Do Food Company Corporate Responsibility Initiatives Contribute to Promotion of Unhealthy Food to Children?

A new report in BMC Public Health  examines the physical activity and nutrition-related corporate social responsibility initiatives of food and beverage companies in Canada and their implications for exposing children to unhealthy food messages. Based on a review of documents and websites of 39 large Canadian  food companies, Ariana Kent Guo and her colleagues at the School of Public Health and Epidemiology at the University of Ottawa concluded that food companies, including many that largely sell and market unhealthy products, are heavily involved in physical activity and nutrition-related CSR initiatives in Canada, many of which are targeted to children.  The authors recommend that government policies aimed at protecting children from unhealthy food marketing should consider including CSR initiatives that expose children to food company branding.