Happy Friday, and welcome to Food Fix. For anyone new around here: I’m Helena Bottemiller Evich, a longtime reporter covering food policy in Washington, D.C. Most recently, I was a senior reporter at Politico, where I wrote about everything from Michelle Obama’s childhood obesity campaign to how farmers are adapting to climate change.
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Alright, let’s get to it –
Helena
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Gaming out key Trump cabinet picks — and what comes next
President-elect Donald Trump has now named 15 of his 24 cabinet-level nominees. Of course, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made the most waves in terms of food policy, but we are still waiting on some key posts.
Below the cabinet, the most important food policy position is FDA commissioner — this person will be a key decision-maker not only for drugs and medical devices, but also the vast majority of the U.S. food supply. Trump is expected to pick Marty Makary, a pancreatic surgeon at Johns Hopkins, for the role, but this has not been confirmed.
Makary, who’s an outspoken critic of the current medical system, recently appeared at a Senate roundtable that was a who’s who of wellness influencers, doctors and other allies of the “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) movement. During that appearance, he had some harsh words for the current food system.
“We have poisoned our food supply, engineered highly addictive chemicals that we put into our food, we spray it with pesticides that kill pests — what do you think they do to our gut lining and our microbiome?” Makary said, further arguing that all of this causes “low-grade inflammation” that contributes to the explosion in chronic diseases in the U.S.
“Our health care system is playing whack-a-mole on the back end, and we are not talking about the root causes of our chronic disease epidemic,” Makary added. (If you’re interested, you can watch his full remarks.)
We’re also still waiting for picks to lead CDC and NIH, too, but the scuttlebutt on both seems pretty fluid still. My former colleagues over at Politico, Adam Cancryn and David Lim this week reported on the latest.
At the cabinet-level, the biggie that’s left is agriculture secretary, though it’s typical for this pick to come later. Last time around, Trump announced his pick to lead USDA (Sonny Perdue) last — the day before inauguration. We may know sooner this time around, though. The chatter around ag secretary has been so wild it’s almost not useful — and it almost makes me wonder if Trump will end up choosing someone not on the list (after all, no one saw Dr. Oz coming to lead CMS).
Recently, the names that seem to come up most often include: Abel Maldonado, former California lieutenant governor; former Trump White House official and USDA chief of staff Ray Starling; and Kip Tom, former UN ambassador. Other names that come up include Texas agriculture commissioner Sid Miller; specialty crop grower Sarah Frey, Ted McKinney, a former Trump USDA official and current president of NASDA; and Zippy Duvall, president of the American Farm Bureau Federation.
Normie vs. MAHA: There’s been tension within Trump world over who should be agriculture secretary. This is a position that RFK Jr. cares a lot about and has been weighing in on, per conversations I’ve had with those most up to speed on the process. Kennedy has publicly called for a wholesale re-do of American ag policy. Most food and ag lobbying groups, however, very much favor more of an establishment or “normie” pick for the role, especially after Trump chose Kennedy with a clear mandate to shake things up.
RFK vibes: While we’re here, I said last week that I thought RFK Jr.’s reception in the Senate could be warmer than people think, and that seems to be playing out so far. Some Republicans have said they want Kennedy to explain his criticisms of vaccines, including his debunked claims about vaccines causing autism, but there’s also been a fair amount of support for some of his ideas.
As Rachel Roubein and Dan Diamond at the Washington Post wrote this week, the pick has “scrambled Capitol Hill, with Republicans trying to decide whether to vote for a former Democrat who has supported abortion rights, attacked the pharmaceutical industry and wants to change U.S. agriculture policies, among other positions that challenge GOP orthodoxy.”
“In interviews Monday and Tuesday with nearly two dozen senators, several GOP lawmakers said they enthusiastically supported Kennedy’s candidacy,” they reported. “Other senators said they wanted to hear directly from Kennedy about his views and plans for the massive health department, although they did not rule out supporting him.”
Key farm state Republicans, meanwhile, said they look forward to educating Kennedy about ag policy. Per Philip Brasher at Agri-Pulse: Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) told reporters this week that Kennedy wouldn’t have as much influence over ag policy at HHS, anyway.
“I’m not scared right now of anything he said,” Grassley told reporters Tuesday. “Maybe after I meet with him and have some discussion with him, I will be very, very concerned. But not right now.”
Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), another key ag leader on the Hill, told Agri-Pulse: “HHS needs reform. We’ve got to find ways to get healthier. On the ag side, he’s got some things we’re going to have to talk about. But I’m hopeful that I can bring some of that ag perspective to him.”
