Coding framework for cited evidence
| Category | Codes | Description |
| Independence | Industry-funded | Statement included that the research was financially supported by a food industry entity (ie, UPFI corporations, business associations, and other organisations majority funded or run by UPFI corporations). |
| Industry-linked | No statement or other indication that the research was directly funded by the UPFI, but evidence of other connection: for example, author(s) or publishing organisation has financial links to UPFI entities (within five years of publication). | |
| Appears independent | Insufficient or no information provided on funding and COI on document/organisational website, but no evidence of prior connection with the UPFI can be found through additional searches. | |
| Clearly independent | The source is published by a government or multilateral body or (if published by an academic journal or private organisation) provides detailed information about the funding of the work or clearly states independence from the food industry. Searches for author(s) do not show any evidence of links to industry (within 5 years of publication). | |
| Nature of evidence | Research | Primary or secondary research, including, for example, surveys, experimental studies, literature reviews, and qualitative studies. |
| Opinion | Written pieces largely based on opinion, including those with some supporting evidence. This may,for instance, include blogs, commentaries, and editorials. | |
| Strategy documents | Outlines a strategy or plan of action, for example, organisation annual report including evaluation of previous year and plans for the future. This may include a combination of research, opinion and statistics/data. | |
| Raw data | Data without the underlying methodological detail or interpretation found in research studies. | |
| Publication route | Peer-reviewed journals and other academic outlets | Published by peer-reviewed journals or other academic outlets such as university websites. |
| Official government or international organisation publications | Publications by national government bodies or international organisations such as the United Nations and its agencies. | |
| Publication by private companies and organisations | Publications by private companies, consultancies, think tanks or other organisations (includes private international organisations such as the World Economic Forum). | |
| Published by the press | Print or online news publication. | |
| External peer review | Peer-reviewed | Published in a peer-reviewed journal (exceptions, checked on a per-case basis: conference abstracts, commentary pieces). |
| Not peer-reviewed | Includes, for example, news articles, blogs, company reports, private research reports and research commissioned by government/multilateral bodies. |
COI, conflict of interest; UN, United Nations; UPFI, ultra-processed food industry.