, Vice Chairman of the Advisory Board.
• Joanna Koch, NGO Representative at the United Nations in Geneva, and Convenor - NGO Working Group on Nutrition, under the Committee on the Status of Women, Geneva, Switzerland.
• Onno Korver, Former Chief Nutrition Scientist, Unilever, The Netherlands.
• Milan Kovac, Permanent representative of the Slovak Republic to FAO and WFP, Roma, Italy
• Alan Reilly, Deputy Chief Executive, Food Safety Authority of Ireland.
• Michael Sjöström, Head of Unit of Preventive Nutrition, Department of Biosciences/Medical Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
• Giorgio Poli, Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Milan, Italy.
• France Bellisle, Service de Diabétologie, Hôtel Dieu, Paris, France.

Scientific Advisory Board 2010

Eufic claims that the role of it's SAB is to ensure that EUFIC's information and communication programmes are based on reviews of scientific evidence which have the support of the scientific community at large so that the information is representative, factually correct and truthful. The members are -

Giorgio Poli, Chairman of the EUFIC Scientific Advisory Board, Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,University of Milan, Italy.

Renate Frenz, Vice Chairman of the EUFIC Scientific Advisory Board, Past Honorary Chairman, European Federation of Association of Dieticians (EFAD), Germany.

France Bellisle, Researcher at the Nutritional Epidemiology Unit, University Paris 13,Bobigny, France.

Onno Korver, Former Chief Nutrition Scientist, Unilever, The Netherlands.

Milan Kovac, Ministry of Agriculture of the Slovak Republic.

Alan Reilly, Chief Executive Officer, Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

Josef Schlatter, Head of the Nutritional and Toxicological Risks Section, Federal Department of Home Affairs (FDHA), Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH), Consumer Protection Directorate, Zurich, Switzerland.

Michael Sjöström, Head of Unit of Preventive Nutrition, Department of Biosciences/Medical Nutrition,Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.

Staff

John Lupien

John Lupien - chairman of the EUFIC Scientific Advisory Board and former Director of the Food and Nutrition Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He is technical advisor to the International Association for the Development of Natural Gums, an association of cooperatives and producers in the 16 sub-Sahara African countries that produce acacia gum for use in the food industry in all countries.

"The primary role of the Scientific Advisory Board is to ensure that EUFIC's information and communication programmes are based on reviews of scientific evidence which have the support of the scientific community at large so that the information is representative, factually correct and truthful" However, the BBC news website reported on Friday, 8 October, 2004 that "A United Nations agency has launched an investigation into claims that a key consultation into how much sugar we should be eating was secretly funded by the sugar industry.... This funding deal was agreed with the FAO's then Director of Food and Nutrition, John Lupien." The report quotes Professor Jim Mann - Professor of Human Nutrition and Medicine, University of Otago in New Zealand - who states that "it would be impossible to produce an unbiased report when the source of funding came from groups with clearly vested interests."

Ronald Walker

Ronald Walker - member of EUFIC's Scientific Advisory Board. Ronald Walker spent seven years as the International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) as Chairman of their Scientific Committee on Toxicology/Food Safety in Europe. ILSI is funded by amongst others, Monsanto, Coca Cola and Pepsi Cola. He serves as a member of EUFIC's Scientific Advisory Committee. He was formerly a "consultant for DSM Nutritional Products, a company that sold “Twinsweet” from Holland Sweetener Company which is a mixture of aspartame and acesulfame-k". Interestingly, Walker wrote a review claiming that the artificial sweetener aspartame was safe. Neither the fact that Walker received "funding from companies selling aspartame", nor that he held "official positions with associations who are supported by aspartame manufacturers and marketers", nor the fact that he had previously defended aspartame, were disclosed in this aspartame review. This is somewhat controversial since it could be argued that reviews funded by manufacturers of a product under investigation could be considered biased and perhaps could misrepresent information. Aspartame has been linked in US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) data with such side effects as: epileptic seizures, anxiety, blindness in one or both eyes, confusion, memory loss, and neurological symptoms.

