In politics, lobbying or advocacy, is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies, but also judges of the judiciary. Lobbying, which usually involves direct, face-to-face contact in cooperation with support staff that may not meet directly face-to-face, is done by many types of people, associations and organized groups, including individuals on a personal level in their capacity as voters, constituents, or private citizens; it is also practiced by corporations in the private sector serving their own business interests; by non-profits and non-governmental organizations in the voluntary sector through advocacy groups to fulfil their mission such as requesting humanitarian aid or grantmaking; and by fellow legislators or government officials influencing each other through legislative affairs in the public sector. Lobbying or certain practices that share commonalities with lobbying are sometimes referred to as government relations, or government affairs and sometimes legislative relations, or legislative affairs. It is also an industry known by many of the aforementioned names, and has a near complete overlap with the public affairs industry. Lobbyists may be among a legislator's constituencies, for example amateur lobbyists such as a voter or a bloc of voters within their electoral district acting as private citizens; others like professional lobbyists may engage in lobbying as a business or profession; while others are government relations support staff who work on behalf of professional lobbyists but do not actively participate in influencing or meeting face-to-face with targeted personnel enough to be considered registered lobbyists while working in the same professional circles as professional lobbyists who are legally designated as registered lobbyists.
The Food and Drink Federation (FDF) is a membership organisation that represents and advises UK food and drink manufacturers.
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) that provides independent scientific advice and communicates on existing and emerging risks associated with the food chain. EFSA was established in February 2002, is based in Parma, Italy, and for 2021 it has a budget of €118.6 million, and a total staff of 542.
The nutrition facts label is a label required on most packaged food in many countries, showing what nutrients and other ingredients are in the food. Labels are usually based on official nutritional rating systems. Most countries also release overall nutrition guides for general educational purposes. In some cases, the guides are based on different dietary targets for various nutrients than the labels on specific foods.
The International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI) is a global nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization headquartered in Washington, DC, United States that publishes peer-reviewed studies on nutrition and food safety. It was founded in 1978 by Alex Malaspina, a former Coca-Cola executive, and it is partially financed by its 300+ members, which includes food and chemical corporations such as BASF, McDonald’s, Syngenta and Pepsi. In 2020, the organization's revenue was US$10.1 million.
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) is an Indian government department, under the Ministry of Science and Technology responsible for administrating development and commercialisation in the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. It was set up in 1986.
The Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) is a non-profit research and campaign group whose declared aim is to "expose any effects of corporate lobbying on EU policy making". It is based in Brussels.
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) is a non-profit foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland. GAIN was developed at the UN 2002 Special Session of the General Assembly on Children. GAIN’s actions include improving the consumption of nutritious and safe foods for all. They are supported by over 30 donors and work closely with international organisations and United Nations agencies. Their activities include improving consumption of nutritious food globally. The organisation has a 20 year history of food system programmes: focusing on adolescent and child nutrition, food system research, fortification, small and medium enterprise assistance, biofortification of crops and reducing post-harvest losses.
A Guideline Daily Amount (GDA) was a nutrition facts label originally designed in 1996 in the United Kingdom (UK) as a collaboration between the government, the food industry and consumer organisations. GDAs appeared on the front and back of food packaging to help raise awareness of how much a food item represents as a proportion of a balanced intake each day in each food element. The British initiative was followed in the European Union (EU) and influenced similar systems in other countries including the United States.
Dominique Reiniche is a French businesswoman. She has been Chairman Europe of The Coca-Cola Company since January 2013. She was previously president of Coca-Cola Europe, overseeing for 28 countries in the European economic zone, and she has been ranked several times among the 50 most influential women in the world. She is also member of the board of directors of AXA, a member of the advisory board of ING, and president of UNESDA. In July 2019, Reiniche was appointed chair of Eurostar.
spiritsEUROPE is a Belgium-based trade group that represents the interests of producers of spirits drinks at the EU level.
Arthur Neslen is a British-born journalist and author. Nelsen has especially covered Middle East issues, fossil lobbies' influence on European institutions and climate change. He served as journalist for Haaretz, Jane's Information Group, The Observer, The Guardian, and as a correspondent for the websites of The Economist and al-Jazeera. NGOs credited policy changes at the European commission, international financial institutions and wildlife regulatory agencies in part to Neslen’s work.
The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) was a proposed trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and the United States, with the aim of promoting trade and multilateral economic growth. According to Karel de Gucht, European Commissioner for Trade between 2010 and 2014, the TTIP would have been the largest bilateral trade initiative ever negotiated, not only because it would have involved the two largest economic areas in the world but also "because of its potential global reach in setting an example for future partners and agreements".
Added sugars or free sugars are sugar carbohydrates added to food and beverages at some point before their consumption. These include added carbohydrates, and more broadly, sugars naturally present in honey, syrup, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates. They can take multiple chemical forms, including sucrose, glucose (dextrose), and fructose.
Open Food Facts is a free, online and crowdsourced database of food products from around the world licensed under the Open Database License (ODBL) while its artwork—uploaded by contributors—is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution–Share Alike license.
Action on Sugar is a registered UK charity formed in 2014 by a group of specialists concerned about sugar and its impact on health. Through research and lobbying the group works to highlight the harmful effects of a high sugar diet and desirability of reducing the amount of added sugar contained in processed foods.
The sugar industry subsumes the production, processing and marketing of sugars. Globally, most sugar is extracted from sugar cane and sugar beet.
Sugarwise is the international certification authority for sugar claims on food and drink. It assesses foods and beverages on the basis of their sugar claims.
The Nutri-Score, also known as the 5-Colour Nutrition label or 5-CNL, is a five-colour nutrition label and nutritional rating system, and an attempt to simplify the nutritional rating system demonstrating the overall nutritional value of food products. It assigns products a rating letter from A (best) to E (worst), with associated colors from green to red.
Sarah Wiener is a German-Austrian entrepreneur, television chef and politician who was elected to the European Parliament for Austria in 2019. She is a member of The Greens – The Green Alternative.
