Much like the tobacco industry adds extra nicotine to cigarettes, the food industry employs flavour engineers to achieve a similar goal of maximising the irresistibility of their products.
The plague of tobacco deaths was not only due to the mass production and marketing of cheap cigarettes. Tobacco companies actively sought do Their products are made even more palatable by spraying tobacco leaves with nicotine and additives such as ammonia to provide “a greater nicotine ‘rush’.” Similarly, taste engineers are hired by the food industry to maximize the irresistibility of the product.
Taste is the main factor in food choice. “Sugar, fat and salt have been called The three cardinal points” to produce “super-stimulants” and “hyperpalatability” to tempt people into impulse buying and compulsive consumption. Foods are intentionally designed to hook into our evolutionary triggers and break down any biological barriers that help “keep consumption within reasonable limits.”
Big food is big business. The processed food industry alone brings by more than $2 trillion a year. That gives them the economic power to manipulate not only taste profiles, but also public policy and scientific research. The food, alcohol and tobacco industries have used similar nasty tactics: blocking health regulations, co-opting professional organizations, creating front groups, and distorting science. The common “corporate playbook” should come as no surprise, given the common corporate threads. At one point, for example, tobacco giant Philip Morris property both Kraft and Miller Brewing.
As you can see below and at minute 1:45 of my video. The role of corporate influence in the obesity epidemicIn just one year, the food industry spent More than $50 million to hire hundreds of lobbyists to influence legislation. Most of these lobbyists were “revolvers,” former federal employees in the revolving door between industry and its regulators, who could push corporate interests from within, only to be rewarded with cushy lobbying jobs after their “public service.” acquired A new weapon: a stick to go with all those carrots. On January 21, 2010, the Supreme Court, in its five-to-four ruling in Citizen’s United, allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on campaign ads to tear down anyone who dared oppose them. No wonder our elected officials have so completely removed from the struggle that we are largely left with a government of Big Food, by Big Food and for Big Food.
A similar dynamic is observed worldwide. existsThe public health community’s weak claims for voluntary standards are faced not only with fierce struggles against meaningful change, but also with massive transnational trade and foreign investment agreements that “cement Protecting your [food industry] “profits” in the laws of countries.
Corrupting commercial influence extends to medical associations. It is reminiscent of the cigarette ads of yesteryear that claimed “just what the doctor ordered,” as seen below and at 3:05 in my video. videothe American Academy of Family Physicians accepted million dollars from The Coca-Cola Company to “develop consumer education content on beverages and sweeteners.”
On the front lines, fake “Astroturf” grassroots groups are used to mask the corporate message. For example, RJ Reynolds created Get Government Off Our Back (memorable acronym GGOOB), “a front group created by the tobacco industry to fight regulation.” Americans Against Food Taxes could also be called “Food Industry Against Food Taxes.” The power of front group formation is enough to bind Bitter corporate rivals, the Sugar Association and the Corn Refiners Association joined forces with the National Confectioners Association to form a partnership with Americans for Food and Beverage Choice.
Wearing Another tried and true tactic against tobacco: research groups can be used to… subvert the scientific process through the formation or deleting Science that deviates from the corporate agenda. Take the story of trans fats. Food manufacturers not only have “plenty of time denied that trans fats were associated with disease,” but actively “job “limit research on trans fats” and “discredit potentially damaging findings.”
At what price? The global death toll from foods high in trans fats, saturated fats, salt and sugar is with 14 million lives lost every year. The inability of countries around the world to change the course of obesity”is “This is not a failure of individual will, but a failure of political will to confront big business,” said the Director-General of the World Health Organization. “This is a failure of political will to confront big business.” carry on the powerful food and soft drink industries.” term his keynote address to the National Academy of Medicine titled “Obesity and Diabetes: The Slow Motion Disaster” with these words: “The interests of the public must be prioritized over those of corporations.”
Are you crazy yet? To sum up my answer to the question behind my webinar “What triggered the obesity epidemic?”, the answer is food. I conclude with my summary video: The role of toxic food environment in the obesity epidemic.
This was part of an 11-part series. See related posts below.
If you are interested in the political angle, check out:
