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Carriedo A, Cairney P, Barquera S, Hawkins B. Policy networks and competing interests in the development of the Mexican sugar-sweetened beverages tax. BMJ Glob Health 2023; 8:e012125. [PMID: 37813438 PMCID: PMC10565318 DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2023-012125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Accepted: 05/05/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Sugar taxes threaten the business models and profits of the food and beverage industry (F&BI), which has sought to avert, delay or influence the content of health taxes globally. Mexico introduced a sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax in 2014 and other regulatory measures to improve population diets. This paper examines how policy networks emerged within and affected the development and implementation of the Mexican SSB tax. METHODS This qualitative study analyses 31 interviews conducted with key stakeholders involved in the soda tax policy process and 145 documents, including grey literature and peer-reviewed literature. The policy network approach was used to map contacts, interconnections, relationships and links between the state, civil society and commercial actors involved in the SSB tax. These findings were used to examine the responsiveness, participation and accountability of the soda tax policy formulation. RESULTS Complex interconnections were identified between state and non-state actors. These included advisory relationships, financial collaborations and personal connections between those in high-level positions. Relationships between the government and the F&BI were not always disclosed. International organisations and academics were identified as key financial or technical supporters of the tax. Key governance principles of participation, responsiveness and accountability were undermined by some of these relationships, including the participation of non-state actors in policy development and the powerful role of the F&BI in evaluation and monitoring. CONCLUSION This case study exemplifies the importance of links and networks between actors in health policymaking. The F&BI influence endangers the primary aim of the SSB tax to protect health. The identified links highlight the normalisation of connections among actors with competing aims and interests toward health, thereby jeopardising attempts to tackle obesity rates.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Paul Cairney
- Division of History, Heritage, and Politics, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
| | - Simón Barquera
- Centre of Research in Nutrition and Health, National Institute of Public Health, Cuernavaca, Mexico
| | - Benjamin Hawkins
- MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge, UK
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Keenan L, Wójcik D. The economic geographies of mergers and acquisitions (M&As). ENVIRONMENT & PLANNING A 2023; 55:1618-1627. [PMID: 37810992 PMCID: PMC10555530 DOI: 10.1177/0308518x231190091] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/10/2023]
Abstract
Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are on the rise. Interlocking processes of globalization and financialization have increased their attractiveness and incentivized an upward spiral of M&A activity in recent years. This rise is profoundly spatial, as M&As reshape the geographies of production, consumption and finance, while aggravating uneven power-geometries through the concentration of corporate control. Despite this growth and inherent spatiality, economic geography research into M&As has waned. The aim this article is to demonstrate the value of M&As to economic geographers and highlight avenues for future research. This is achieved by explaining how qualitative and quantitative research into the motivations, outcomes and geographies of M&A activity can provide fresh empirical and conceptual insights surrounding wider geographical debates.
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Vercillo S, Rao S, Ragetlie R, Vansteenkiste J. Nourishing the Nexus: A Feminist Analysis of Gender, Nutrition and Agri-food Development Policies and Practices. THE EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH 2023:1-33. [PMID: 37361474 PMCID: PMC10200700 DOI: 10.1057/s41287-023-00581-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/16/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
This article applies feminist critiques to investigate how agri-food and nutritional development policy and interventions address gender inequality. Based on the analysis presented of global policies and examples of project experiences from Haiti, Benin, Ghana, and Tanzania, we find that the widespread emphasis on gender equality in policy and practice generally ascribes to a gender narrative that includes static, homogenized conceptualizations of food provisioning and marketing. These narratives tend to translate to interventions that instrumentalize women's labor by funding their income generating activities and care responsibilities for other benefits like household food and nutrition security without addressing underlying structures that cause their vulnerability, such as disproportionate work burdens, land access challenges, among many others. We argue that policy and interventions must prioritize locally contextualized social norms and environmental conditions, and consider further the way wider policies and development assistance shape social dynamics to address the structural causes of gender and intersecting inequalities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siera Vercillo
- Department of Historical and Cultural Studies, University of Toronto, Scarborough, Toronto, Canada
- School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
| | - Sheila Rao
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
| | - Rosalind Ragetlie
- Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada
| | - Jennifer Vansteenkiste
- School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
