Globalisation:European Food Information Council: Funding and connections

Funding and Connections

EUFIC is supported by companies of the European food and drinks industries, and receives project funding from the European Commission. 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, Danone, DSM Nutritional Products Europe Ltd., Ferrero, Kraft Foods, Louis Bonduelle Foundation, McCormick Foods, Mars, McDonald's, Nestlé, Novozymes, PepsiCo, Pfizer Animal Health, Südzucker, and Unilever.

Funders and controversies

Kraft Foods: According to the Organic Consumer Association Kraft Foods was called on to remove genetically engineered (GE) ingredients from their food supplies. Kraft Foods were found to use GE ingredients in many of their products. GE ingredients are suspected to pose not only as threat to human health but also the environment, this lead 'Consumers in more than 250 locations [to] call on Kraft Foods to stop putting human health and the environment at risk'. It has been found that genetically engineered ingredients can result in serious health risks for humans. This is stated on the Center for Food Safety’s website outlining that they can result in health issues such as ‘higher risks of toxicity, allergenicity, antibiotic resistance, immune-suppression and cancer’ After consumers put pressure on Kraft Foods to remove GE ingredients from their food they took action and removed them from all foods sent to Europe. In America, however GE ingredients are still evident in many of Kraft’s supplies. This is shown in Wannen’s article he wrote in America, ‘On the other side of the planet Kraft has altogether stopped using genetically engineered ingredients in their European products due to public demand’