(Sidenote: I would truly love to be a fly on the wall for any meeting like this — if you are staffing one of these meetings, please spill the tea!)
Left and right meet? Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) posted a video this week calling for major reforms to the food system (along the same lines as he has been for several years). The video was reposted by RFK Jr., who called for working together on chronic diseases. Booker has not indicated he would vote for Kennedy, but whether any Democrats can be peeled off is something to watch. (In this same vein, author and prominent food system critic Michael Pollan clarified this week, in an interview with Politico Magazine, that he is not endorsing Kennedy, even though he agrees with a lot of his ideas on food. “I think he’s completely unfit, and that’s because of his stance on vaccines,” he said.)
Gaetz twist: While the reception to RFK Jr. has certainly not been hostile by any means, at least not yet, industry leaders hoping Kennedy will sink think it’s a great sign that Gaetz went down. The theory goes like this: Senate Republicans are only going to put up limited opposition on nominees; Gaetz being gone might leave more political capital to push back against Kennedy. We’ll see.
What’s next: Kennedy is expected to be in the Senate for meetings after the Thanksgiving break. In the coming days, we should know more names for key spots. Confirmation hearings wont start until January.
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What I’m reading
Front-of-package nutrition labels advance to White House (CSPI). “The Food and Drug Administration has completed a proposed rule creating front-of-package nutrition labels to help Americans select healthier foods and avoid diet-related disease,” noted Peter Lurie in a statement today. “It’s now up to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget to release the proposal for public input.”
FDA: More carrot products recalled in deadly E. coli outbreak—what else to throw away (health). “On Wednesday, F&S Fresh Foods initiated the recall of two Whole Foods Market products—organic carrot sticks and a combo pack of organic carrot sticks and celery—after the supplier, Grimmway Farms, notified them of potential E. coli contamination of the carrots in both packages,” reports Jenna Anderson. “Online retailer Fabalish voluntarily recalled boxes of its Kickin’ Carrot Falafel Bites on Monday also in connection to E. coli contamination from Grimmway Farms. The original recall, voluntarily issued Saturday by Grimmway Farms, included bagged organic baby and whole carrots, sold in stores like Trader Joe’s, Wegmans, and Target, that were connected to 39 E. coli infections, including 15 hospitalizations and one death.”
Ground beef recalled due to possible E. coli contamination (CNN). “Wolverine Packing Co. is recalling more than 167,000 pounds of ground beef shipped to restaurants due to possible E. coli contamination,” writes Jamie Gumbrecht. “Fifteen cases have been reported in Minnesota, with illnesses starting from November 2 to November 10, the US Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service said Wednesday. Items were shipped to restaurants nationwide, the agency said, and it’s concerned that some products may be in restaurant refrigerators or freezers. All the products should be thrown away or returned and should not be eaten.”
A California child tested positive for bird flu. Here’s why this case is different (Cal Matters). “An Alameda County child with mild upper respiratory symptoms tested positive for bird flu, state public health officials announced,” and Kristen Hwang reports. “The potential infection is the first known case in California that does not appear to have originated from contact with infected cattle. State health officials are waiting for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to confirm the test result. Public health investigators suspect the infection may have originated from wild birds, which are the main carriers of bird flu, according to a statement from the California Department of Public Health. The agency did not disclose information describing the child’s interactions with wildlife.”
It’s a gene-edited tomato, and it’s sweet (The Wall Street Journal). “Plant biologists in China have used Crispr, the tool that has been deployed to treat sickle-cell disease, to engineer sweeter tomatoes,” writes Nidhi Subbaraman. “Crispr allows researchers to snip out a piece of a genome and, if desired, replace it with another piece of DNA. Scientists have used the technology previously to design tomato plants that consume less water, use less growing space or have higher levels of nutrients. But using Crispr to boost the sugar content of tomatoes, alongside experiments to create seedless blackberries and less-bitter mustard greens, is part of a trend toward using the tool to make foods more appealing to consumers rather than farmers or nutritionists.”
One food to change the world (The Atlantic). “The bean is a powerful little food, all the more for its shapeshifting capacities. Many people can appreciate that these legumes are cheap and healthy, but they still fall short of widespread adoration or even respect,” writes Lora Kelley. “The humble bean, small, unglamorous, packed with protein, has been a source of inspiration for those seeking to remake the food system, fight climate change, and add some better flavors into American homes. The image of beans as a backup when you don’t have, or can’t afford, anything better has proven hard to shake. Even as vegetarian diets are on the rise and Americans recognize the environmental impact of beef, eating meat remains an intractable part of American life.”
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