International Food Information Council

Founded in 1985, the International Food Information Council (IFIC) is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to effectively communicate science-based information on food safety and nutrition to health and nutrition professionals, educators, government officials, journalists, and others providing information to consumers, primarily in the United States.^[6] IFIC is supported by the broad-based food, beverage, and agricultural industries.^[7] IFIC does not represent any product or company, nor does it lobby for legislative or regulatory action.

Purpose

IFIC’s purpose is to bridge the gap between science and communications by collecting and disseminating scientific information on food safety, nutrition, and health and by working with an extensive roster of science experts to help translate research into understandable and useful information for opinion leaders and ultimately, consumers. The people that fund this council are companies like Monsanto, DuPont, and Coca Cola, to name a few.

Food safety and nutrition topics

IFIC provides science-based information on a variety of food safety and nutrition topics such as:

• obesity (including childhood obesity)
• dietary fats (including trans fats)
• carbohydrates and sugars
• sodium
• functional foods
• low-calorie sweeteners (sometimes called sugar substitutes or artificial sweeteners)
• caffeine
• food biotechnology (also referred to as genetic engineering, genetically modified organism (GMO), or genetically modified foods)
• food allergies
• food safety

The IFIC Foundation

In 1991, the International Food Information Council Foundation was established as the educational arm of IFIC. IFIC Foundation projects have included a joint effort with the Harvard School of Public Health to develop guidelines for communicating new health and science research, the Food & Health Survey: Consumer Attitudes toward Food, Nutrition & Health, and research on media coverage of diet, health, and food safety issues. IFIC Foundation materials can be found in both English and Spanish at http://www.foodinsight.org.

IFIC Foundation projects

• Kidnetic.com, A childhood obesity prevention project that gets kids motivated to lead a healthy lifestyle
• Improving Public Understanding: Guidelines For Communicating Emerging Science on Nutrition, Food Safety, and Health, A Joint Project Between the IFIC Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health
• Food & Health Survey: Consumer Attitudes toward Food, Nutrition & Health
• Food For Thought--A media tracking survey that looks at how the news media, ranging from print to broadcast to the Internet, cover the important topics of food safety, nutrition, and health
• Food Insight Newsletter

IFIC Supporters (8/16)

• Abbott Nutrition
• Ajinomoto North America, Inc.
• Atkins Nutritionals, Inc.
• Bayer CropScience LP
• Barilla
• Cargill, Incorporated
• Chobani
• The Coca-Cola Company
• Compass Group
• The Dannon Company, Inc.
• Dow AgroSciences, LLC
• DSM Nutritional Products, Inc.
• DuPont
• Ferrero USA
• General Mills, Inc.
• The Hershey Company
• Kellogg
• Mars, Incorporated
• McCormick & Company, Inc.
• McKee Foods
• Mondelēz International, Inc.
• Nestlé
• PepsiCo
• Red Bull North America
• StarKist
• Subway
• Unilever
• Yum! Brands
• Zoetis

^[8]

Criticism

In a report titled, The Best Public Relations Money Can Buy: A Guide to Food Industry Front Groups, the Center for Food Safety called IFIC and similar organizations "front groups" formed by large corporations in which to "hide behind friendly-sounding organizations" in order to mislead the public into trusting their companies and products. According to the report, IFIC and other front groups run media campaigns which include TV appearances, news articles, advertisements, and published research to present their desired information.^[9]

References