After months of lobbying and speculation, farm and food industry leaders are anxiously awaiting the release of the Trump administration’s strategy to “Make America Healthy Again.”
The MAHA Commission’s strategy document is due Tuesday, and is expected to guide new policies, regulations and other solutions that will have wide-ranging impacts on the administration’s overhaul of the food system.
The commission’s initial assessment of key factors of chronic disease — especially in children — provoked some food and agriculture industry outrage by calling out commonly used food additives and herbicides as targets for governmental intervention.
Following outcry from major food businesses and farm groups that are traditionally allies to Trump, the White House promised to stay away from a crackdown on pesticides and avoid surprising the food industry with new additive targets or regulations.
Industry insiders are expecting the report to focus on what Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has already publicly promised to do: secure more voluntary commitments from companies on the transition to natural food dyes, define “ultra-processed foods,” update the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, reform the “generally recognized as safe” designation and limit recipients of federal food aid from purchasing junk food with their benefits.
All of those goals will have significant implications for the food supply chain without a major clash with the Trump administration’s broader effort to pare back excessive rules and regulations.
“The White House has certainly gotten the message, both from agriculture and the food sector, that they are on the edge of a nanny state,” one food industry lobbyist told your host. “Like this is Michelle Obama on steroids. The message we’ve gotten from the White House is, ‘Don’t worry, we’re not letting the crazy people run rampant over the food sector.’”
White House officials pledged to stay away from a crackdown on pesticides after the initial MAHA report mentioned the use of herbicides glyphosate and atrazine.
Major agriculture groups that represent a range of agricultural interests, from traditional commodity growers to sustainable small-scale operations, have banded together in recent weeks to find common goals with MAHA leaders that won’t require them to overhaul their inputs.
MAHA advocates have grown increasingly concerned that Kennedy, their emissary to the White House, is falling short — even as he prepares to release the road map for how to improve the nation’s health outcomes.
“This MAHA report could turn the tide to tackle chronic [disease] in America and beyond,” said Zen Honeycutt, founder of Moms Across America, which advocates banning environmental toxins. “It’s crucial that our elected officials in this administration have the courage to stand up against the chemical corporations, which are trying to corrupt democracy.”
Source: Politico.com
