PR Watch
When the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA), a Big Food lobby group, was sued for not disclosing the donors behind its heavyweight contribution to stop the Washington State ballot initiative to label genetically engineered foods in 2013, the public learned a few interesting things about its funding and plans. Not only did GMA eventually release those donors — including large contributions from Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Nestlé, among others — but a public records request by public health lawyer and food blogger Michele Simon yielded GMA’s confidential strategy document, which she then shared with the New York Times.