Founded 2002 Focus Consumer rights Area served Germany | Founder Thilo Bode Location Berlin Key people Thilo Bode, president | |
Foodwatch is a European organization that focuses on protecting consumer rights as they pertain to food quality. Was founded in October 2002 in Berlin by former Greenpeace executive director Thilo Bode. As of 2012 the organization was active in Germany and the Netherlands.
In 2008 they reported that uranium concentrations in German tap water exceeded the permitted levels.
An important aspect of Foodwatch's activities consists of investigating manufacturers claims in marketing campaigns and on packaging. Each year Foodwatch delivers the Goldener Windbeutel (German)/Gouden windei (Dutch), given to the product whose packaging is the most misleading as voted on by visitors to the website. In 2009 the award went to Actimel. In the 2012 campaign, Foodwatch criticized Becel pro-active, a Unilever product which is supposed to lower the risk of coronary disease. Foodwatch demanded Unilever stop selling the product, leading to considerable scrutiny of the product and countercriticism by the manufacturer.