Coca-Cola’s chief health and science officer has left the company amid scrutiny of the beverage giant’s influence over a nonprofit group set up to fight obesity.
Rhona Applebaum’s retirement was announced internally on Nov. 4, Coke confirmed Tuesday. Her departure was first reported in an Associated Press story that also detailed emails suggesting how closely Coke worked with the nonprofit Global Energy Balance Network.
The group promotes the concept of “energy balance” including more physical activity, but critics say its aim is to obscure the role of soft drinks in rising obesity levels by shifting blame to lack of exercise.
Atlanta-based Coke told the AP that Applebaum’s position will not be filled as the company overhauls the way it goes about its health efforts. Coke says it no longer works with the Global Energy group.
Applebaum, who holds a Ph.D in food microbiology, had been at Coke since 2004 and previously was an executive at the National Food Processors Association.
According to the AP report, Applebaum initially managed Coke’s relationship with Global Energy Balance, led by a University of Colorado professor.
In August, the New York Times reported on Coke’s funding of the group, and on Nov. 6 the university’s medical school said it was returning $1 million from the company because of the distraction it was creating. The University of South Carolina said it plans to keep $500,000 it received from Coke because one of its professors is also among the group’s leaders. The school said there was no misuse of funds.
In its latest report on the matter, the AP said the Global Energy Balance president wrote an e-mail to Coke a year ago saying, “I want to help your company avoid the image of being a problem in peoples’ lives and back to being a company that brings important and fun things to them.”
An e-mail within Coke, meanwhile, said the group would use social media and run a political-style campaign to counter the “shrill rhetoric” of “public health extremists” who want to tax or limit foods they deem unhealthy, the AP reported. The report cited several other e-mails in a similar vein.
In a statement about the e-mails after being contacted by the AP, Coke CEO Muhtar Kent said “it has become clear to us that there was not a sufficient level of transparency with regard to the company’s involvement with the Global Energy Balance Network… Clearly, we have more work to do to reflect the values of this great company in all that we do.”
