Commercial determinants of health: a new framework for studying relationships between food corporations and food charities in the UK

Relationships between food charities and commercial partners have been extensively critiqued by food charity scholars, particularly those that involve food corporations supporting charitable hunger relief whilst at the same time holding power over key drivers of food insecurity. This has important implications for health-related research on food charity that involves input from corporate donors. This paper argues that there is an opportunity to expand the field of health research on food insecurity and food charity by engaging with the Commercial Determinants of Health (CDoH) framework, to provide a new way of theoretically and analytically framing evidence and critiques on food charity with corporate involvement. The paper puts the CDoH framework into practice through an empirical study of food charity – food corporation relationships in the UK. Through the CDoH analysis, the findings reveal the different corporate practices that are employed in these relationships, and the disparity between these and the practices corporations could be using to address food insecurity. The framework provides important new avenues for research to further evidence and explore the deep ironies and inequalities embedded in these relationships, and the ways in which corporations leverage charitable efforts to improve their image, whilst holding significant power over key drivers of the very food insecurity that these charities seek to relieve. By applying the CDoH framework, research on food insecurity, food charity and the role of corporations can play an active part in the wider moves in public health towards understanding the impact of corporate entities and interests on health and equity.