UK food and drink industry lobbying lacks transparency

This discussion paper from the UK’s Food Research Collaboration examines meetings between food and drink businesses and UK policymakers. It finds that publicly declared meetings of government officials with food and drink lobbyists are often described in extremely broad terms, such as “to discuss business” or “to discuss trade and agriculture”, and that other interactions with lobbyists - such as phone calls or emails - are not disclosed. Ireland and Canada both used more detailed processes to disclose lobbying activities. The report makes recommendations for improving the transparency of lobbying in the UK.