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Gaucher-Holm A, Wood B, Sacks G, Vanderlee L. The structure of the Canadian packaged food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturing and grocery retailing sectors through a public health lens. Global Health 2023; 19:18. [PMID: 36906536 PMCID: PMC10008568 DOI: 10.1186/s12992-023-00917-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2023] [Indexed: 03/13/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Corporate power has been recognized as an important influence on food environments and population health more broadly. Understanding the structure of national food and beverage markets can provide important insight into the power held by leading corporations. This study aimed to descriptively analyze the structure of the Canadian food and beverage manufacturing and grocery retailing sectors as of 2020/21. METHODS Packaged food manufacturers, non-alcoholic beverage manufacturers and grocery retailers with ≥ 1% market share in 2020/21 in Canada as per Euromonitor International were identified and characterized. Proportion of market share held by public vs private, multinational vs national, and foreign multinational companies was assessed for the 3 sectors. The concentration of 14 packaged food, 8 non-alcoholic beverage and 5 grocery retailing markets was assessed using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI) and the four firm concentration ratio (CR4) (HHI > 1800 and CR4 > 60 suggest high market concentration). Company ownership structure was also assessed, including common ownership of public companies by three of the largest global asset managers using data from Refinitiv Eikon, a financial market database. RESULTS The Canadian non-alcoholic beverage manufacturing sector, and, to a lesser extent, the packaged food manufacturing sector were dominated by foreign multinational companies, in contrast with the grocery retailing sector which was dominated by national companies. Market concentration varied across sectors and markets but was substantially greater within the retailing (median CR4 = 84; median HHI = 2405) and non-alcoholic beverage sectors (median CR4 = 72; median HHI = 1995) compared to the packaged food sector (median CR4 = 51; median HHI = 932). There was considerable evidence of common ownership across sectors. Overall, the Vanguard Group Inc owned at least 1% of shares in 95% of publicly listed companies, Blackrock Institutional Trust Company 71%, and State Street Global Advisors (US) 43%. CONCLUSIONS The Canadian packaged food and non-alcoholic beverage manufacturing and grocery retailing sectors include several consolidated markets, with a high degree of common ownership by major investors. Findings suggest that a small number of large corporations, particularly in the retailing sector, have extensive power to influence Canadian food environments; their policies and practices warrant substantial attention as part of efforts to improve population diets in Canada.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexa Gaucher-Holm
- École de nutrition, Centre Nutrition, santé et société (NUTRISS), Institut sur la nutrition et les aliments fonctionnels (INAF), Université Laval, 2425 rue de l'Agriculture, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada
| | - Benjamin Wood
- Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE), Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, VIC, 3125, Australia
| | - Gary Sacks
- Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition (GLOBE), Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, VIC, 3125, Australia
| | - Lana Vanderlee
- École de nutrition, Centre Nutrition, santé et société (NUTRISS), Institut sur la nutrition et les aliments fonctionnels (INAF), Université Laval, 2425 rue de l'Agriculture, Québec, QC, G1V 0A6, Canada.
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Clément CWY. Copping Out on Food Systems: How COP26 Failed to Address Food and Climate and How COP27 Can Solve It. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL & ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS 2022; 35:20. [PMID: 36213558 PMCID: PMC9525228 DOI: 10.1007/s10806-022-09893-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/28/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Chantal Wei-Ying Clément
- Present Address: International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food), Brussels, Belgium
- Brussels, Belgium
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Garg DH, Spiker ML, Clark JK, Reynolds C, Otten JJ. Food systems governance should be preceded by food systems diplomacy. NATURE FOOD 2022; 3:667-670. [PMID: 37118144 DOI: 10.1038/s43016-022-00595-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/30/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Divya Himangi Garg
- Nutritional Sciences Program, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
| | - Marie L Spiker
- Nutritional Sciences Program, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
| | - Jill K Clark
- John Glenn College of Public Affairs, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Christian Reynolds
- Centre for Food Policy, School of Health and Psychological Sciences, University of London, London, UK
| | - Jennifer J Otten
- Nutritional Sciences Program, Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
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Fakhri M. The Food System Summit's Disconnection From People's Real Needs. JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL & ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS 2022; 35:16. [PMID: 35992961 PMCID: PMC9381997 DOI: 10.1007/s10806-022-09882-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
The United Nations (UN) Food Systems Summit held in September 2021 has left the world with a jumble of ideas and no clear path forward for transforming the world's food systems. The Summit was touted as the ultimate place to provide the world with solutions - but it never clarified the problems with the dominant food systems leaving participants with no coherent or cohesive framework. Most distressingly, the Food Systems Summit did not put the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing food crisis anywhere on its agenda. In this Policy Perspective, the author, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, provides his first-hand account of the effects of the Summit not focusing on people's immediate needs during a food crisis. The author briefly touches upon the Summit's role in the global debate around meat consumption. This debate exemplifies how the Summit did very little to change the substance of global food debates. Instead, the Summit can be understood as an inter-corporate contest that did not have any substantive regard for social justice or human rights.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Fakhri
