The rise of ultra-processed foods (UPF) in human diets is harming public and planetary health. The impacts of UPF systems are experienced differently, between and within countries, with implications for social and gender equity, resource (mal)distributions in the food economy, and environmental sustainability. Yet policy responses are still evolving, akin to where tobacco control was decades ago, indicating the need for accelerated action. In this talk Phillip Baker takes three steps. First, he will demonstrate a core driver of the problem is the UPF industry itself, including its leading corporations and co-dependent actors, and its growing power in food systems everywhere. Second, that the main barrier to advancing societal responses to UPFs is the industry’s corporate political activities, coordinated transnationally through a global network of front groups, to block, weaken, and delay government regulation. Third, based on workshops and interview data, he will outline strategies for countering the UPF industry’s power in food systems, and for mobilizing a unified global public health response.
Dr Phillip Baker is an ARC Future Fellow and Sydney Horizon Fellow at the School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Australia. His research focuses on understanding global food systems change and the implications for human and planetary health. Recent work covers the global rise of ultra-processed foods, the commercial determinants of malnutrition, and the political economy of infant and young child feeding.
