The history of food is replete with examples of food scandals leading to institutional and procedural reforms intended to rebuild trust. For trust to be sustainable, systems need to be trustworthy. Food regulatory institutions are at the interface of science and policy, and they should have robust and reliable mechanisms for identifying and addressing commercial conflicts of interest (COIs) among the membership of their boards and advisory committees. Here we provide a detailed estimate, analysis and critique of COIs within the United Kingdom's food regulatory institutions. This exercise was facilitated by the United Kingdom's rule requiring declarations of COIs, which are published. Institutions that require and publish declarations of COIs are probably more trustworthy than those that do not, while institutions that exclude all individuals with COIs could be even more trustworthy.
© 2022. Springer Nature Limited.