Food & Alcohol Industries' Lobbying Dollars: Who's Spending, And Why

A number of major food and beverage groups' second-quarter government lobbying expenditures and details have been released, and below we detail what they reveal. See what groups (and who they work for) are lobbying the government on, and who they're lobbying, whether it be Congress, the FTC, the FBI, the FDA, the USDA, the Treasury Department, the State Department, the Commerce Department, the Department of Health & Human Services, the Department of Justice, and more. Yep -- they've all been lobbied by major food industry groups in the last few months.

See why, below.

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Wine & Spirits Wholesalers: $260,000

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The Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America spent $260,000 lobbying Congress in the second quarter of 2010, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other agencies on food safety and labor issues. 2Q spending in 2010: $260,000 1Q spending in 2010: $240,000 2Q spending in 2009: $260,000 (Photo from Flickr: eflon)

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The Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America spent $260,000 lobbying Congress in the second quarter of 2010, the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, and other agencies on food safety and labor issues.

2Q spending in 2010: $260,000
1Q spending in 2010: $240,000
2Q spending in 2009: $260,000

(Photo from Flickr: eflon)

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$ Wasted. $ Well spent.

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Comments

[PeteBogs]

08:36 AM on 08/09/2010

I don't believe the alcohol industry has lobbyists; or if they do, they don't do any good. Alcohol has the most restrictions of anything that's sold legally, and most of the rules are pretty ridiculous.

[Soule23]

01:06 PM on 09/16/2010

Are you kidding? The alcohol industry has got all kinds of lobbyists.

[MaxineFox]

02:56 PM on 07/27/2010

This was excellent start to a topic I would like to see covered in much more depth on Huffington Post.

I wonder if companies like Coke do some sort of cost/benefit analysis to determine which health "campaigns" to participate in....i.e. would they get more bang per buck if they do their own PR campaign, donate money to existing governmental/non-profit campaigns, or a combo of the two. I'm betting it's all about what makes them the most profit. Sorry to be so cynical but suspect this is the truth.

I just posted an article a couple of days ago (haven't put it on my blog yet) suggesting why the media has not picked up on the fact that type 2 diabetes was caused by the introduction of artificial foods in the 1920's. I'm sure lobbying plays a strong role as well. I plan to write much more on this topic. Here's a link to the article:

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-REAL-Cause-of-Diabetes---Why-Isnt-the-Mainstream-Media-Reporting-on-This?&id=4712927

Maxine Fox
http://reverse-diabetes-naturally.blogspot.com/

[Pleroma]

03:15 PM on 07/27/2010

I'm your first fan on HP. Notice you can't decline!
As is proved daily, buying politicians is the most cost effective expense that any corporation can do.

[MaxineFox]

11:33 AM on 07/28/2010

Hi Pleroma, thanks! I'll try to return the favor if I can figure out how.

I would love to see HP post more details on this topic.

[rikster]

08:41 PM on 07/27/2010

the persons who sit in the board of directors for food companies..must also sit on the board of big pharma... health insurance....hospitals..maybe....

[josefhiggins]

02:45 PM on 07/27/2010

I wanna know why B&J Unilever is lobbying for Nanotechnology. Make me wonder what exactly will be in B&J? A tracker of some sort? LOL

[David Michael Wise]

07:17 AM on 07/28/2010

Cause Ben + Jerry's is crack in ice cream form. I couldn't stop buying those pints until recently lol.

[SconnieGuy]

02:32 PM on 07/27/2010

Having close family members in the Wine and Spirits Wholesaling business, I've often heard they're increasingly under fire by the retail industry (most likely the "superstores" like Wal-Mart and Costco) who want to keep their retail prices low by eliminating the wholesale distribution. While some retailers have been successful in doing so in some corners of the food market, The alcohol market is understandably under stricter regulations which requires a middleman, by federal law to distribute from producer to retailer.

Not sure what category this would fall under as far as the lobbying is concerned other than Labor issues, but I know it's been one of the biggest concerns in the wholesale booze business several years now. People are always going to keep drinking, but its a question of who is moving the product.

[CollinJE]

03:16 PM on 07/27/2010

Yes a billions of dollars a year are spent on keeping the "three-tier" system in place for alcohol sales.

It takes that much money to convince anyone that their is ANY merit to the three tier system. It is a joke that this system is still in place today. There is no valid reason why if I own an FDA approved beer that I can't take that beer from my local brewery and sell it directly to my local grocery store for them to retail it.

[Pleroma]

03:19 PM on 07/27/2010

There is always squabbling over big money like this. All industries create revenue streams. The control of these streams is where the action is. The profits of the booze industry are dwarfed by the profits of the war industry, where supervision is absent.

[Fi]

01:31 PM on 07/27/2010

Hey! B & J, I'm open to some lobbying, send me some ice cream and I'll go and tell everyone how good it is.

[polemikos]

01:04 PM on 07/27/2010

Ben and Jerry's used to be one of the few ethical large companies out there. That was until they shamefully sold out to Unilever.

[tonedef]

12:50 PM on 07/27/2010

Unilever. What a depressing name for the parent company of Ben & Jerry's.

[grn1]

12:36 PM on 07/27/2010

thought this was about food, 7 of these companies are alcohol distributors, most lobbying free trade????? makes one wonder why korea, columbia and panama need all that free-trade booze.
yes to safeway, whatever to unilever, and absolute no to coke who has bad track record for polluting water where resources are limited and now sees itself in Bangladesh where water resource management is being made possible. • River Basin Management
• Planning and Management of Water Resources
• Water Rights and Allocation
• Public and Private Involvement
• Public Water Investment
• Water Supply and Sanitation
• Water and Agriculture
• Water and Industry • Water and Fisheries and Wildlife
• Water and Navigation
• Water for Hydropower and Recreation
• Water for the Environment
• Water for Preservation of Haors, Baors and Beels
• Economic and Financial Management
• Research and Information Management
• Stakeholder Participation
Where are you on this list COKE??

[Pleroma]

12:16 PM on 07/27/2010

Looks like booze and corn booze and corn booze and corn plus other sugars.

That's where the money is and where it comes from.

[josefhiggins]

02:43 PM on 07/27/2010

It's all booze and sugar lobby. I guess they like their Americans fat and drunk.

[f252863]

03:57 PM on 07/27/2010

Don't forget your politicians who are willing to sell out to the highest bidder. Unlimited government is wonderful isn't it? And liberals scratch their heads trying to figure out why there is corruption.