Responding to Food Industry Initiatives to Be “Part of the Solution”; Comment on “‘Part of the Solution’: Food Corporation Strategies for Regulatory Capture and Legitimacy”
In response to growing concerns about chronic diseases, food insecurity, low-wage food labor, and global warming, the food industry has developed new strategies to respond to its critics and pursue its business and political goals. As Lacy-Nicholas and Williams described in a recent review, the food industry has expanded its repertoire from opposition to critics to appeasement, co-option, and partnerships.1 Defining themselves as “part of the solution,” the food industry seeks to disarm its opponents, shift policy debates to favor its interests, or delay decisions that jeopardize its profits or power. This commentary explores how health professionals, can respond to this changing repertoire. Lessons from previous campaigns to control harmful industry practices,2suggest that no single strategy will counter changing food industry efforts to achieve its goals. Thus, advocates must consider a portfolio of approaches that can be deployed in response to changing circumstances, industry tactics, and threats to health.
Lacy-Nichols J, Williams O. "Part of the solution": food corporation strategies for regulatory capture and legitimacy. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2021;10(12):845-856. doi:34172/ijhpm.2021.111
Freudenberg N. Lethal but Legal Corporations, Consumption and Protecting Public Health. New York: Oxford University Press; 2014.
Malone RE, Grundy Q, Bero LA. Tobacco industry denormalisation as a tobacco control intervention: a review. Tob Control. 2012;21(2):162-170. doi:1136/tobaccocontrol-2011-050200
Alkon AH, Guthman J. The New Food Activism: Opposition, Cooperation, and Collective Action. San Francisco: University of California Press; 2017.
Kumari S, Muralidhara GV. Nestlé under fire over unhealthy product portfolio: will the company emerge unscathed? IUP J Bus Strategy. 2021;18(3):38-61.
Penders B, Nelis AP. Credibility engineering in the food industry: linking science, regulation, and marketing in a corporate context. Sci Context. 2011;24(4):487-515. doi:1017/s0269889711000202
Wood B, Williams O, Nagarajan V, Sacks G. Market strategies used by processed food manufacturers to increase and consolidate their power: a systematic review and document analysis. Global Health. 2021;17(1):17. doi:1186/s12992-021-00667-7
Lukes S. Power and the battle for hearts and minds: on the bluntness of soft power. In: Berenskoetter F, Williams MJ, eds. Power in World Politics. Abingdon: Routledge; 2007. p. 83-97.
Tan M. Controversy over the regulations of infant milk formula marketing from 1970s to 2000s: an analysis on the use of evidence in health policymaking. J Health Policy Econ. 2021;1(1):1-9.
Woodall P, Shannon TL. Monopoly power corrodes choice and resiliency in the food system. Antitrust Bull. 2018;63(2):198-221. doi:1177/0003603x18770063
Young K, Schwartz M. A neglected mechanism of social movement political influence: the role of anticorporate and anti-institutional protest in changing government policy. Mobilization. 2014;19(3):239-260. doi:17813/maiq.19.3.91h76wxr70674775
Freudenberg N. At What Cost: Modern Capitalism and the Future of Health. New York: Oxford University Press; 2021.
Sekera J. The public economy: understanding government as a producer. A reformation of public economics. Real-World Economics Review. 2018(84):36-99.
Sekera J. The public economy: understanding government as a producer. A reformation of public economics. Real World Econ Re. 2018(84):36-99.
Moodie R, Bennett E, Kwong EJL, et al. Ultra-processed profits: the political economy of countering the global spread of ultra-processed foods-a synthesis review on the market and political practices of transnational food corporations and strategic public health responses. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2021;10(12):968-982. doi:34172/ijhpm.2021.45
Freudenberg, N. (2022). Responding to Food Industry Initiatives to Be “Part of the Solution”; Comment on “‘Part of the Solution’: Food Corporation Strategies for Regulatory Capture and Legitimacy”. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 11(11), 2740-2743. doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.2022.7241
MLA
Nicholas Freudenberg. "Responding to Food Industry Initiatives to Be “Part of the Solution”; Comment on “‘Part of the Solution’: Food Corporation Strategies for Regulatory Capture and Legitimacy”". International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 11, 11, 2022, 2740-2743. doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.2022.7241
HARVARD
Freudenberg, N. (2022). 'Responding to Food Industry Initiatives to Be “Part of the Solution”; Comment on “‘Part of the Solution’: Food Corporation Strategies for Regulatory Capture and Legitimacy”', International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 11(11), pp. 2740-2743. doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.2022.7241
VANCOUVER
Freudenberg, N. Responding to Food Industry Initiatives to Be “Part of the Solution”; Comment on “‘Part of the Solution’: Food Corporation Strategies for Regulatory Capture and Legitimacy”. International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 2022; 11(11): 2740-2743. doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.2022.7241