Happy Friday, and welcome to Food Fix. This is the 210th edition of this newsletter. Thanks for being here!
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Alright, let’s get to it –
Helena
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Concern about chronic disease crisis takes a bipartisan turn
There was a time, not long ago, when food industry leaders saw Republican victories as a break. Whether the GOP took control of the House or the Senate or the White House, industry could bet on a more deregulatory approach, a safe haven from government intervention, or, at the very least, a slowdown.
We’re in a new era now. Party lines have been scrambled. Populist, anti-corporate ideology has won over the Republican base. The fresh alliance between President-elect Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. under the banner of “Make America Healthy Again,” or MAHA, is just one piece of a broader political realignment. The extent to which Republicans have abandoned their industry-friendly rhetoric in the new MAHA era was on full display in Washington this week.
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee on Thursday held a hearing titled: “What Is the FDA Doing to Reduce the Diabetes and Obesity Epidemics in America and Take on the Greed of the Food and Beverage Industry?” As you can sort of tell from the title, the committee had already determined their answer: Not much. Not nearly enough.
During the two-hour hearing, FDA was roundly criticized for not taking a more active role in combating diet-related diseases and cracking down on the food industry. (Nevermind that Congress has not been on FDA about these issues and has actually thwarted the agency’s work on nutrition over the years at the behest of industry, but I digress!)
If you were listening to this hearing, you really couldn’t tell which lawmaker was Republican or Democrat based on their comments alone. And as far as I could tell, no lawmaker came to the defense of the industry. Instead, there was broad, bipartisan agreement that the status quo isn’t acceptable.
“The incoming Trump administration is indicating that combating obesity, promoting healthy foods, is a top priority,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the top Republican on the committee who’s set to lead it in the next Congress.
“Many of President Trump’s concerns around food transparency are echoed by Democratic colleagues, including [committee chair Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)],” Cassidy noted. “In the new majority, I am excited to work with President Trump and colleagues on this dais to examine these issues, crafting policies to enhance the health of Americans.”
The big Q: To be clear, we don’t know what kind of policies Republicans have in mind: How will the MAHA agenda ultimately square with the deregulatory tendencies of Republicans? In many ways, this is the central question. In the meantime, though, the industry is in very hot water.
The sharpest exchange of the hearing this week came from Sen. Sanders. He pressed FDA Commissioner Robert Califf on what progress FDA has made to warn Americans about the harms of processed foods. Sanders noted that it was 14 years ago that FDA began looking into front-of-pack labeling, and a proposal has still not been released. Meanwhile, many other countries have gone ahead with such labels and/or gone further, implementing bold front-of-pack warning labels.
“Have you had the courage to take on a very powerful food and beverage industry?” Sanders wanted to know, holding up a Coca-Cola bottle for effect. “Have you done your job in alerting the American people to the danger and rallying members of Congress to stand up to the special interests who are causing these problems?”
Califf argued that FDA is limited in what it can do because the agency is vulnerable to industry opposition in court, particularly with a lack of clear authority from Congress. “I’m really heartened to hear the bipartisan support for this, because much of what we try to do, frankly, gets blocked,” Califf said, casting a bit of shade back at the legislative branch. (Califf also repeatedly brought up inadequate funding and staffing for its foods program, which is also controlled by Congress.)
Sanders doubled down and tried to get the commissioner to explicitly blame the food industry for our diet-related disease crisis, but he declined to take a swing: “I’m not going to castigate the people that work in the food and beverage industry,” Califf said.
Processed foods and addiction: Later in the hearing, however, Califf acknowledged that he personally thinks processed foods are essentially designed to be addictive: “The food is probably addictive … this is not an FDA policy, this is my opinion having looked at it,” Califf said.
With this, Sanders finally seemed satisfied with the commissioner’s candor.
“You just said the most important point of the hearing,” Sanders replied. “You said that the food industry is producing products which are unhealthy and addictive. That’s exactly what’s going on. The question, of course, is: What the hell have we done about it over the last 15 years?”
(By the way, I was the first to report that Califf believes processed foods can drive “addictive behavior” back in October. It’s remarkable to hear an FDA commissioner say this, even if it’s not official government policy.)
Limiting SNAP foods: While all of this puts a lot of heat on the food industry — the vibes are officially critical from both sides of the aisle — one thing that really caught my attention was when Califf said he thought that SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) should be limited to healthy food only. While he doesn’t have jurisdiction over this program (it’s under USDA), and he’s on his way out in January, I think this is the first high-level food official to endorse such a concept.
“It would be one of the most important things, I think, that could be done here,” Califf said, responding to a question from Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) “The U.S. government has the purchasing power, so why not purchase healthy food?”
The new left-right political realignment could make a big difference in the ongoing debate about whether SNAP purchases should be limited to certain foods. The food industry and anti-hunger advocates have been very successful in banding together to defeat any and all attempts to test out limits on what can be purchased with these benefits. I doubt that damn can hold much longer.
