Unilever spent $440,000 lobbying in first quarter

The U.S. subsidiary of consumer goods and food giant Unilever spent $440,000 in the first quarter to lobby on food safety reform, taxes, trade and other issues, according to a disclosure report.

Unilever United States, a subsidiary of London-based Unilever PLC and Netherlands-based Unilever NV, makes and markets home care, personal care and food products, such as Dove soap, Skippy peanut butter and Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

The company also lobbied for more funding for the Food and Drug Administration and on issues related to international investment, biofuels, climate change, the farm bill and animal cloning issues.

The FDA earlier this year said meat and milk from cloned animals is as safe as such food derived the old-fashioned way. However, cloned animals are much more expensive than ordinary cows and several large food companies, such as Dean Foods Co. and Hormel Foods Corp., have said they won't sell milk or meat from cloned animals because of consumer anxiety about the technology.

In the first three months of the year, Unilever lobbied Congress, the White House budget office, FDA and the departments of Interior and Agriculture, according to the report filed April 15 with the House clerk's office.