The EUFIC website, on the other hand, states in an article named "Much Ado About Nothing" that aspartame has been approved as safe for use by the general public and rubbishes claims that it could be linked to multiple sclerosis. Aspartame is used in products from Coca-Cola (one of EUFIC's member companies) such as Diet Coke - "At Coca-Cola, we use aspartame and other low-calorie sweeteners in our low-sugar and diet soft drinks".

Josephine Wills

Josephine Wills - director general of EUFIC. Wills is a vet who also worked for Masterfoods (a division of Mars which has been a member of EUFIC) for 18 years, where she was the EU lobbyist-in-chief for the company, and latterly as European Head of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs for all product categories. In April 2000, The Independent (London) reported that Mars was funding research in the US claiming to show that "the cocoa beans used to make chocolate contain naturally occurring polyphenols - plant compounds whose antioxidant properties can reduce the risk of heart disease." The article adds that Mars "is patenting a manufacturing process by which polyphenols can be retained in the chocolate".

Dr Josephine Wills, "head of external science and health for Mars", is quoted as saying:

Polyphenols act as antioxidants - they can combat LDL oxidation which can lead to deposits in arteries, and reduce platelet activation. They are pretty powerful antioxidants.... What we've done is preserve as much of the natural level as possible.

The article quotes Food Commission spokesman Ian Tokelove as saying that he is "highly sceptical" of any Mars bar health benefits:

"Okay, there's the cocoa beans, but what about the fat and the sugar? A Mars bar is high fat, high sugar - not what you would consider a healthy product, although the odd one is not going to hurt you."

This is particularly worrying given that "EUFIC is an active participant of the European Platform for Action committed to helping fight one of the most serious health challenges facing the EU today: Obesity." As a result of pressure to reduce child obesity, some of these member companies of EUFIC such as Pepsi-Co, Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Mars have agreed to reduce the amount of advertising and marketing they put out aimed at children under 12. However there has been speculation that companies have taken these steps to "police themselves" in order to avoid regulations being imposed on them. Their actions have been describes as "half measures".

• Globalisation: European Food Information Council: Controversies surrounding EUFIC people

Members and funding

According to EUFIC's website (March 2009):

EUFIC is co-financed by the European Commission and the European food and drink industry. It is governed by a Board of Directors which is elected from member companies. Current EUFIC members are: Barilla, Cargill, Cereal Partners, Coca-Cola HBC, Coca-Cola, DSM Nutritional Products Europe Ltd., Ferrero, Groupe Danone, Kraft Foods, McCormick Foods, Masterfoods, McDonald's, Nestlé, Novozymes, PepsiCo, Pfizer Animal Health, Procter & Gamble, Südzucker, Unilever, and Yakult.

This list of EUFIC members listed on the Coolfood (a project of EUFIC) website as at February 2008 adds Mars to the above list.

Funder controversies

Some of the companies that are listed as funders of EUFIC have been involved in controversies which seemingly contradict EUFIC's aim (as expressed on one of its press releases) to enhance the public's understanding by providing "credible, science-based information on the nutritional quality and safety of foods".

For example, according to the Colombia Solidarity Campaign, Nestlé Colombia labelled powdered milk with false dates of production:

In November 2002, police ordered Nestlé Colombia to decommission 200 tons of imported powdered milk. The milk had come from Uruguay under the brand name Conaprole, but the sacks had been repackaged with labels stating they had come from a local Nestlé factory, and stamped with false production dates of 20th September and 6th October 2002. The real production dates were between August 2001 and February 2002... Senator Jorge Enrique Robledo charged Nestlé with using sub-standard, contaminated milk, “a serious attack on the health of our people, especially the children”.

