Posts Tagged ‘tobacco industry’

An unfortunate idea is gaining traction in food policy circles: to equate food – specifically ultra-processed food – with tobacco. Borrowing the rhetoric, litigation strategies, and moral framing of the anti-smoking movement, activists, influencers, and even policymakers now speak of “Big Food” as the new “Big Tobacco.” Last night, this idea even reached into the […]

Scientists at the University of California at San Francisco have discovered that tobacco companies once owned food and beverage companies. Philip-Morris bought General Foods in 1985 and then Kraft in 1988. This arrangement lasted until 2007 when Philip-Morris sold all of its ownership of Kraft and the old General Foods brands. RJ Reynolds acquired Pacific […]

Hyperbole has a way of creeping into discussions of parallels between the food industry and the tobacco industry. But a recent analysis, published in the Lancet, identifies tactics used by the food industry that closely imitate those of cigarette makers.  The authors’ conclusion deserves careful consideration: “Public regulation and market intervention are the only evidence-based […]