WASHINGTON — A new food and beverage industry front group launched this week and despite its name, it’s anything but transparent.
The organization calls itself Americans for Ingredient Transparency, or AFIT. Some of the nation’s biggest food and beverage corporations are bankrolling the group, including General Mills, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo. AFIT claims to want a uniform national standard for ingredient safety and transparency “rooted in science.”
But AFIT’s real mission is blocking state laws that require companies to disclose or remove harmful chemicals from the foods people eat every day. What AFIT is not being transparent about is that the group wants to not only undermine those existing laws but also ensure states cannot adopt similar safeguards in the future.
The following is a statement from Scott Faber, the Environmental Working Group’s senior vice president for government affairs:
Let’s be clear, this has nothing to do with transparency. This is about protecting corporate profits and keeping consumers in the dark about toxic chemicals in their food.
Families deserve the truth about what’s in their food, not another slick PR campaign cooked up by industry to deceive the public and roll back state food safety laws. If this group is being honest, it would call itself “Corporations for Ingredient Toxicity.”
The front group’s launch marks the latest push by food and chemical giants to strip states of their ability to protect families from dangerous additives. From California to West Virginia, states are stepping up to ban chemicals linked to cancer, behavioral issues, and developmental harm — and industry wants to stop them.
Federal legislation expected to be introduced soon in the Senate could hand Big Food exactly what it wants: national preemption that blocks every current and future state law protecting consumers from toxic ingredients.
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The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action.
