Consumer Brands Association

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The Consumer Brands Association (CBA), formerly the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA),^[1] is the national trade association for consumer packaged goods (CPG) in the United States.

The CBA represents companies that manufacture food, beverages, household, and personal care products. As of December 2020, the association represented more than 1,700 brands.^[2] Since the association's rebranding in 2020, 18 companies have joined the CBA as members. This addition increased growth by more than 30%. As of 2021, the association represents 73 consumer packaged goods companies with nearly 2,000 brands across the industry's sectors.^[3]

History[]

The Consumer Brands Association was founded in 1908 as the American Specialty Manufacturers Association, which consisted of 45 food and branded product manufacturers in New York City.^[4] It was headquartered at 2401 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C.^[5]

Since its founding, the association has pioneered legislation such as the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act in 1938. The Act gave the Food and Drug Association regulatory authority and credited innovations, like the Universal Product Code (also known as the UPC bar code) in the 1970s. The Smart Label became a digital disclosure tool in 2015.

On January 1, 2007, the association merged with the Food Products Association and formed the world's largest trade association representing the food, beverage, and consumer products industry (GMA/FPA). The merged companies adopted the Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) name.

After two outbreaks of salmonella in 2006-2007,^[6][7] efforts were made by GMA members "to reassess industry practices for eliminating salmonella in low-moisture products."^[8]

On December 5, 2013, the GMA sent a petition to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to support a new rule allowing food that is made with genetically modified products to be labelled as natural.^[9]

On March 16, 2010, First Lady Michelle Obama called on the GMA to help her with the Let's Move! campaign to reduce childhood obesity.^[10][11]

In 2017, the association announced plans to relocate to Arlington County, Virginia.^[12]

Several significant members, including Campbell Soup Company, Unilever, Mars, Incorporated, Tyson Foods, Nestlé, Dean Foods, Hershey's, and Cargill, have left since 2017, prompting a rebranding effort.^[13]

In September 2019, the association announced that it would relaunch itself as the Consumer Brands Association effective January 2020.^[14] In 2020, GMA rebranded to become the Consumer Brands Association (CBA), focusing on representing the CPG industry's totality and a new, consumer-first agenda.^[15]

In May 2020, The Consumer Brands Association launched the Critical Infrastructure Supply Chain Council (CISCC), an integrated resolution of 35 or more trade associations that address short- and long-term supply chain weaknesses and challenges.^[16]

Advocacy initiatives[]

Consumer Brands advocates on behalf of the CPG industry to Congress, state legislatures, and administration officials. The association's advocacy program focuses on four areas:^[17]

• Frictionless Supply Chains is focused on promoting affordability and access for consumers through frictionless supply chains.
• Packaging Sustainability aims to create a sustainable future by increasing recyclability and reimagining the current recycling system in the US.
• Smart Regulations advocate for smart, uniform federal regulations that maintain affordability, promote choice and build consumer trust.
• Trust in CPG commits GPG to providing consumers with safe, reliable products that they can be confident in using every day.^[18]

Programs and initiatives[]

• Better Process Control School - The Consumer Brands Association hosts training for companies that produce low-acid and acidified foods, like tomato sauces, pickled products, and some pet foods. It fulfils FDA and USDA requirements in acidification, thermal processing, and container closure evaluation operations during the canning of low-acid or acidified foods.^[19][20][21]
• Facts Up Front, a program of The Consumer Brands Association and Food Marketing Institute, is a labeling system that displays key nutrition information on the front of food and beverage packages.
• Hands-on Classrooms provide free resources for students, teachers, administrators, and parents based on food safety, systems, and processing.
• The Food Waste Reduction Alliance (FWRA) is a collaborative effort of The Consumer Brands Association, the National Restaurant Association, and the Food Industry Association to reduce the volume of food waste sent to landfills, donate more safe and nutritious food to people in need, and recycle unavoidable food waste, diverting it from landfills.
• The Smart Label platform^[22] was launched in 2015. It hosts detailed information about nearly 80,000 products from more than 1,000 participating brands.

Board of directors[]

Chair

• Jeff Harmening, Chairman and chief executive officer, General Mills, Inc.

Vice-Chair

• Carolyn Tastad, Group President - North American and Chief Sales Officer, The Procter & Gamble Company

Treasurer/Secretary

• William B. Cyr, CEO of Fresh Pet, Inc.

Members

• Al Williams, President, and chief executive officer, Bush Brothers & Company
• Beth Ford, President, and chief executive officer, Land O'Lakes, Inc.
• Bill Gisel Jr., Executive vice-chairman, Rich Products Corporation
• Bob Gamgort, Executive chairman and chief executive officer,
• Chris Hood, President, Kellogg North America, Kellogg Company
• Fernando Gonzalez, President, NA Consumer Business, Georgia-Pacific LLC
• Fred Penny, President, Bimbo Bakeries the USA
• Geoff Freeman, President and CEO, Consumer Brands Association
• Glen Walter, Executive Vice President and President, North America, Mondelez International, Inc.
• Gregg Roden, Senior Vice President, PepsiCo North America Supply Chain, PepsiCo, Inc.
• Gregory Longstreet, President, and chief executive officer, Del Monte Foods, Inc.
• Henk Hartong III, Chairman, Sunny Delight Beverages Company
• Howard Friedman, President, and chief executive officer, Post Consumer Brands
• Jean-Luc Fischer, President, North America, and Global Sustainability, Colgate-Palmolive Company
• Jim Dinkins, President, Coca-Cola North America, The Coca-Cola Company
• Jim Snee, chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer, Hormel Foods Corporation
• Kenneth Romanzi, President and chief executive officer, B&G Foods, Inc.
• Kris Licht, President, Health and Chief Customer Officer, RB
• Lawrence Kurzius, Chairman, President, and chief executive officer, McCormick & Company, Inc.
• Linda Rendle, chief executive officer, The Clorox Company
• Louie Genting, chief executive officer, Sargento Foods Inc.
• Louis C. Gottsponer Jr., President, Morgan Foods, Inc.
• Mark Schiller, President, and chief executive officer, The Hain Celestial Group, Inc.
• Mark Smucker, President, and chief executive officer, The J. M. Smucker Company
• Matt Farrell, Chairman, President, and chief executive officer, Church & Dwight Co., Inc.
• Paul Chibe, President and chief executive officer, Ferrero NA, Inc.
• Roger Bird, Senior Vice President, U.S. Nutrition, Abbott Nutrition
• Ryals McMullian, President and chief executive officer, Flowers Foods, Inc.
• Sean Connolly, chief executive officer, Conagra Brands, Inc.
• Seth French, President, Lassonde Pappas and Company, Inc.
• Stanley Dunbar, President and chief executive officer, Moody Dunbar, Inc.
• Stephan Fuesti-Molnar, President, Henkel Consumer Goods North America, Henkel Corporation
• Tom Hayes, President and chief executive officer, Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.

^[23]

References[]

External links[]

• Official website