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Helena
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RFK Jr. eyes total revamp of government nutrition advice
The Trump administration is working on a major revamp of federal nutrition advice, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told reporters on Thursday.
“We’re in the middle right now of very, very energetically revising the nutrition guidelines,” Kennedy said, during a brief press appearance at an elementary school in Northern Virginia alongside Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which give consumers advice on what to eat and underpin the rules of federal nutrition programs, are jointly updated by USDA and HHS every five years. The latest round of recommendations are due out in 2025 — offering an early test of what the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda will look like in practice.
Toss the experts: As I’ve previously reported, Calley Means, a top aide for RFK Jr., has repeatedly criticized the outside panel of experts that advised the government on the current guidelines, largely because they concluded there was not enough evidence to advise Americans to eat fewer ultra-processed foods. Means called the advisory report the panel issued “a disgrace and an insult to American children.” Kennedy on Thursday reiterated this complaint.
“There’s a 453-page document that looks like it was written by the food processing industry,” Kennedy said. “We are going to come up with a document that is simple, that lets people know with great clarity what kind of foods their children need to eat, what kind of foods they can eat, and what’s good for them, what’s good nutrition.”
A quick note: The dietary guidelines advisory committee report Kennedy is referencing was written by university scientists, not the food industry. However, there has long been concerns about conflicts of interest on this panel because many nutrition scientists accept industry funding for their research or other related work. Nutrition science is chronically underfunded in the U.S.
Interestingly, many animal protein interests didn’t like the panel’s report because it’s quite favorable to beans, lentils and other plant protein foods.
Ultra-processed vibes: Kennedy dished on the dietary guidelines in response to a question I asked about ultra-processed foods in school nutrition programs. Since Kennedy has been extremely critical of ultra-processed foods and both he and Rollins have recently praised state efforts to ban synthetic food dyes from school food, I wanted to know: Is there a plan to update the federal standards for school meals programs? After all, the government spends tens of billions on these programs to feed more than 30 million schoolchildren each year, and much of this food is ultra-processed.
Kennedy, who has in the past said that school meals need to get rid of ultra-processed foods altogether, did not answer my question, but instead focused on his agency’s work to revamp the dietary guidelines. Rollins, for her part, didn’t answer directly either, but said that on top of updating the dietary guidelines, USDA was encouraging states to experiment with improving school meals, calling them the “laboratories of democracy.” She said she was in “constant contact” with both Democrat and Republican governors who wanted to work on the issue.
While The Trump administration is, at least for now, shying away from talking about any regulatory moves — though this is what it would take to change federal requirements for school meals — any major changes to the dietary guidelines would ultimately impact these nutrition programs. USDA’s school nutrition programs — think school lunch, school breakfast, and snack programs — eventually have to follow the dietary guidelines.
If this iteration of the dietary guidelines were to say something about avoiding ultra-processed foods, that could have a major impact down the road. (Sidenote: One thing Washington is not ready to discuss, however, is just how much it would cost to move toward less-processed fare.)
Public health cuts: Kennedy and Rollins’ comments on nutrition come as the Trump administration is facing a ton of criticism over sweeping layoffs at HHS this week — a major staff reduction that affected FDA, CDC, and NIH — that has basically everyone in Washington asking: How will this make anyone healthier?
As many as 10,000 HHS employees were laid off, including roughly 3,500 at FDA. Though the foods division is a small slice of the overall agency, I am told north of 250 foods staffers were fired. Unfortunately, the FDA eliminated its entire media, engagement and communications operation so I couldn’t officially confirm this number. There was basically no one left to ask. There were a bunch more staff at the Center for Veterinary Medicine who were laid off — this division oversees the safety of pet food and veterinary meds, etc. — including officials who worked on avian influenza response and other public health issues, but, again, I was not able to confirm overall numbers.
The Trump administration has defended these cuts as largely focused on administrative roles, and this is somewhat true. The cuts did disproportionately target these roles (think admin, IT, policy planning, etc.), but they also impacted plenty of divisions that have a clear and direct impact on public health.
Bring them back: One that was particularly shocking was the elimination of CDC’s lead poisoning prevention and surveillance program staff — it’s shocking in part because there is no other agency that can replace this work and in part because Kennedy first started his advocacy work over concerns about heavy metals contamination in fish. CDC’s lead prevention work includes screening babies and young children and intervening when their blood lead levels are too high — interventions that could save children from lowered IQs and developmental problems. This division also played a key role in uncovering the massive lead-tainted applesauce pouch debacle that poisoned hundreds of children.
“There were some programs that were cut that are being reinstated and I believe that’s one of them,” Kennedy told reporters, when asked about this program specifically on Thursday.
He said the administration was trying to reduce redundancy and bureaucracy. Still, Kennedy acknowledged there were personnel, studies, etc. that were cut that shouldn’t have been. He further suggested that as many as 20 percent of DOGE cuts would need to be walked back. “We’ll make mistakes,” he said.
Kennedy also told reporters that the cuts are “not affecting science,” and that science jobs were “preserved,” which is just not accurate. I am told numerous scientists within FDA, including toxicologists and microbiologists who worked directly on food safety in labs and elsewhere across the agency, were laid off this week. I am already hearing of lab folks getting called back, though I imagine some portion of them will not want to work for the federal government amid this level of chaos.
