Schwitzer health news blog

Conflicts of interest on school cafeteria standards panel

The Integrity in Science Watch project of the Center for Science in the Public Interest reports:

At least 8 of 14 prospective members of the National Academies of Science committee reviewing the nation’s school cafeteria standards have received recent research support from the food industry or currently receive honoraria for sitting on the board of an industry-funded non-profit, an investigation by Integrity in Science Watch showed. Just one of those affiliations was disclosed in the NAS announcement that invites the public to comment on the proposed nominations.

Recent research support for five of the proposed panelists came from a variety of industry-affiliated organizations, including the National Dairy Council, International Life Sciences Institute, National Pork Foundation, and the USA Rice Federation. Members have also worked with specific companies such as General Mills and Gerber. The committee’s proposed chairman, Virginia Stallings of the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, serves as president of the Dannon Institute, a non-profit housed within the Dannon Co.’s White Plains, N.Y. headquarters and fully funded by the company. Stallings received $15,000 from the Dannon Institute in 2006, according to its latest publicly available Internal Revenue Service filing. The Institute’s charitable activities include support for a Johns Hopkins University-based program to combat obesity in early childhood.

The NAS committee is funded by the Agriculture Department’s Food and Nutrition Service. It will set standards for the national school lunch and breakfast programs. NAS policy requires current conflicts of interest be disclosed to the public. The public has nine days to comment.