- University of Oregon School of Law, Eugene, USA
- Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Geneva, UN Switzerland
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UK food policy: implications for nutritionists. Proc Nutr Soc 2022; 81:176-189. [DOI: 10.1017/s0029665122000817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Implications of the ‘changing world’ for nutrition and nutritionists are considered, using the UK within a global context as an illustration. The first section summarises the slow recognition by policy makers of the significance of the changing world of food and nutrition. The second section ‘Food system stress is now at a critical level’ considers the present scale of global food system stress and the failure so far sufficiently to narrow the gap between evidence and policy change. The year 2021 was earmarked when three major UN conferences had the opportunity to chart food changes ahead. The third section ‘Multi-criteria analysis helps frame 21st century nutrition science’ proposes that multi-criteria analysis is an essential methodology for nutrition within this more complex policy world; nutrition studies can no long exclude social and environmental criteria. The penultimate section ‘Nutrition science can reconnect its life science, social and environmental nutrition traditions to contribute to new paradigm formation’ suggests that nutrition science can now recombine three traditions within its own history to address this complexity: social nutrition, environmental nutrition and life sciences. The final section ‘Priorities ahead’ concludes that this multi-criteria approach to nutrition offers new routes for science and policy influence. Five priorities are identified: (1) clarification of the features of a good food system; (2) new sustainable dietary guidelines which integrate different determinants of sustainability; (3) helping consumer engagement with change; (4) developing improved policy frameworks and (5) contributing to professional channels in these processes. In the UK, while the challenge of narrowing the gap between evidence, policy and change remains daunting, the risks of not attempting to improve the transition to an ecologically sound public health nutrition are even greater.
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Poole J. From the Chief Executive and
IFST
News. FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1002/fsat.3601_3.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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An analysis of the transformative potential of major food system report recommendations. GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.gfs.2022.100610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
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Baker P, Lacy-Nichols J, Williams O, Labonté R. The Political Economy of Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems: An Introduction to a Special Issue. Int J Health Policy Manag 2021; 10:734-744. [PMID: 34836454 PMCID: PMC9309973 DOI: 10.34172/ijhpm.2021.156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 11/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Today's food systems are contributing to multiple intersecting health and ecological crises. Many are now calling for transformative, or even radical, food systems change. Our starting assumption in this Special Issue is the broad claim that the transformative changes being called for in a global food system in crisis cannot - and ultimately will not - be achieved without intense scrutiny of and changes in the underlying political economies that drive today's food systems. The aim is to draw from diverse disciplinary perspectives to critically evaluate the political economy of food systems, understand key challenges, and inform new thinking and action. We received 19 contributions covering a diversity of country contexts and perspectives, and revealing inter-connected challenges and opportunities for realising the transformation agenda. We find that a number of important changes in food governance and power relations have occurred in recent decades, with a displacement of power in four directions. First, upwards as globalization has given rise to more complex and globally integrated food systems governed increasingly by transnational food corporations (TFCs) and international financial actors. Second, downwards as urbanization and decentralization of authority in many countries gives cities and sub-national actors more prominence in food governance. Third, outwards with a greater role for corporate and civil society actors facilitated by an expansion of food industry power, and increasing preferences for market-orientated and multi-stakeholder forms of governance. Finally, power has also shifted inwards as markets have become increasingly concentrated through corporate strategies to gain market power within and across food supply chain segments. The transformation of food systems will ultimately require greater scrutiny of these challenges. Technical 'problem-solving' and overly-circumscribed policy approaches that depoliticise food systems challenges, are insufficient to generate the change we need, within the narrow time-frame we have. While there will be many paths to transformation, rights-based and commoning approaches hold great promise, based on principles of participation, accountability and non-discrimination, alongside coalition building and social mobilization, including social movements grounded in food sovereignty and agroecology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Phillip Baker
- Institute for Physical Activity & Nutrition, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia
| | - Jennifer Lacy-Nichols
- Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Owain Williams
- School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
| | - Ronald Labonté
- School of Public Health and Epidemiology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
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