Dear members, CEDAR of the University of Cambridge started an initiative to evaluate ethics for the relation between science and food industry. The scientific group in Cambridge is going to approach also the Nutrition Societies for input. Thus, it could be that you are already been contacted. Otherwise, if you are interested to participate you might contact the organisors for being involved. Please be aware that we (FENS) have agreed on documents about funding http://fensnutrition.eu/FENS_fund_raising and conflicts of interest https://fensnutrition.eu/FENS_conflict_of_interest_statement . Further, we would like to encourage the member societies to asked for a declaration of interests for those persons that are serving in the board. The FENS board members recently agreed on a slighly modified version of the EFSA document. The FENS document still needs to be filled in and will be only used for internal purposes and be stored in our internal cloud.
Best regards
Heiner Boeing
Here the text of the Cedar Invitation:
Dear Colleague,
Poor diet is a growing global public health challenge. Throughout the world, a substantial proportion of the food we eat comes from an industrial food system. Achieving healthier diets in populations will therefore require action by food industry players. This action may require collaboration between the food industry and dietary public health researchers*. However, researchers who study diet and public health can face real and perceived conflicts of interest, which may undermine their scientific integrity, if they engage with the food industry.
Responding to the lack of explicit consensus about what constitutes acceptable or effective engagement, the Centre for Diet and Activity Research (CEDAR) at the University of Cambridge, UK, convened a workshop on this issue in December 2015. At this meeting it was agreed that wider international consensus on this issue was needed. CEDAR has therefore funded a project to pursue this.
The first component of this project involves compiling all known articles or reports that outline frameworks, guidelines or principles that should be followed by dietary public health researchers* when they intend to engage with or accept funding from the food industry. Following collation of these documents the key principles will be identified and sent out as part of an international Delphi study to identify on which principles there is consensus. There will also be a consensus building activity aiming to develop an agreed typology of the food industry. To assist us in this process we are seeking input from experts such as you. We would therefore be grateful if you would click here DPHResearch_Foodindustry and answer three questions.
Many thanks for your help. We look forward to hearing from you. If you have any questions concerning our research, please contact [email protected].
Kind regards,
Professor Martin White.
Program Leader
CEDAR & MRC Epidemiology Unit
University of Cambridge
*For brevity we are using the term ‘dietary public health’ research to mean those whose research focuses on the public health aspects of diet and nutrition. We consider this to be the study of the determinants of diet and population level interventions to improve diet, with a focus on social, behavioural and environmental factors.