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Int'l Food Info Cncl IFIC2

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The Washington D.C. based International Food Information Council (IFIC) says it is '...a nonprofit organization that communicates sound science-based information on food safety and nutrition topics to health professionals, journalists, government officials and consumers.'

The IFIC's website includes no information about its funding. However, its press releases say in a footnote that this U.S. 'communications organization'  is 'supported primarily 

by the broad-based food, beverage and agricultural industries'.

Amongst IFIC's Supporters in 2002 were: 

• Archer Daniels Midland Company 

• Aventis CropScience 

• BASF 

• Burger King Corporation 

• Cargill, Incorporated 

• The Coca-Cola Company 

• Dow AgroSciences, LLC 

• DuPont Agricultural Products

• Frito-Lay, Inc. 

• General Mills, Inc. 

• Gerber Products Company 

• Hershey Foods Corporation 

• H. J. Heinz Company  

• Kellogg USA, Inc. 

• Kraft Foods 

• McDonald’s Corporation 

• Monsanto Company 

• The Pepsi-Cola Company 

• Nestle USA, Inc.  

• Taco Bell Corporation 

• The Procter & Gamble Company 

• Syngenta 

• Unilever Bestfoods

As part of its science-based remit IFIC commissions research into consumer attitudes. An area of repeated focus by the IFIC has been consumer acceptance of 'food biotechnology'. 'Since 1997, IFIC has provided the longest continuous series of publicly available surveys to determine how consumers feel about food biotechnology.'

The results of each annual survey are press released, attracting wide-scale media coverage. In 2002 IFIC reported, 'American consumer support for food biotechnology is holding steady, while specific benefits are resonating even more in the latest survey conducted for the International Food Information Council by Cogent Research in August 2002.'  (SUPPORT FOR FOOD BIOTECHNOLOGY HOLDS IN THE U.S., September 23, 2002 )

In 2003, IFIC reported, 'A growing majority of Americans support the benefits of food biotechnology as well as the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) labeling policy.'

The surveys were devised for the IFIC by Dr Thomas Hoban , Professor of Sociology and Food Science at North Carolina State University. Dr Hoban is a keen supporter of genetic 

engineering and is listed by CS Prakash as an AgBioWorld expert.

Hoban's publications include, 'Biotechnology is Here to 

Stay: American retailers need not worry about consumer acceptance of foods produced with modern biotechnology', and an outreach videotape, 'Biotechnology: It's Role in Your Future'.

Hoban's IFIC survey questions include:

'All things being equal, how likely would you be to buy a variety of produce, like tomatoes or potatoes, if it had been modified by 

biotechnology to taste better or fresher?'

'Biotechnology has also been used to enhance plants that yield foods  like cooking oils. If cooking oil with reduced saturated fat made from  these new plants was available, what effect would the use of  biotechnology have on your decision to buy this cooking oil.'

According to Karen Charman in a PR Watch article on Hoban's  IFIC surveys:

'James Beniger, a communications professor at the University of Southern California and past president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, reviewed the IFIC survey and said it is so biased with leading questions favoring positive responses that any results are meaningless. UCLA communications professor Michael Suman agreed, adding 

that the questions "only talk about the food tasting better, being 

fresher, protecting food from insect damage, reducing saturated fat and providing benefits. It's like saying 'Here's biotechnology, it does these great things for you, do you like it?'" '

The results might be different, Suman offers, if it contained questions biased in the other direction such as: 'Some people contend that some foods produced from biotechnology cause higher rates of cancer. If that is so, what effect would that have on your buying decision?'

IFIC staff include Sylvia Rowe, president and CEO; and David B. Schmidt, Senior Vice President.

http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=64

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http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/International_Food_Information_Council

International Food Information Council (IFIC) describes its mission as being to "communicate science-based information on food safety and nutrition to health and nutrition professionals, educators, journalists, government officials and others providing information to consumers."[1]

In reality, IFIC is a public relations arm of the food, beverage and agricultural industries, which provide the bulk of its funding.[1] Its staff members hail from industry groups such as the Sugar Association and the National Soft Drink Association, and it has repeatedly led the defense for controversial food additives including monosodium glutamate, aspartame (Nutrasweet), food dyes, and olestra. It also runs the corporate-friendly website, Kidnetic.com, with games and recipes for kids.[2]

While the group's name implies that it operates internationally, on its website IFIC states that its primary focus is the U.S. "Based in Washington, DC, the IFIC Foundation and IFIC focus primarily on U.S. issues. It also participates in an informal network of independent food information organizations in Europe, Asia, Australia, Canada, Japan and Latin America," it states.[1]

