Food manufacturer Nestlé will leave the Grocery Manufacturers Association at the end of year—the second large food company to pull out of the trade group in recent months.

Nestlé's decision comes as many large food manufacturers are seeking to remake their public images as consumer demand for healthy foods rise. Campbell Soup Co. announced its departure from GMA in July, with CEO Denise Morrison saying at the time the decision was "driven by our purpose and our principles."

Nestlé is the world's largest food and beverage manufacturer. Politico, which first reported on the departure, noted the company supported Obama-era policies for sugar labeling and sodium reductions that GMA opposed.

The association also has fought state efforts to mandate labels for foods containing genetically modified organisms. Last year GMA was ordered by a Washington state judge to pay $18 million for allegedly failing to disclose its donors behind a campaign opposing a labeling initiative on the 2012 state ballot. The group is appealing the decision.

"Nestlé's participation in GMA will be missed, and we hope there will be a time when they will rejoin us," GMA spokesman Roger Lowe told the newspaper.

GMA announced earlier this year it was moving its offices from Washington, D.C, to Rosslyn, Va., next year. One of its new neighbors will be Nestlé, which is moving its U.S. headquarters from California to the D.C. suburb. http://politi.co/2yNkjKa

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