1. “Big Food” and Children’s Health
Garrath Williams (Lancaster University, UK)
If we’re concerned about children’s diets, we need to ask:
Where food/drinks come from?
What pressures there are on children to consume different sorts of food/drinks
And this means we need to talk about power
Parents and to some extent schools obviously have some power in this regard
But in terms of what’s available to them to buy, and in terms of pressures that surround parents and families, we need to consider wider factors
We need to talk about power – specifically the power of the large organisations that make-up our food supply systems
Power is not a simple thing
– it is never the power to do “whatever one wants”
- It is always the power to do/achieve some things, but not others
One way that corporations often present themselves
Able to supply what we want (powerful)
Powerless to do otherwise (our servants, powerless)
I will suggest a different picture
Able to reshape food and drink markets around a particular model – food processing, very well able to supply/market those foods
Powerless to do otherwise

2. Why don’t we see cabbages advertised?
Illustration is from a recent Estonian public health campaign: National Institute for Health Development ( – the headline reads “Go Green!” (in Estonian and Russian). My thanks to Kelli Lehto for bringing this to my attention.
“Go green!” – Estonian public health campaign (

3. Basis of modern capitalism and globalisation
Corporations
Basis of modern capitalism and globalisation
Usual assumption: they belong to “free markets”
But they depend on legal charters
Large organisations
Control their own assets
Over long-term
 Capital-intensive production
They are ‘Bodies politic and corporate’

4. Capital-intensive production applied to food and drink
“Big food”
Capital-intensive production applied to food and drink
Factories, research, distribution networks, supply chains, trademarks...
Dominant role in food and drink markets
Largest manufacturing sector in EU
Results:
Acute price pressures on farmers
Food processing
Marketing of processed foods / drinks

5. The hourglass of corporate food systems
Farmers (c. 10 million) Consumers (c. 500 million)
Inputs: corn, wheat, oils, sugars, factory farmed meat/dairy
5 manufacturers > 50% food/drink sales
5 supermarkets > 60% of market
Corporations
Figures are approximate. See Eurostat Farm Structure Statistics ( and DG Agriculture and Rural Development EU Agricultural Economic Briefs No. 4 (
Compare also: The supply chain ‘bottleneck’ in Europe, from Jan-Willem Grievink ‘The changing face of the global food industry’ - OECD conference, The Hague , Reprinted in Ethical Corporation “The Sustainability of European Food Supply Chains,” at p. 99
Outputs: processed foods & drinks

6. Whole foods
Hard or impossible to brand
More perishable
Supply often seasonal/unreliable
Few profit opportunities

7. Hard or impossible to brand More perishable
Whole foods
Processed foods
Hard or impossible to brand
More perishable
Supply often seasonal/unreliable
Few profit opportunities
Packaging permits branding
Trademarks = artificial monopolies
 Relentless marketing
Based on a few commodities from industrial agriculture
Processed for long shelf-life = low water/fibre/micro-nutrients
Processed for sensory appeal = high in salt, sugar, fat
 Calorie dense
Processed foods:
Inherently less healthy
Overconsumption encouraged
Bottom line: corporate business models push unhealthy products

8. Can work where corporate interests align with consumers’ But:
Self-regulation
Often promoted – e.g. EU Platform for action on diet, physical activity and health
Can work where corporate interests align with consumers’
But:
These foods not in consumers’ health interests
Price / market share pressures acute in food sector
Hard for consumers to avoid these foods
Children especially vulnerable

9. Self-regulation
“No advertising for food and beverage products to children under the age of twelve on TV, print and internet, except for products which fulfil specific nutritional criteria based on accepted scientific evidence and/or applicable national and international dietary guidelines.”
E.g. “EU Pledge” on marketing to children
Not children – just children under the age of 12
Not meaningful criteria, but overly lax ones
Not actually followed anyhow

10. 10% of products (29 out of 281 products marketed in Germany) meet World Health Organization criteria for a balanced diet
Foods and drinks marketed to children by companies that have signed the EU Pledge
Foodwatch Kindermarketing für Lebensmittel

11. Big food as powerful
Shape and reshape food / drink markets
New infrastructures, technologies, products
Marketing reshapes consumer preferences
Power over suppliers
Policy / ideological influence

12. Big food as powerful …and powerless
Shape and reshape food /drink markets
New infrastructures, technologies, products
Marketing reshapes consumer preferences
Power over suppliers
Policy / ideological influence
Can’t stop marketing to children
Can’t stop pushing processed foods
Can’t impose meaningful self-regulation
Can’t talk constructively about regulation
Mounting loss of credibility

13. Regulation in the cause of freedom
Corporations depend on state charters
Corporate markets promote unhealthy foods
Corporations have no choice in this
Regulation is not state interference in free markets
Instead, enables market actors to respect public health

14. Corporations are not ‘free market’ actors
Summary
Corporations are not ‘free market’ actors
Their strength is capital-intensive production
Applied to food, this means:
Hourglass shape of food supply chain
Processed foods, less healthy than whole foods
If we care about children’s health, we must regulate corporate activities more tightly
Regulation is not just about restrictions – it can enable respect for children’s health

15. Thank you