Transparency fail: It should be noted that the HHS press office did not answer my request for basic information about what parts of FDA’s foods program were eliminated this week. I was sent a brief, high-level statement this morning:
“The layoffs relate to administrative staff positions in the FDA,” said Emily G. Hilliard, deputy press secretary for HHS, in email. “These administrative functions are being streamlined as part of HHS’ transformation initiative to make the agency more efficient and responsive. FDA inspectors were not impacted, and this critical work will continue.”
The department argued that there was simply too much redundancy within HHS. The agency said that HHS had 41 chief information officers and 100 communications offices, as well as 40 procurement departments and dozens of IT departments, but no details were provided about the cuts.
For all this administration has talked about “radical transparency,” not disclosing details about what government programs, labs, services and staff have been eliminated within an agency that oversees 80 percent of the food supply is just not acceptable. Health officials working within these agencies don’t know who has been cut and have been forced to crowdsource lists via Google docs. Even Congress — you know, the branch that funds these agencies — is in the dark about what’s going on.
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee leaders Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) this week requested that Kennedy come before them April 10 to explain these cuts. I also have questions.
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What I’m reading
Trump administration ramps up farm aid discussions amid tariff fallout (Politico). “Trump administration officials are assuring farm-state Republicans they will funnel billions of taxpayer dollars to farmers who are hit by Trump’s intensifying trade war,” writes Meredith Lee Hill. “The administration wants to take stock of the economic fallout of the tariffs in the agriculture sector before rolling out aid, officials have told Republicans on Capitol Hill, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter. That will likely take several more months. The topic came up again Thursday when Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins lunched with Senate Agriculture Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.), who chairs the Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the Agriculture Department, at the White House complex Thursday, according to two other Republicans familiar with the matter. The discussion focused largely on reconciliation, as Republicans continue to explore whether they can add some farm bill program funding into the massive bill, along with cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But Rollins mentioned during the conversation she was exploring how to again tap an internal USDA fund known as the Commodity Credit Corporation to send out billions in possible farm economic aid, if needed.”
Grocery shoppers will feel the tariffs first in the produce aisle (New York Times). “Grocery shoppers are likely to feel the impact of the Trump administration’s sweeping new tariffs before April is over. And the first place they’ll feel it is in parts of the store where the inventory has to move fast,” writes Kim Severson. “In the produce aisle, food analysts said Thursday, expect small price increases on everyday purchases like bananas from Guatemala and grapes from Peru, countries whose exports to the United States will incur 10 percent tariffs when the new fees go into effect on Saturday. A separate round of reciprocal tariffs on 57 countries will follow on Wednesday. The seafood counter may hold even worse surprises. Grocery stores sell a lot of shrimp from Vietnam, which President Trump hit with a 46 percent reciprocal tariff, and India, with a 26 percent reciprocal tariff.”
Bipartisan senators unveil measure providing flexibility in school lunch milk options (The Hill). “A bipartisan trio in the Senate unveiled a proposal Wednesday to require schools to offer nondairy milk options at lunch to accommodate students who are lactose intolerant or have other dietary restrictions,” reports Sarah Fortinsky. “The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) has long required school lunches to include milk on all trays in order for schools to be reimbursed for the meals. But the Freedom in School Cafeterias and Lunches (FISCAL) Act — introduced by Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) — would update the legislation to require schools to also offer students ‘plant-based milk’ that is ‘consistent with nutritional standards established by the Secretary.’”
Pesticide in food that’s ‘making America sick again’ may get free pass (Fox News). “A bill waiting on the desk of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has drawn criticism from those supporting the ‘Make America Healthy Again’ movement, who claim it would impede lawsuits against pesticide companies,” reports Ashley J. DiMella. “Georgia SB 144 would ‘clarify that a manufacturer cannot be held liable for failing to warn consumers of health risks above those required by the United States Environmental Protection Agency with respect to pesticides,’ reads the bill. Emma Post, a spokesperson for MAHA Action based in Los Angeles, told Fox News Digital, ‘The bill is literally making America sick again.’ The legislation comes as Bayer Monsanto, producer of the Roundup weed killer, was ordered last week by a Georgia jury to pay nearly $2.1 billion in damages to a man who says the product caused his cancer, according to reports. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has long been a vocal critic of Roundup, working with his legal team in 2018 to award $289 million to a man who alleged the weed killer caused his non-Hodgkin lymphoma.”
Everything I never learned about USDA’s climate-smart commodities program (Ambrook Research). “The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s $3.1 billion Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities (PCSC) program is (was?) a program initiated by the Biden administration to research climate-friendly farming and forestry practices, measure their impacts, and expand U.S.-based markets for them,” writes Lela Nargi. “I knew of the existence of PCSC but not much about its specifics. Like dozens if not hundreds of federal funding streams — particularly ones involving any mention of sustainability or climate — one morning I woke up to the news that PCSC had its taps turned off by the administration, with no indication of when or if the money would flow again. The anxiety was palpable, now, when I talked to my sources. Some farmers had already shelled out a lot of their own hard-earned money for equipment and materials. They were now on the hook for those costly expenditures, which they trusted the government would pay back because it said so right in their contracts; many were uncertain if their farms would survive the hit. So, this is also a story about panic, depression, and anger.”
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