The three-year project aims to investigate how the healthcare and food industries influence public policy, regulatory frameworks, and public debate in Brazil. With reporting divided between the São Paulo and Brasília newsrooms, the initiative focuses particularly on lobbying mechanisms, conflicts of interest, and corporate pressure strategies covering topics such as taxation of sugary drinks, health regulation, the market for obesity medications, and the expansion of ultra-processed foods. The project aims to promote investigations capable of revealing how private economic interests influence government decisions and directly affect public health.

The initiative is co-funded by the Serrapilheira Institute and the Ibirapitanga Institute, in a partnership focused on investigating the economic and political interests that impact science, health, and food. Throughout the project, Pública intends to delve deeper into reports and journalistic narratives regarding the role of companies, industry associations, and political actors in the formulation of regulations, taxes, and policies that impact people’s lives.

One of the project’s outputs is the podcast  “A Última Bolacha” (The Last Bite), an investigative series that combines journalism, personal experience, and documentary research to examine the economic ecosystem of obesity. The series explores the relationship between ultra-processed foods, sugar, medications, and illness to discuss how dietary habits, health risks, and therapeutic solutions are shaped by corporate interests, regulatory disputes, and strategies of political influence.