Nestlé again came under scrutiny when, together with Coca-Cola, it produced and marketed a soft drink called Enviga which it claimed burned more calories than it provides and hence had the effect of "negative calories". Food Watchdog group CPSI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) said that "Enviga burns money, and over the long term is more likely to result in a negative bank balance than negative calories" and threatened to sue them if they continued to market the drink "with fraudulent calorie-burning and weight loss claims".

Pfizer, too, has been accused of illegal marketing. In 2008 former Pfizer marketing vice president turned whistleblower Peter Rost MD launched a lawsuit against Pfizer accusing it of marketing the growth hormone Genotropin for unapproved purposes "such as combating aging in adults and treating short stature in children" in Indiana. A federal judge in Boston denied Pfizer’s motion to dismiss and allowed Rost to proceed with his allegations of false claims for pediatric uses - but not aging in adults. Although it is legal for doctors to prescribe drugs for off-label uses it is illegal for companies to market them for these purposes.

Pfizer is described by Corporate Watch as the "largest and richest pharmaceutical enterprise in the world". According to the Financial Times, "Pfizer has powered its way up the global ranking list to its unassailable position thanks mainly to its marketing prowess."

Funding

• Globalisation: European Food Information Council: Funding from the Food and Drinks Industry
• Globalisation: European Food Information Council: EUFIC and the European Commission

Activities

Lobbying

More and more corporations uses lobbying as a way of actualize their interest, therefore is the purpose of this page to examine if EUFIC has been involved in any lobby activities. With the organisation being established and funded by corporations known to be involved in these kinds of activities, it would be interesting to see if they’ve been used as an instrument in lobbying.

EUFIC and their study on food labelling

In 2007 the European Food Information Council published a study which stated the following: “The study was supported by the European Food Information Council. There are no conflicts of interest.” The study was on “Consumers preference for front-of-pack calories labeling” but only explored the choice of labeling promoted by the industry itself. By stating that it was only funded by EUFIC and therefore neglected to state how the organisation itself is funded, mostly by the food and drink industry, EUFIC were able to hide the fact that a conflict of interest actually did exist. The industry wanted a labeling that showed just green for healthier options and red for those with high levels of sugar, fat and calories. The health and consumer campaigns argued for better alternatives and critiqued the industry’s option on being less effective than their suggestion. A better alternative suggested by the industry’s opponents, would be what is called a traffic-light labeling that shows low, medium and high levels. They argued for this option being easier for the public to understand. Despite these other options being provided, EUFIC’s study only included the labeling preferred by the industry. The result and the study may be correct but carried out biased from start. EUFIC promote themselves as being a non partisan, science based organisationbut in this case, they have supplied the public with information beneficial for the industry and not for the consumer.

Traffic light labelling

GDA labelling, preferred by the industry

Lobbying for the industry

On the 16th of June this year, 2010, the MEPs of the European parliament voted against the traffic-light labeling the industry’s opponents suggested and went for the industry preferred option. This is said to be the result of a £1 billion lobbying campaign pursued by the food and drink industry. The size of the campaign has been compared by Dutch socialist MEP Kartika Liotard to the amount of lobbying on the subjects of REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of Chemicals) and CO2 emission for cars . With the industry scared that the traffic-light option of labeling would scare consumers from buying their products, they opted for their option being easier to understand through channels such as tv-commercials, prize-draws and lunchtime debates with MEPs. By using scientific proof EUFIC presented, indirect sponsored by them, the industry has been able to shape the policy making to agree with their cause, alongside the big lobbying campaign. This was said by Swedish MEP Carl Schlyter on how much lobbying affected the MEPs: “In the earlier discussions people were much more open-minded. But they have been exposed to so much industry pressure that it shifted focus.”

EUFIC's involvement

It becomes clear that EUFIC plays a role in the lobbying of the food and drink industry’s interests. Only by looking at what the Commission discussed in 2006 and how that changed over the last four years, shows how much the lobbying has been able to do. When the discussion first started the traffic-light labelling was a part of it, but by the time the proposal was finalised in 2008, it was nowhere to be seen. The focus changed to the industry’s already implemented labelling and was eventually this year voted for.

