Representative, communicational and institutional changes in the Brazilian associations of food industries

As the agenda for promoting adequate and healthy food is strengthened in Brazil, national food industries associations have changed their corporate political activity (CPA). Highlighting the Brazilian Food Industry Association (ABIA), the Brazilian Dairy Association and the Sugarcane Industry Union, and addressing the period between 2014 and 2020, this article analyzes this change in its representative, communicational and institutional dimensions. Methodologically based on the CPA identification model, the sources of the work comprise records of participant observation in the Pensar Agropecuária Institute (IPA) and in the Brazilian National Congress, notes of interviews with directors and technicians from business and political associations, in addition to various documents and websites of the associations, the State and civil society. The results show that, in the representative dimension, the food industries associations reformulated their lobbying in Congress, creating a commission in the IPA for that purpose; in the communicational dimension, there was increased prominence of a narrative of appropriation of the agenda for adequate and healthy food, a discursive strategy that was followed by two other narratives, one in opposition to the agenda, the other of shifting corporate responsibilities to individual decisions; finally, in the institutional dimension, there were notable changes in the ABIA, in addition to the creation of other associations and networks. The conclusion indicates that the CPA of the main food industries associations in the country is changing sharply to respond to criticisms of the commercial determinants of health.