Contents

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Defending GMOs

IFIC has been working on genetically modified food issues since1992and has a lot of pro-genetically modified organism (GMO) and food industry propaganda on its website, including the following:

New Survey Finds Americans as Positive as Ever on Food Biotechnology"

"Food Biotechnology--Benefits for Developing Countries"

"New Research Shows Consumers Willing to Try Irradiated (Cold Pasteurized) Foods; Taste Very Important"

"Consumers, Health Experts Desire Benefits of Biotech Foods and Concur with Current FDA Labeling Policy"

[Current FDA policy does not require labeling of genetically modified foods.

IFIC has used the Wirthlin Group, a Republican political and polling firm, to carry out many of its surveys on public attitudes. Tom Hoban, a sociology professor, has also been involved with survey design on IFIC-sponsored polls intended to measure public support for biotech foods.

In 1992, IFIC hired Dr. G. Clotaire Rapaille, a Jungian psychoanalyst, to advise them on ways to win public support for GM foods. Rapaille provided a list of "words to use" and "words to lose" when talking about the topic. The "words to use" included terms such as beauty, bounty, children, choices, cross-breeding, diversity, earth, farmer, flowers, fruits, future generations, hard work, heritage, improved, organic, purity, quality, soil, tradition and wholesome. "Words to lose" included: biotechnology, chemical, DNA, economic, experiments, industry, laboratory, machines, manipulate, money, pesticides, profit, radiation, safety and scientists.[3]

Attacking Raw Milk

On June 27, 2012, IFIC's food safety and defense manager, Katie Burns -- a public relations professional whose job description also consists of "risk/crisis communications"[4] -- wrote an article attacking raw milk, entitled "Raw Milk: Clear Risks, No Benefits." The article repeats the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's sometimes misleading oversimplifications, such as, "pasteurization DOES kill harmful bacteria" (in fact, pasteurization kills some but not all harmful bacteria; for example, Mycobacterium paratuberculosis, the bacteria which cause Johne's disease in cattle and are linked to Crohn's disease in humans, may survive current pasteurization conditions[5][6] and are present in one in ten ruminants passing through livestock auction facilities in the U.S[7]) and "pasteurization DOES NOT reduce milk's nutritional value"[8] (in fact, although the effects are complex, a 2003 University of Minnesota study found that pasteurization lowers levels of thiamine, vitamin E, biotin, and vitamin B-12,[9] for example).

The blog entry, which was later cross-posted to Food Safety News and other anti-raw milk publications, does not disclose that members of IFIC's Board of Trustees include two representatives from Mars, Incorporated, as well as representatives from Coca-Cola, General Mills, and Kraft Foods.[10] According to a 1996 University of Wisconsin study, large cheesemakers, including Kraft Foods, often sell cheese at a loss in the lightly traded market to lower the prices they pay for the millions of pounds of milk and cheese they buy elsewhere. Under federal rules, milk prices are tied directly to the price of cheese milk at the exchange.[11] The ability of small farmers to earn a higher price for milk sold directly to local eaters without having to ship to a large processing facility for pasteurization and bottling may present a long-term risk to Kraft Food's business model of low fluid milk prices.

BPA

IFIC also posts frequently on the topic of BPA, and maintains a "Bisphenol A (BPA) Resource Page".[12]

Personnel

As of June 2013, members include:[13]

