Corporate Control Mechanisms Inside The Organic Food IndustryCatherine J. Frompovich Every corporate entityand even government agenciesworth its salt finances lobbyists, front groups, or special operations to make unsuspecting citizens and consumersno matter what the commodity or cause isbelieve its version of right being wrong, bad is good, and, if they could, convince you that black is white. The method is called public relations campaigns. Nothing exemplifies those tactics more than whats going on currently on every front in commerce, industry, health, and politics. Probably the industries most tarnished for promoting and protecting their vested interests are Big Pharma, Big Ag, and Big Food. All three maintain huge lobbying presences on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, and in the media through colossal advertising that directly influences consumers buying habits. Just how seriously skewed such campaigns areespecially those by Big Ag and Big Foodwas brought to light recently by the Center for Food Safetys report Best Public Relations That Money Can Buy: A Guide To Food Industry Front Groups.[1] As that report states, It is critical to understand who these groups are and how they operate. Some are legitimate trade groups while others are front groups, which often disappear after a PR campaign is launched successfully and won, as happened in November 2012 in California with the defeat of Proposition 37 regarding the labeling of genetically modified food. The group was organized to defeat Prop 37 and financed by none other than Monsantopremiere GMO developerand PepsiCo., not a coalition of family farmers, grocers, food companies, small businesses and others.[2] The PR campaign used scaremongering techniques to get voters to believe that passing Prop 37 would raise the cost of food by hundreds of dollars per year. That type of influence works at government agency levels most efficiently, as corporations supply the feds with information they want the feds to review to approve products, especially Big Pharma. What a scheme! So, who are some of these food industry groups? Each animal food group has its own food industry trade group such as the National Cattlemans Beef Association, National Pork Producers Council, The National Chicken Council, U.S. Poultry Egg Association, and at least ten dairy associations. Other groups include the American Beverage Association, which represents the soft drink industry, and the Grocery Manufacturers Association, representing food and beverage makers. These are trade groups or associations that function differently from front groups, who often have deceptive sounding names in order to sway public opinion in their favor. According to the Centers report, one of the powerful front groups attempting to control public dialogue on agriculture is the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance.[3] Their main agenda is to knock and criticize those consumers who question the overuse of antibiotics, GMO crops, and the confining or abusive treatment of farm animals, as ignorant city dwellers who really dont know anything about farming. Better to get those facts from the Alliance. The report lists as examples of front groups: Sensible Food Policy Coalition whose marketing focuses on children; New Yorkers for Beverage Choices, which opposed Mayor Bloombergs sugary beverage cup size proposal in New York City; and the Community Coalition Against Beverage Taxes, which successfully fought the 2012 Richmond, California, soda tax ballot measure.[4] Longer-standing front groups include: Alliance for Food and Farming, Animal Agriculture Alliance, Center for Consumer Freedom, International Food Information Council Foundation, and the American Council on Science and Health. Other recently-formed front groups are: Alliance to Feed the Future, Americas Farmers, Center for Food Integrity, Global Harvest, Protect the Harvest, U.S. Alliance for Farmers and Ranchers. Then there are scientific institutes of food manufacturers who, according to the report, include: Bell Institute of Health and Nutrition (General Mills), Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness (Coca-Cola), Conagra Foods Science Institute, Gatorade Sports Science Institute, and the Nestl Nutrition Institute. To understand more about these groups, please visit the Center for Food Safetys report where you can read each groups mission, who funds it, and how it operates. Whats not found in the report are actual citizen-based associations who put out information the food industry apparently wants suppressed about GMOs, animal husbandry, organic farming, etc. These include the Organic Consumers Association, The Institute for Responsible Technology, andThe Weston A. Price Foundation. Another organization that works in the public health interest is Center for Science in the Public Interest. As an aside, readers may want to know how the Organic Food Industry is structured, e.g., who owns whom. It may not be what consumers think. Some of the largest food ags own organic brands. Check it out here,or click the image above. However, nothing can compare with food industry groups PR efforts like Big Pharmas advertising when launching new products. The big difference between food and medical groups, in this writers opinion, is the strong arm of the U.S. CDC/FDA, which embraces rhetoric that often is nothing short of scientific spin, especially when it comes to vaccine issues, and frequently tragic unreliable research upon which drug approvals are made. Nothing proves that statement more than the following interesting websites: Two questions this writer invites readers to consider: Why does the public believe slick advertising campaign agendas that apparently dont have consumers best interests at heart? What do you think the main agenda is: control or greed? Or, is it both? Notes: Catherine J Frompovich (website) is a retired natural nutritionist who earned advanced degrees in Nutrition and Holistic Health Sciences, Certification in Orthomolecular Theory and Practice plus Paralegal Studies.Her work has been published in national and airline magazines since the early 1980s. Catherine authored numerous books on health issues along with co-authoring papers and monographs with physicians, nurses, and holistic healthcare professionals. She has been a consumer healthcare researcher 35 years and counting.Catherines latest book, A Cancer Answer, Holistic BREAST Cancer Management, A Guide to Effective Non-Toxic Treatments, is available on Amazon.com and as a Kindle eBook.Two of Catherines more recent books on Amazon.com are Our Chemical Lives And The Hijacking Of Our DNA, A Probe Into Whats Probably Making Us Sick (2009) and Lord, How Can I Make It Through Grieving My Loss, An Inspirational Guide Through the Grieving Process(2008). linkwithin_text=Related Articles: 