Our concerns about the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' ties to Big Food companies like Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, General Mills, and Kellogg go beyond their product portfolios. We believe one of the core tenets of professional integrity lies in keeping ecological and human welfare in mind.
Registered Dietitians need to complete 75 hours of continuing education units (CEUs) every five years in order to maintain their credential. Disturbingly, the likes of Coca-Cola, General Mills, and McDonald's offer continuing education courses approved by the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Although Dietitians for Professional Integrity is the only organization focusing on bringing an end to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' current sponsorship model, we want to highlight other organizations doing terrific and important work in areas of food justice, ecological preservation, sustainability, labor rights, environmental stewardship, and other important issues that relate to the food system.
Since the inception of our Facebook group in February of 2013, Registered Dietitians, Dietetic Technicians, and Registered Dietitians-to-be have published formal statements of concern expressing their concerns about the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' corporate sponsorships and partnerships.
DFPI's goal with this rubric is not to create 'perfect' sponsorship guidelines, but rather to help establish criteria that can help strengthen the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics' current sponsorship model. It is also our hope that a rubric like this one can help inspire companies to improve their practices.
This year, we launched Dietitians For Professional Integrity's Distinguished Dietitian monthly recognition program. In light of our concerns about how the RD credential is often represented, DFPI's core group of team members thought it was vital to acknowledge those dietitians whose work reflects integrity and a sustained commitment to health and wellness.
We have compiled the six educational sessions that we find most concerning in this download, and have connected the dots so you can see an example of some of the ways in which the food industry is given the opportunity to communicat
Our hope is that this document can provide helpful information about professional resources to dietitians who have chosen to not pay the Academy annual membership dues as a means to protest the current sponsorship model, and also show dietitians who are on the fence about continuing their memberships that there are plenty of resources at their disposal that do not require an AND membership.
Our advocacy toolkit consists of documents to help guide advocacy efforts regarding problems that can arise when health organizations partner up with, and accept funds from, the food and beverage industries.