Contact information

Articles and Resources

Related SourceWatch Articles

References

  1. ↑ ^Jump ^up to:1.0 1.1 1.2 International Food Information Council, About the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation", organizational website, accessed March 2008, archived by the WayBack Machine February 22, 2008.
  2. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:↑ Kidnetic, Kidnetic.com website, accessed October 2008.
  3. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:↑ Sheldon Rampton and John Stauber, "Liquid Truth: Advice from the Spinmeisters," PR Watch, Fourth Quarter 2000.
  4. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:↑ International Food Information Council, Katie Burns, organizational biography, accessed July 2012
  5. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:↑ Irene R. Grant, Does Mycobacterium paratuberculosis Survive Current Pasteurization Conditions?, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, July 1998, 64(7), pp. 2760–2761
  6. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:↑ Gao A, Mutharia L, Chen S, Rahn K, and Odumeru J., Effect of pasteurization on survival of Mycobacterium paratuberculosis in milk, Journal of Dairy Science, December 2002, 85(12), pp. 3198-205
  7. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:↑ National Johne's Education Initiative, Johne's Information Central, organizational website, accessed July 2012
  8. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:↑ Katie Burns, Raw Milk"Clear Risks, No Benefits," Food Insight, IFIC blog, June 27, 2012
  9. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:↑ Suzanne Driessen, University of Minnesota, Raw Milk vs. Pasteurization Debate Revisited, research university publication, September 2003
  10. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:↑ International Food Information Council, Board of Trustees, organizational website, accessed July 2012
  11. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:↑ Willard F. Mueller, Bruce W. Marion, Maqbool H. Sial, and F.E. Geithman, Cheese Pricing: A Study of the National Cheese Exchange, March 1996.
  12. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:↑ Bisphenol A (BPA) Resource Page Accessed March 16, 2015.
  13. :{Jump up:(style="top:-99999px;clip:rect(1px 1px 1px 1px);overflow:hidden;position:absolute !important;padding:0px !important;border:0px !important;height:1px !important;width:1px !important;-webkit-user-select:none"):}:↑ , International Food Information Council Foundation, Board of Trustees, Foundation Website, accessed June 5th, 2013.

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Kimberly A. ReedExecutive Director, International Food Information Council Foundation

Co-Chair, RNLA Board of Governors

Advisory Council

Office:

1100 Connecticut Avenue, NW

Suite 430

Washington, DC 20036

Phone: 202-213-6676

Email: reedkimberlyann@gmail.com

Law School: West Virginia University College of Law (1996)

Practice Areas:

Government Relations

Nonprofit

Financial Institutions

Kimberly A. Reed serves as Executive Director of the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation and Senior Vice President for Membership, International Relations, and Strategic Initiatives at IFIC. 

Working with global food, beverage, and agricultural industry professionals, health and nutrition experts, educators, government officials, and journalists, the IFIC Foundation (www.foodinsight.org) is the nation’s leading non-profit focused on communicating science-based information about health, nutrition, and food safety for the public good. Kim is a noted international speaker on a range of topics, with a special focus on those issues most important as the world’s population grows from seven to nine billion between now and 2050.

Kim currently serves in leadership roles on several non-profit boards, including Co-Chair of the Board of Governors of the Republican National Lawyers Association and Executive Committee Member of Alzheimer’s Association National Board of Directors. She also is on the boards of the American Swiss Foundation and Alzheimer's Impact Movement, and is an Advisory Council Member of the International Center of Excellence in Food Risk Communication. Kim previously served on the boards of West Virginia Wesleyan College and the Tax Coalition.

Kim has extensive experience at senior levels in both the public and private sectors, including as Senior Advisor to U.S. Treasury Secretaries Henry M. Paulson, Jr. and John W. Snow. She was Director of U.S. Treasury Department’s sole grant program – the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund – and was responsible for awarding nearly $4 billion in tax credits and grants to financial institutions and economic development groups for investing in economically distressed communities. Kim also served as Counsel to three Congressional Committees in the U.S. House of Representatives – theHouse Ways and Means, Government Reform and Oversight, and Education and Workforce Committees – and Vice President for Financial Markets Policy Relations at Lehman Brothers in New York.

In 2012, Kim was named one of the top 100 Women Leaders in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), and has been honored with the U.S. Department of the Treasury Meritorious Service Award and Secretary’s Honor Award and the West Virginia Wesleyan College Young Alumni Achievement Award. She has been recognized as a “Young Professional Leader” by the American Swiss Foundation, American Council on Germany, Atlantic Bridge, and American Council of Young Political Leaders, and teaches democracy-building courses in emerging nations in order to advance freedom and women’s rights around the world.

Originally from Buckhannon, West Virginia, Kim holds a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law and a dual undergraduate degree in biology and government and a minor in chemistry from West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Kimberly A. Reed serves as Executive Director of the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation and Senior Vice President for Membership, International Relations, and Strategic Initiatives at IFIC. 

Working with global food, beverage, and agricultural industry professionals, health and nutrition experts, educators, government officials, and journalists, the IFIC Foundation (www.foodinsight.org) is the nation’s leading non-profit focused on communicating science-based information about health, nutrition, and food safety for the public good. Kim is a noted international speaker on a range of topics, with a special focus on those issues most important as the world’s population grows from seven to nine billion between now and 2050.

Kim currently serves in leadership roles on several non-profit boards, including Co-Chair of the Board of Governors of the Republican National Lawyers Association and Executive Committee Member of Alzheimer’s Association National Board of Directors. She also is on the boards of the American Swiss Foundation and Alzheimer's Impact Movement, and is an Advisory Council Member of the International Center of Excellence in Food Risk Communication. Kim previously served on the boards of West Virginia Wesleyan College and the Tax Coalition.

