Food for thought: a look at the food industry’s corporate political activity in Portugal

Abstract

Abstract Background Corporate political activity (CPA) stands for the strategies used by industries to attempt at influencing government policymaking in ways that are beneficial to the company. In the food industry context, these often collide with public health concerns, constituting a major barrier to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) prevention efforts. This study aimed to characterise the CPA activity of the food industry in the Portuguese context. Methods The methodology conceptualised by Mialon et al. (2015) to identify and monitor the CPA activity of the food industry concerning public health was used in this study. Prominent food industry actors were selected, including processed food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers, fast food companies, and food retailers. To depict current practices, publicly available information from 2019 onwards was collected from the 7 selected food industry actors’ websites. A thematic qualitative analysis was performed by classifying the retrieved content according to the 6 CPA framework categories and subcategories. Results Collected data indicate that out of the 151 analysed written records, nearly half were information and messaging CPA strategies that mostly frame the debate on diet and public health-related issues. Constituency building through seeking community involvement was the second most represented category. Policy substitution was barely present, whereas financial incentive, legal, and opposition fragmentation and destabilisation strategies were not identified. Most of the coded content was retrieved from McDonald's and the Dairy Industry National Association websites. Conclusions Recognising the CPA strategies used by the food industry will enable more targeted and informed decisions at the public health intervention and policy levels. Notably, more attention should be paid to the way the food industry frames the diet and public health debate to avoid misinformation among consumers. Key messages • Addressing the global burden of noncommunicable diseases implies recognising corporate political activity strategies used by the food industry that counteract NCDs prevention efforts. • The way the food industry frames the diet and public health debate should be of concern to public health professionals and policymakers to prevent misinformation among consumers.