The Global Health Advocacy Incubator held a webinar in collaboration with the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF)’s Industry Documents Library (IDL) to demonstrate how UCSF’S Food Industry Documents Archive (FIDA) could be used by advocates in their food policy advocacy efforts. The webinar illustrated efforts from three food policy partners, Drs. Marisa Macari (El Poder del Consumidor, Mexico), Laís Amaral (Idec, Brazil) and Hernando Salcedo Fidalgo (FIAN Colombia). “The Junk Food Files.” El Poder del Consumidor also used documents from the IDL to provide supporting evidence for a mass media campaign that speaks of the harms of ultra-processed products on health and the environment and to support a legal action denouncing misleading marketing by Coca-Cola.

Laís and her team across the Brazil coalition including Camila Maranha from ACT, Valéria Burity from FIAN Brazil and Mélissa Mialon from NUPENS/USP, used the archive to promote and bolster their campaign in support of the Brazilian Dietary Guidelines by sending a document found in the archives to an investigative journalist. The document shows that Coca-Cola U.S. was calling the guidelines a threat. The journalist published the article in The Intercept Brasil and O Joio E O Trigo.

The advocates who spoke at the webinar mentioned that they will continue using the IDL for different aspects of their work, including documentation of corporate capture, industry’s use of artificial sweeteners to reformulate their products and circumvent current regulation processes like front of package labels (FOPL) and sugary drinks taxes, and to expose industry’s arguments and tactics to policymakers and the public. The speakers reiterated the usefulness of the archive for advocacy planning and the need to leverage this tool to understand the food industry’s game plan, both at the regional and global level. They also encourage the audience to use the documents to expose food industry front groups, look into food industry rhetoric and strategy, and anticipate the industry’s arguments.

You can visit the archive here and check out some of the most popular food documents.

English:

Portuguese:

Spanish:

Latest News

Barbados School Nutrition Policy Webinar Banner 2
November 21, 2023
How One Small Island Partner Secured a Big Advocacy Win

How did the country of Barbados adopt a national School Nutrition Policy win in just four years? It is in large part thanks to the tireless advocacy work of th…

Colombia Courthouse Protest
November 15, 2023
Sweet Success: How Colombia's Landmark Sugary Beverage Tax Rose Above Legal Challenges

The Colombian Constitutional Court delivered a groundbreaking decision last month by unanimously declaring the tax on sugary drinks constitutional. With the …

Derecho comercio y etiquetado nutricional Photo
November 13, 2023
Law, Trade and Nutritional Labeling: A Valuable Resource for Advocates and Public Health Professionals

A book coedited by the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI) provides public health advocates with critical information to defend front-of-package labeling…