Conclusion

Being created and funded by the industry has shown to create a conflict of interest if you see the result of the report on food labelling, claimed to be carried out non-biased by EUFIC. The organisation has not been registered with the commission’s lobby register and only two of their members mention their involvement with EUFIC in their lobbying expenditure declarations. By portraying the image of EUFIC being there for the consumer, the companies can take advantage of that and both create an image of doing good for the public, but also use EUFIC for the sake of their own interest, without having to take responsibility.

Transparency

EUFIC has a Transparency statement, to which all members of the organisation are obliged to sign up. EUFIC is also a member of the Health On the Net organisation and have agreement over a code of conduct.

Following is EUFIC’s own transparency statement:

• - The European Food Information Council (EUFIC) has been established to provide science-based information and education material on foods and food related topics to health and nutrition professionals, educators, opinion leaders and the news media, in a form understandable to the general public.

• - EUFIC's publications are based on peer reviewed science and will not promote views which cannot be endorsed by the scientific community at large. All publications must include references to scientific texts or experts.

• - EUFIC will strive to publish in partnership with organisations or recognised experts, acknowledged for their credibility in their field of activity.

• - EUFIC does not act as the spokesperson of industry and does not wish to be perceived as such.

• - All activities must support EUFIC's mission as a credible and scientifically sound information source.

• - EUFIC respects the specificity of each country and believes that most communication programmes can be established most effectively on a national level.

• - EUFIC will be mindful of the need to address a balanced mix of subjects that enhance EUFIC's impact, credibility and effectiveness.

• - EUFIC will not promote individual companies' views or brands nor any other information material, which is not based on peer reviewed science.

• - EUFIC participates in an informal global network of Food Information Councils that share the common goal of communicating science-based information on healthy lifestyle, nutrition and food safety.

Transparency: a definition and its use

The demands for transparency in corporations are largely on the rise, and one of the underlying reasons is globalisation. With more transnational affairs and the world moving from the local arena to the global by integrating people and culture, transparency is a way for people to have a bigger say. Used in the right way, transparency could have great benefits and could be seen as morally essential, if used for detecting and correcting errors. But as seen, many corporations and organisation have reason not to disclose their business. They often use the term, but not to its full potential, and is often applied for portraying the right public image. With transparency being voluntarily, the organisation itself has to provide the public with the wanted information.

EUFIC and transparency

By using the term transparency, the consumer’s critical view becomes easier. But it is also crucial for the consumer that the information given is correct. EUFIC has shown lack of correct information in the past, regarding the controversies they have been involved in. With the aim of giving the consumer correct information on health and nutrition they have failed several times. With the moral dimension of transparency being that the information given; in this case to the consumer, is correct and does not have underlying interest that could affect the outcome, the consumer has a right to know why and where the information comes from. EUFIC’s actions shows how easy it is for organisation and corporations do supply information that gives the impression that it is correct. With the underlying conflict of interest between EUFIC, the food and drink industry and the consumer, it is crucial that the information given shows where this conflict lies. In EUFIC’s case they claim that by using a Scientific Advisory Board, SAB, to review if the information published, they can insure that it is correct and in line with the scientific community in large. But with members of the board involved in controversies involving food and nutrition, it does not seem like a procedure that works as it should.

And even if EUFIC follows their own transparency statement to some extent, their information in some areas are still absent. Information on how much the different companies are funding EUFIC is nowhere to be seen on the webpage. Neither is any sort of disclosure on conflict of interest. In one of EUFIC’s newsletters, Food Today, from march 2006, they bring up the subject “Can I Trust the Web?”. In this letter they are giving the web user guidelines on how to be critical towards the information found online. One of the questions they say you should ask yourself is “What is their motivation?” and says that the information given could be bias. It is also mentioned that the information said to be transparent might not be so, it could instead be disguised publicity. The reader should “be alert to the so-called “advertorials” - articles with a scientific feel but a commercial intent”. A large number of the publications on EUFIC’s own webpage could be seen as not trustworthy by these criteria they present. In the letter, EUFIC points out that you should look for other signs of honesty, such as clear information on funding and endorsement, something themselves are rather vague about.

