ArticlePublic health nutrition2021
'I had never seen so many lobbyists': food industry political practices during the development of a new nutrition front-of-pack labelling system in Colombia.
Article in Public health nutrition, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 56 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
56 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Systematic review of nutrient profile models for front-of-pack nutrition labelling.Nature food · 2026Pooled it
- Pharmacological insights intoFrontiers in pharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
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- Trial
- Commercial interests in health policy dialogues: a qualitative content analysis of NEDLAC's engagement with South Africa's Health Promotion Levy.Globalization and health · 2026Article
- Commercial Determinants of Latinx Health: A Scoping Review of Sugar-Sweetened Beverages in the USA.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Corporate influence on food and nutrition policies in Latin America and the Caribbean: key determinants and policy directions.Globalization and health · 2026Article
- Identifying food environment policies and research needs in Latin America and the Caribbean: insights from the Community of Practice in Nutrition and Health in Latin America and the Caribbean (COLANSA).BMC public health · 2026Article
- Sodium content of Packaged foods in Uruguay by country of origin: regulatory challenges and trade considerations.Globalization and health · 2026Article
- Do ESG Frameworks Capture Corporate Health Impacts? An Analysis of the Food and Beverage Industry.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2025Article
- A critical interrogation of the legitimacy of commercial actors in food policy partnerships.Health promotion international · 2025Article
- Corporate political activity of the food industry in the development of food policies in Latin America and the Caribbean: a narrative review of the current literature.Globalization and health · 2025Review
- Scientific reflection on the European Commission's Vision for Agriculture and Food.Nature food · 2025Review
- Looking towards the sweet, sweet future: a political economy analysis of sugar and nutrition policy in Indonesia.Public health nutrition · 2025Article
- Toward Monitoring and Addressing the Commercial Determinants of Health: Where Can We Go From Here?The Milbank quarterly · 2025Article
- Labelling the debate: a thematic analysis of alcohol industry submissions to the EU consultation on alcohol health warnings in Ireland.Globalization and health · 2025Article
- "Favoring those who contributed to their political campaigns": an analysis of the incentives received by the food industry in Colombia in the period of 2018-2020.Globalization and health · 2025Article
- Front-of-package labelling: A public health imperative rooted in the right to health.International journal for equity in health · 2025Article
- Pouring Rights Contracts Between Soda Companies and Public Universities: An Institutional Barrier to Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Reduction.International journal of health policy and management · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo identify and monitor food industry use of political practices during the adoption of nutrition warning labels (WL) in Colombia.
designDocument analysis of publicly available information triangulated with interviews.
settingColombia.
participantsEighteen key informants from the government (n 2), academia (n 1), civil society (n 12), the media (n 2) and a former food industry employee (n 1).
resultsIn Colombia, the food industry used experts and groups funded by large transnationals to promote its preferred front-of-pack nutrition labelling (FOPL) and discredit the proposed warning models. The industry criticised the proposed WL, discussing the negative impacts they would have on trade, the excessive costs required to implement them and the fact that consumers were responsible for making the right choices about what to eat. Food industry actors also interacted with the government and former members of large trade associations now in decision-making positions in the public sector. The Codex Alimentarius was also a platform through which the industry got access to decision-making and could influence the FOPL policy.
conclusionsIn Colombia, the food industry used a broad range of political strategies that could have negatively influenced the FOPL policy process. Despite this influence, the mandatory use of WL was announced in February 2020. There is an urgent need to condemn such political practices as they still could prevent the implementation of other internationally recommended measures to improve population health in the country and abroad, nutrition WL being only of them.
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