Ottawa, CANADA – Nutrition International is proud to release its Principles of Engagement (PoE) with the ultra-processed food industry (UPFI). These principles aim to set clear boundaries to guide the organization’s interactions with the UPFI, as it advocates for conflict of interest-free nutrition policy and regulatory spaces. Nutrition International is also encouraging its nutrition partners to develop and strengthen their own principles. 

“The consumption of ultra-processed foods is expanding rapidly and globally, and with it, the incidence of overweight, obesity and non-communicable diseases,” said Joel Spicer, President and CEO of Nutrition International. “The commercially-driven proliferation of UPF represents a clear and present threat to human health and global efforts to end malnutrition. It also represents a clear risk to the achievement of Nutrition International’s vision of a world where everyone, everywhere, is free from all forms of malnutrition and able to reach their full potential. Clarifying our posture and principles of engagement with the UPFI is, therefore, a concrete and necessary step for Nutrition International.” 

While levels of undernutrition remain stubbornly high, overweight and obesity are now also on the rise, especially in Africa and Asia. Left unchecked and unaddressed, the global costs of overweight and obesity are predicted to reach USD $3 trillion per year by 2030 and more than USD $18 trillion by 2060, according to the World Health Organization.   

 While the drivers of overweight and obesity are multifaceted, one key contributing factor is clear: the increasing consumption of ultra-processed foods – formulations made mostly from low-cost, ultra-processed materials that are of industrial origin, typically energy-dense and high in salt, sugars, trans-fats, food additives and preservatives, hyper-palatable and highly branded and marketed to consumers, including children, adolescents and caregivers. 

Ultra-processed foods now make up over 50% of the calories consumed in some high-income countries, and low- and middle-income countries are on track to achieve similar levels over the next decade. With high-income market consumption now plateauing, the UPFI – which refers primarily to multinational corporations and their proxies (including industry associations, multi-stakeholder groups, foundations, etc.) that produce, market, lobby, advocate for, and sell ultra-processed foods and sugar-sweetened beverages – is deploying multiprong strategies to grow consumption and drive profitability.   

The tactics used by the UPFI to grow market share include intentional lobbying activities with governments to reduce, delay and water down regulations related to the UPFI, the creation of public-private partnerships, multi-stakeholder groups and corporate social responsibility relationships to build goodwill and whitewash their corporate activities, and aggressive and disingenuous engagement in policy, regulatory and other normative spaces.  These tactics are also used to normalize the inclusion of profit-driven UPFI actors in nutrition policy spaces. 

Nutrition International believes that meaningful progress is only possible when those shaping nutrition policies, programs and practices are free from conflict of interest and unequivocally aligned with the primary goal of improving nutrition security and health for all. As such, the UPFI cannot be productively included in the shaping of global, regional and national policies related to nutrition, nor in the shaping or financing of nutrition programs.  

“Nutrition International is committed to limiting any engagement with the UPFI that signals, in substance or appearance, a legitimate role for the UPFI in nutrition policy spaces,” said Spicer. “We do this because we serve as an expert ally to governments, and we support nutrition policymaking and new evidence generation. We will engage with partners on the role of the UPFI in nutrition, but our focus will be to consistently advocate for nutrition policy spaces to be evidence-based, conflict-of-interest-free, and driven by public good.” 

As defined in the PoE, Nutrition International will: 

1) Protect the policy space. Nutrition International believes that to build a stronger, more principled, and united nutrition community, it must be free from conflict of interest ‒ particularly in nutrition policymaking spaces.  

2) Preserve and uphold our neutrality and freedom from conflict of interest. Nutrition International will avoid all forms of engagement with the UPFI that undermine the integrity of our work, or the faith that governments have in Nutrition International’s evidence-based approach.  

3) Reinforce country efforts to address growing UPFI-related malnutrition. Nutrition International will reinforce government-led public-health nutrition approaches by supporting:  

• Government-led action to protect the food environment through pro-nutrition policies and regulatory, legislative and tax frameworks 

• Increased prioritization of investment towards primary health care and prevention – including adolescent and maternal nutrition and the first 1,000 days; and 

• Public education and awareness about the importance of healthy diets and the harm of consuming unhealthy foods. 

“We are grateful to those organizations and individuals who provided their perspectives and feedback as part of this process,” said Spicer. “These principles of engagement are a work in progress and as we learn more, we will adapt. When we make mistakes, we will own them publicly and seek to do better. Although this is a complex space, the damage we are seeing from the commercially driven proliferation of UPF has become too big to ignore. We are not seeking to lead a parade, be dogmatic, or to virtue-signal. We are clarifying our position on an important issue for ourselves and putting it out there publicly as a signal of transparency and intent. We hope that other organizations in the nutrition community will join us, clarify and strengthen their own principles of engagement, and add their voices in calling for change.”  

Read the full PoE here. 

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