Views on Food and Nutrition

• Globalisation: European Food Information Council: Snacking is Good for You
• Globalisation: European Food Information Council: Organically Produced Food
• Globalisation: European Food Information Council: Genetically Modified Food

Contact

Laura Smillie

European Food Information Council - EUFIC

Rue Guimard 19

1040 Brussels

Belgium

e-mail: laura.smillie@eufic.org

2010

EUFIC

Tassel House

Paul-Emile JANSON 6

1000 Brussels, Belgium

Tel: +32 2 506 89 89

www.eufic.com

Affiliations

• European Snacks Association, member EUFIC is listed as an affiliated organisation on the European Snacks Association website. The organisation state that their mission is 'to work together to create an operating environment that helps to promote members interests, and increase consumer confidence, leading to category growth through providing a platform to facilitate cross-industry co-operation, aligned industry wide self-regulation, working with legislators and regulators and influencing key opinion formers'.

Listed amongst their members are Masterfoods, Kraft, Pepsico, KP and Procter and Gamble

• The EATWELL Project, which EUFIC is an affiliated partner of, claims that it's objective is to provide EU Member States policy makers with best practice guidelines with valuable insights from private sector and communication agencies to develop appropriate policy interventions that will encourage healthy eating across Europe.

One of it's main concerns claims to be the tackling of obesity, the main topic adressed on the 'aims and objectives' section of the website declaring -'Obesity is a major concern in Europe, with an increasing health and economic burden. Obesity has been estimated to cost the EU some €70 billion annually through health care costs and lost productivity, and additionally over-consumption of salt, sugar and saturated fats and under-consumption of fruit and vegetables cause almost 70,000 premature deaths annually in the UK alone' The project claims to have a uniquely qualified resaerch consortium to achieve it's research objectives. The website claims it's team members are Europe’s finest when it comes to applying a multidisciplinary approach to evaluate and provide guidelines on the policy interventions promoting healthy eating in Europe, drawing on expertise in consumer food research, consumer behaviour, nutrition, economics, and health policy. The Research Consortium has one major food industry advisor - Kraft who claim to 'provide the food industry’s views on private sector marketing effectiveness'. The apparent conflict of interest is that the brands owned by Kraft are predominantly processed, high fat, sugar and salt filled snack type items. Exactly the kind of foods which contribute to obesity, the problem the EATWELL project claims to be attempting to tackle. Brands owned by Kraft include - Cadbury, Toblerone, Terry's, Milka, Mikado, Marabou, Daim and Côte d'Or - all chocolate brands, and Jacob's, Ritz and Oreo - all biscuit/snack brands.

• The EU Platform for Action on Diet, Physical Activity & Health considers that the development of effective partnerships must be the cornerstone of Europe’s response to tackling nutrition, overweight and obesity and their related health problems. The platform was set up in March 2005 and its members have worked on more than 200 commitments covering a wide range of activities, including actions in key fields such as consumer information, including labelling; education; physical activity promotion; Marketing, advertising targeting children, labelling and product reformulation.

Alongside EUFIC, the platform can claim to have amongst it's members the CCIA - Confederation of the Food and Drinks Industries of the EU, whose committee members include Cargill, Coca-Cola, Danone,Heinz,Kraft, Mars, Nestle, Pepsi-co, Procter and Gamble, Tate & Lyle and Unilever. EMRA European Modern Restaurants Association, are also amongst the members of the platform - EMRA represents the major chain fast food restaurants, including Pizza Hut, Burger King, KFC and Starbucks.