Kim has extensive experience at senior levels in both the public and private sectors, including as Senior Advisor to U.S. Treasury Secretaries Henry M. Paulson, Jr. and John W. Snow. She was Director of U.S. Treasury Department’s sole grant program – the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund – and was responsible for awarding nearly $4 billion in tax credits and grants to financial institutions and economic development groups for investing in economically distressed communities. Kim also served as Counsel to three Congressional Committees in the U.S. House of Representatives – theHouse Ways and Means, Government Reform and Oversight, and Education and Workforce Committees – and Vice President for Financial Markets Policy Relations at Lehman Brothers in New York.

In 2012, Kim was named one of the top 100 Women Leaders in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), and has been honored with the U.S. Department of the Treasury Meritorious Service Award and Secretary’s Honor Award and the West Virginia Wesleyan College Young Alumni Achievement Award. She has been recognized as a “Young Professional Leader” by the American Swiss Foundation, American Council on Germany, Atlantic Bridge, and American Council of Young Political Leaders, and teaches democracy-building courses in emerging nations in order to advance freedom and women’s rights around the world.

Originally from Buckhannon, West Virginia, Kim holds a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law and a dual undergraduate degree in biology and government and a minor in chemistry from West Virginia Wesleyan College.

Kimberly A. Reed serves as Executive Director of the International Food Information Council (IFIC) Foundation and Senior Vice President for Membership, International Relations, and Strategic Initiatives at IFIC. 

Working with global food, beverage, and agricultural industry professionals, health and nutrition experts, educators, government officials, and journalists, the IFIC Foundation (www.foodinsight.org) is the nation’s leading non-profit focused on communicating science-based information about health, nutrition, and food safety for the public good. Kim is a noted international speaker on a range of topics, with a special focus on those issues most important as the world’s population grows from seven to nine billion between now and 2050.

Kim currently serves in leadership roles on several non-profit boards, including Co-Chair of the Board of Governors of the Republican National Lawyers Association and Executive Committee Member of Alzheimer’s Association National Board of Directors. She also is on the boards of the American Swiss Foundation and Alzheimer's Impact Movement, and is an Advisory Council Member of the International Center of Excellence in Food Risk Communication. Kim previously served on the boards of West Virginia Wesleyan College and the Tax Coalition.

Kim has extensive experience at senior levels in both the public and private sectors, including as Senior Advisor to U.S. Treasury Secretaries Henry M. Paulson, Jr. and John W. Snow. She was Director of U.S. Treasury Department’s sole grant program – the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund – and was responsible for awarding nearly $4 billion in tax credits and grants to financial institutions and economic development groups for investing in economically distressed communities. Kim also served as Counsel to three Congressional Committees in the U.S. House of Representatives – theHouse Ways and Means, Government Reform and Oversight, and Education and Workforce Committees – and Vice President for Financial Markets Policy Relations at Lehman Brothers in New York.

In 2012, Kim was named one of the top 100 Women Leaders in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math), and has been honored with the U.S. Department of the Treasury Meritorious Service Award and Secretary’s Honor Award and the West Virginia Wesleyan College Young Alumni Achievement Award. She has been recognized as a “Young Professional Leader” by the American Swiss Foundation, American Council on Germany, Atlantic Bridge, and American Council of Young Political Leaders, and teaches democracy-building courses in emerging nations in order to advance freedom and women’s rights around the world.

Originally from Buckhannon, West Virginia, Kim holds a law degree from West Virginia University College of Law and a dual undergraduate degree in biology and government and a minor in chemistry from West Virginia Wesleyan College.

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International Partner Organizations

Other Institutions Involved in Risk Communicati

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http://www.fda.gov/downloads/AdvisoryCommittees/CommitteesMeetingMaterials/RiskCommunicationAdvisoryCommittee/UCM268510.pdf

ppt

Established in 2011 as a collaborative initiative among global food and health

organizations.

•Founded on the belief that it is important to have a collective international resource of

food-specific risk-communication materials.

•Dedicated to enabling informed decision-making to promote global health.

The Center:

•Convenes credible and influential governmental, communications, and health

authorities to maximize their individual and collective reach and effectiveness for the

public good.

•Contributes to the international body of knowledge on food risk communication.

•Increases the effectiveness of food risk communication, thereby enabling informed

decisions about food safety, nutrition, and health