Food Politics

You are quite right in saying that it “is indeed a privilege and I am grateful for it.” But it depends on the customary source of financing in the particular academic field. There was a week or so back an article I found on the Huffington Post (I think) about many economists being bought off by the Federal Reserve (being hired, or paid for consulting in one capacity or another), including many who were editors of journals. Now imagine some economists writing an article critical of the Fed; can you imagine it being published in a journal whose editors and reviewers were beholden to the Fed? I don’t know how prevalent this really is. In my former life as an academic economist at a regional university, I had no financial ties to any economic interest and never felt pressured about what to write. And that is indeed a priceless privilege.

One wonders if the critic has read any of your books? Especially Food Politics??

It is so sad to see the term “nazi” being so cavalierly applied to anyone with whom one disagrees.

I for one, turn to your books and blog as a welcome island of sanity (grounded in solid research) between the cries of “food nazi” and the alternative crowd that think their latest (supplement, herbal, juice, etc.) fad is the end all to good health.

A hat tip to you for responding graciously to the question. It may be too much to hope, but perhaps the author of the question will learn something from both the substance and the style of your answer.

Wonderful response. That’s why I love reading everything you write. It’s not tainted. Thanks for all your hard work.

Marion, this is a very graceful response.

Despite having followed your blog for quite some time, I’ve never before commented and told you how much I take from it every day. I really find you to be one of the most engaging people writing about food today, and am sure many people on here would agree.
Thanks for what you do!

Thank you for taking the time to tackle this head-on. People like yourself who are doing the right thing seem to always have occasional misinformed or deliberate attacks. Par.

I question anyone not questioning the food industry.

” Kindly tell your audience when can we expect to see your financial disclosure telling us how much you make from writing books critical of the food industry…”

That was indeed a gracious response, considering your income is none of Zhiqi Yin’s business.

This is indeed a privilege and I am grateful for it.
And we’re grateful to have you!

I’m curious as to the funding of Zhiqi Yin. Has he disclosed himself to be a curious, conscious, consumer or is he writing on behalf of one or more food industry groups?
I’m also not sure the term “Nazi” is such a great one to use, even if things were different and Dr. Nestle was guilty of such acts. Maybe the critics can be more creative next time.

Well put, as are the comments.

I love your blog and books! With so much misinformation about what to eat out there, the public needs educated people with passion to simplify and educate, especially people that are not controlled by food industry dollars. Please keep being a voice of clarity on these issues and promoting public health!

While I agree the tone was harsh, why not answer the question? How much do you make from your books and lectures? I am sure the more controversy you stimulate, the more noticable you become, the more books people buy and the more groups with their own agenda’s pay for you to speak. We hold our government representatives to this minimal level, why not those who seek to influence opinion such as yourself? How do we know that you are not profiting off of being a professional critic? I think this can be remedied by simple placing your last three years tax returns on your blog or completing the standard government financial disclosure form and posting it. Show us that you aren’t conflicted and can criticize others for what they do a without being a hypocrite.

As for the “drones”, commence your personal attacks on me as well simply because I do not agree with your opinion. Peace.

You are one lucky woman. Most of us have sold our soul to whoeer is paying us the money we need to buy our daily bread. We count on you to make sure we don’t get crap inside this bread.

Face it, food companies would sell us cheap adulterated crap (or adulterated with crap, (OH WAIT, THEY DO) if they could, and they used to until critics of the food industry forced changes to protect the consumer. Thank you Marion.

I have given What To Eat as a christmas present, and will do again, and I encourage all your readers to do the same. Healthy eating is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves and the ones we feed. Unfortunately, the food industry doesn’t always offer this as one of their “consumer choices.”

Zhiqi Yin, Marion is not a “food Nazi” (what an offensive thing to say about someone!) but is an educator teaching us to make our own comsuer choices, something the food industry keeps demanding that we be allowed to have. Rejecting the food industry’s products does not make her a “food Nazi. (again, what an offensive thing to say, have you no manners at all sir?)

We value your independent, critical voice. Consumers need all the help and encouragement they can get in order to start thinking independently, for themselves. Thank you for not only providing information, but for modeling a state of mind and a critical approach.

Not to stray off topic, but this is one side effect of the proliferation of new media. There’s more information out there than ever, but very little of that information is trustworthy. We’ve all become rightly suspicious. Before believing anything anyone says, we’ve learned to ask “what are they selling? and who’s paying them?” That’s why your viewpoint is so valuable — it’s informed by facts rather than $$. Thanks.

@Mike D. S. – At public universities faculty salaries and grant funding are a matter of public record, and faculty members are required to declare conflicts of interest. NYU, where Prof. Nestle is employed, is private, so may or may not make this information public (though public grants are public in all cases). But there’s an expectation of transparency in academia that is not present in the private sector. It might be possible to learn about the income of the CEO of Kellogg’s from SEC filings, but one would be hard-pressed to find such information for, say, any lobbyist on food issues. Why should one party (one “side” in the debate, to over-simplify) be subject to disclosure requirements when others are not?

The legitimate underlying question is whether funding sources might affect someone’s conclusions. If someone publishes books that reflect their understanding of the issues it’s irrelevant whether or not those books are profitable. You’d have to work pretty hard to come up with a scenario in which conflicts of interest here could be as stark as they are in, say, the Food Choices program.

@Mike D.S. – Ms. Nestle is NOT an elected official. Would you have doctors (who also offer nutritional guidance to eschew junk food in favor of veggies, fruit, whole grains, etc.) disclose their finances as well?

It is my fervent hope that Ms. Nestle’s books make her a fortune, because then her books would be in the hands of many more people and if they read them and learn from them, we will have a much healthier society.

I read this blog simply because Marion Nestle has her head on straighter than any other ‘pop nutritionist’ that I have encountered. There are some biases, some signs of wishful thinking here and there, but in all, I think she provides a lot of good information and arguments. I would like to highlight her skepticism toward the anti-HFCS crowd – even Michael Pollan gets it wrong and Marion gets it right.

I don’t think publishing three years of taxes is at all necessary to establish conflicts of interest. As someone who has been accused of working for Big Bad Monsanto merely because my graduate school got a donation from them, I think some people are over the top when it comes to seeking out conflicts of interest in terms of money.
There is the issue of honoraria and other fees from organizations that stand to gain from certain criticisms of the food industry, which is what I think the commenter is worried about. But perhaps there is some way to assuage doubt without granting legitimacy to such witch-hunts.

Thank you so much for your work! What a gracious response!

Marion: you are indeed gracious to respond in this way. Having worked at a University for nine years, I can say that all the academics I have worked with are driven to research for reasons other than money and are very clear about disclosing their funding sources when there are some.

You go girl!
Great question, great answer.
Your blog is usually the most interesting read of my day at work (in nutrition). I inevitably end up forwarding it to someone — it is always relevant to my community food policy work.

[...] Request for financial disclosure <<Speaking of conflict of interest, I love this piece by Marion Nestle about how she is in absolutely no way influenced by any outside funding. Oh the irony. (Food Politics) [...]

Thank you for being level headed. We need more people like you!