Civil organizations, headed by the power of the consumer and the Latin American community and the Caribbean of Nutrition and Health (Colansa), presented on Wednesday the web platform monitoring the food industry (VIA), in which they expose, monitor, monitor and denounce “the bad practices and interference strategies” of these companies in the region.
With the documents registered until 2024, the organizations identified at least 100 cases in which 166 commercial entities “have displayed inferences strategies” in more than 37 countries, although they point out that this number would be higher since “they are known, but there is no way to document.”
The organization identified that the main objective of these companies is to influence policy formulation through lobbying in relation to food and beverage labeling (48), fiscal policy (35) and the advertising of their products aimed at the child population (24).
“Via is born as a strategy to support democracy, to protect human rights and call on States to be guarantors of these rights (…). Through this rigorous work of analysis of analysis and denunciation, we seek to strengthen citizen control and accountability to commercial entities,” said Christian Torres, coordinator of conflict of interest and interference of the industry in the power of the consumer.
Organizations expect that through the “Interference Industria.org” link, the open use platform is used by civil society, academia, students, activists and media for the production of research content.
With the data of this work, they determined that the most mentioned entities in the region were Coca-Cola (38) and Pepsico (19); In addition to the Postobón Beverage Company (18) and the multinational Nestlé (15), among others.
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In Mexico, the platform registered the largest number of cases with 31, in which the industry, including companies with the ‘made in Mexico’ badge as Bimbo, have interfered in some way in the country’s policy, highlighting the role that certain transnational companies had during the elections of the year 2024.
After the 31 Mexican cases, there are Colombia, which adds 30; Chile, with 16; 15 in Brazil; Peru, with 12; and 11 cases in Argentina.
“We have something that the industry cannot buy and it is our commitment, our ethics, and mainly the motivation for protecting our family, because all this generated by the industry is affecting the health of our family and our daily life,” concluded Uruguayan health policy expert Diego Rodríguez.
Therefore, Rodríguez regretted that “until things are not mandatory, it seems that the commitment that the industry has with health does not exist.”
With EFE information.
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