Misinformation & Disinformation

Overview

Few issues distort food system progress more than misinformation. Industry-funded campaigns, front groups, and selective science create confusion about the health, environmental, and economic impacts of different foods. This “manufactured doubt” keeps policymakers hesitant, consumers uncertain, and institutions slow to act.

Analyses have shown how disinformation about food mirrors tactics used by Big Tobacco and fossil fuels: cherry-picking data, funding favorable research, framing false trade-offs (e.g. health vs. environment), and amplifying misleading narratives through media and political channels. These efforts are well-financed.

The consequence is a fog of confusion that makes the world’s largest market failure harder to solve. Countering it requires not just credible evidence, but also proactive communication strategies and repeated public exposure to the messaging.

What you’ll find here

• Industry Tactics: How corporations shape narratives through lobbying, funding, and media.
• Health Misinformation: Distortions around nutrition and diet science.
• Environmental Spin: Greenwashing claims that obscure food’s climate and biodiversity impact.
• Economic Narratives: Misleading framings of affordability, jobs, and “feeding the world.”
• Counter-Strategies: Research on debunking, prebunking, and effective corrective communication.
• Overviews: Key reports and systematic reviews on food disinformation.