Dive Brief:
- Daniel Lubetzky, founder and CEO of KIND Healthy Snacks, is launching Feed the Truth, an independent organization created to improve public health by making truth, transparency and integrity the foremost values in today’s food system, according to a company release. Lubetzky pledged $25 million toward the campaign, paying $5 million now and promising $20 million more over the next decade.
- Lubetzky will remove himself from all activities and governance of the new organization, assembling a team of public health advocates to lead the efforts.
- The three advocates, who are not being paid for their work, are Deb Eschmeyer, former executive director of Let's Move! and senior policy advisor for nutrition policy at The White House; Michael Jacobson, co-founder and president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest; and Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University.
Dive Insight:
Lubetzky has assembled an Avengers-like team of important food safety players for the Feed the Truth board. His decision to remove himself entirely from the organization will also go a long way, ensuring no one cries foul at any of their initiatives.
Feed the Truth's mission, according to the release, is to “ensure science overrules special interests by revealing and counteracting the food industry’s undue influence in shaping nutrition policy and ability to disseminate biased science, among other activities that are detrimental to public health.”
The new organization will have many challenges before it. One of the first may be from the Trump administration, as some in the food industry believe there will be rollbacks on some of the nutrition initiatives that came under President Obama, including school lunch reforms and menu labeling rules.
To get everyone on the same page when it comes to nutrition, the board could also invest in investigative journalism, launch consumer education campaigns and bring educational briefings to policymakers and influencers.