A new sheriff: Of course, Califf is in his final months as FDA commissioner. Right before Thanksgiving, President-elect Donald Trump named Marty Makary, a surgeon from Johns Hopkins University, as his nominee to lead the FDA in the next administration. Makary has been quite critical of the U.S. food system and of processed foods — I did a deep dive on what he thinks about food and nutrition earlier this week — Makary has an unusually extensive record on these issues compared to past FDA leaders.
In this new MAHA era, the gloves are coming off.
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What I’m reading
What’s up with all these food recalls? (The Washington Post). “Last month, organic carrots were recalled after they were linked to an E. coli outbreak across 18 states that left one dead. This week, cucumbers available in 19 states have been recalled after regulators fielded reports of at least 68 people falling ill from salmonella. These kinds of high-profile incidents have many wondering about the country’s food safety system, even as the number of food recalls this year appears to be on track to go down slightly. On “Post Reports,” co-host Elahe Izadi talks with national health-care reporter Rachel Roubein about how food regulation in the U.S. works, how bacteria like salmonella can wind up in vegetables like cucumbers and how to make sure the produce in our kitchens is safe to eat.”
Martin Thompson named Nestlé USA CEO and U.S. Market Head (Consumer Goods Technology). “Nestlé USA has promoted Martin Thompson as its new CEO,” reports Liz Dominguez. “Thompson, who also takes on the title of U.S. market head, will join the Zone Americas leadership team as part of the transition. Thompson joined the company in 2018 as part of the Starbucks CPG and foodservice products acquisition. In 2020, he was promoted to president of Nestlé Coffee Partners, which includes a portfolio of coffee brands including Nescafé, Starbucks at Home, and Seattle’s Best. The company reports that under his leadership, the business has been a key growth driver for the Nestlé USA segment, resulting in consecutive profitability and market share expansion.”
A 12-year-old’s journey into the world of Ozempic (The Wall Street Journal). “Pediatric use of GLP-1 drugs—which the manufacturers and most doctors say are intended for long-term use—has led to an intense, high-stakes battle in children’s health,” report Alex Janin and Julie Jargon. “More than 30,000 adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 were dispensed brand name and compounded GLP-1 medications last year, according to an analysis by University of Michigan researchers. Of that group, 60% were female.”
Hey Democrats: We should work with RFK Jr. on fixing America’s food system | Opinion (Newsweek). “Democrats should join RFK Jr. in the fight to Make America Healthy Again,” writes former Ohio Democratic congressman Tim Ryan. “Yes, I know, I know: RFK Jr. has some very troubling opinions, controversial views, a complicated past, and no shortage of detractors. But he didn’t get nominated to be the Pope. He got nominated to help us get healthy, and he is passionate about it. And we should absolutely challenge him on any policies not grounded in science or data. But on food system reform, he’s right.”
The allure of ‘microdosing’ Ozempic (The New York Times). “Erica Liebman wanted to lose weight, but she was nervous to try a drug like Ozempic. Ms. Liebman, a psychologist in Philadelphia, had heard horror stories of side effects — nausea, vomiting, intense constipation,” writes Dani Blum. “So Ms. Liebman turned to a solution that, despite limited evidence, seems to be growing more popular: ‘microdosing’ weight loss drugs, or taking very small amounts. To consumers like Ms. Liebman, microdosing is a hack: a way to lose weight while sidestepping unpleasant side effects from standard doses. The question now: Is microdosing a gimmick, or does it actually work?”
The great grocery squeeze (The Atlantic). “The concept of the food desert has been around long enough that it feels almost like a fact of nature,” writes Stacy Mitchell. “Tens of millions of Americans live in low-income communities with no easy access to fresh groceries, and the general consensus is that these places just don’t have what it takes to attract and sustain a supermarket. But these explanations fail to contend with a key fact: Although poverty and ruralness have been with us forever, food deserts arrived only around the late 1980s. Prior to that, small towns and poor neighborhoods could generally count on having a grocery store, perhaps even several.”
The time is now for the upcoming FDA Food Traceability Rule (Food Dive). “Some food industry interests are pushing legislative proposals that could indefinitely delay the implementation of the traceability rule, which aims to strengthen the FDA’s ability to respond to foodborne illness outbreaks,” writes Brian Ronholm, director of food policy for Consumer Reports. “Even more astonishing is that the FDA seems poised to support this congressional delay. If these proposals are passed, they would effectively put the convenience of companies above the safety of consumers. Those impacted the most by this delay tactic would be those most at risk of getting sick—the very young, the very old, pregnant, those with life-threatening allergies, and those with compromised immune systems. Congress and the FDA need to work with consumers in demanding better protections from foodborne diseases.”
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