By Kristina Peterson
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. signaled that he was open to a national food standard, a top priority for food companies trying to navigate proliferating state laws.
“It is on the table for discussion,” Kennedy said in an interview Wednesday at the U.S. Department of Agriculture with Secretary Brooke Rollins.
For months, food companies have been signaling alarm about the patchwork of varying laws emerging in states including West Virginia, Texas and Louisiana, as more governors take up the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.
A coalition of food companies and agricultural groups, including Kraft Heinz Co., Conagra Brands Inc. and PepsiCo Inc., formed this year to push for a single national standard for rules around labeling and which food ingredients are considered safe. The group, which argues that a slew of different state laws will make food more expensive, began a six-figure advertising campaign in Washington last month aimed at bolstering support for a national standard.
“The fact that this is being driven by the states has brought the industry to the table with us because they don’t want to have rules in 50 different markets; that’s impossible,” Kennedy said Wednesday in an interview.
The comments were notable because Kennedy has been one of the loudest champions of the state actions, traveling across the country to support governors signing state laws aimed at bolstering the safety and transparency of the food supply.
Discussions on standard
Kennedy said discussions are focused on “making sure we have a standard that is working for the states and working for the federal government, and that works for industry.”
Critics have said they worry that the food industry is trying to wipe out state laws without the federal resources or pressure needed to craft and implement a national standard.
Kennedy said he thinks that the administration will “have to go back to Congress and get statutory authority to have a national standard,” if one could be agreed upon.
“We appreciate Secretary Kennedy’s openness to action from Congress to establish a clear, national standard for ingredient safety and transparency,” Julie Gunlock, a senior adviser to Americans for Ingredient Transparency, the food coalition, said in a statement Wednesday. A uniform standard “would give every American the transparency they deserve without compromising President Trump’s affordability agenda.”
Ultra-processed
The food industry has also been working to help shape a government effort to define ultra-processed food, a complicated issue that could have significant policy and business implications for food companies.
Kennedy said that he wasn’t sure if the administration would be able to craft a single definition of ultra-processed food.
“It would be convenient to have that one definition – I don’t know if we’ll ever get there,” he said.
This summer both the Health and Human Services and Agriculture Departments asked the public for more information on how to define ultra-processed food. Americans are increasingly cutting back on these options.
Kennedy said the next version of the national dietary guidelines, which are drafted in coordination with the USDA, will come out “soon after the first of the year.” He said they will include an updated graphic that will return to the food pyramid “one way or the other.”
Rollins said it was still “under discussion” how exactly the food graphic would look. Rollins and Kennedy spoke in Washington at the signing of six additional state requests to restrict unhealthy food in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The federal government eliminated the food pyramid graphic in 2011, replacing it with the “MyPlate” symbol instead. The original U.S. food pyramid, released in 1992, had bread, cereal, rice and pasta as its base. The updated guidelines are expected to urge Americans to consume more protein.
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