Credit: Laurent Gilliéron / AP
Newly released documents show an influential group that helps shape US food policy and steers consumers toward nutritional products has financial ties to the world’s largest processed food companies and has been controlled by former industry employees who have worked for companies like Monsanto.
The documents reveal the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has a record of quid pro quos with a range of food giants, owns stock in ultra processed food companies and has received millions in contributions from producers of pop, candy, and processed foods linked to diabetes, heart disease, obesity and other health problems.
The findings are a part of a recently published peer-reviewed study that examined a trove of financial documents and internal communications obtained through a Freedom of Information act (FOIA).
“It’s incredibly influential so if the Academy is corrupt then nutritional policy in the US is going to be corrupt,” said Gary Ruskin, executive director of US Right to Know, […]
This is old news and has been going on for decades. Where do we think that organizations such as the “American Dairy Counsel” have come from? These organizations have been working hard behind the scenes influencing the quality of the school lunch program for example. This is how we end up with high caloric, poor nutrient dense foods ending up in our children’s stomachs. It is a textbook illistration of corruption in action.