The new Trump administration may be coming for your snacks.
For years, the federal government has shied away from regulating fast food, junk food and ultra-processed foods.
Now attitudes are changing. Some members of President-elect Donald Trump’s inner circle are preparing to take on “big food companies,” or the companies that make most of the food and beverages consumed in the United States. Nominees for top health agencies target ultra-processed foods that represent… estimated at 70% of the country’s food supply. Based on recent statements, a variety of potentially politically charged policy options for regulating ultra-processed foods could appear on the Trump team’s list, including warning labels, changes to farm business subsidies, and restrictions on what products consumers can purchase with government food stamps.
The drive to reform the American food system is largely driven by conservatives who have embraced the cause that has long been a darling of the left. Trump supporters, like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose controversial nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services still faces Senate confirmation, espouse a concept that supports natural foods and alternative medicine. It’s a movement they call “MAHA” or “Make America Healthy Again.” Their interest has created momentum because their goals have broad bipartisan support even amid a closely divided Congress in which lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have focused on the issue in the past year.
It will likely be a pitched battle because the food industry has enormous political influence and has successfully thwarted previous efforts to regulate or market its products. The “Food Processing and Sales Companies” category, which includes Tyson Foods and Nestle SA, generated $26.7 million in lobbying spending in 2024. According to the OpenSecrets website. This is up from about $10 million in 1998.
“They have been very effective and very successful in delaying any regulatory effectiveness in America,” said Laura Schmidt, a health policy professor at the University of California-San Francisco. “It really feels like there needs to be a moment of reckoning here where people start asking the question: ‘Why do we have to live this way?’
“Ultra-processed foods“He is a A widely used term It means different things to different people and is used to describe items ranging from soft drinks to many frozen meals. These products often contain added fats, starches, and sugars, among other things. Researchers say consumption of ultra-processed foods is linked – at varying levels of severity – to chronic conditions such as diabetes, cancer, mental health problems and early death.
Nutrition and health leaders are optimistic that the reckoning is already underway. Kennedy has pledged to remove processed foods from school lunches, restrict certain food additives such as dyes in grains, and shift federal agricultural subsidies away from commodity crops widely used in ultra-processed foods.
The intense focus in Washington has sparked a new level of interest on the legal front, as lawyers explore cases to sue major food makers for selling products they say lead to chronic disease.
Bryce Martinez, now 18, filed a lawsuit in December against nearly a dozen food makers such as Kraft Heinz, Coca-Cola Co. and Nestlé USA. He developed diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease at the age of 16, and is seeking accountability for his illness. According to the lawsuit filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, the companies knew or should have known that ultra-processed foods were harmful and addictive.
The lawsuit noted that Martinez grew up eating heavily advertised brand-name foods that are staples of the American diet — sugary sodas, Cheerios and Lucky Charms, Skittles and Snickers, and frozen and packaged dinners, to name a few.
Nestle, Coca-Cola and Kraft Heinz did not return emails seeking comment for this article. The Consumer Brands Association, a trade association for makers of consumer packaged goods, disputed the claims.
“Attempting to label foods as unhealthy simply because they are processed, or to demonize a food by ignoring its full nutrient content, misleads consumers and exacerbates health disparities,” Sarah Gallo, senior vice president of product policy, said in a statement.
Other law firms are looking for children or adults who believe they have been harmed by eating ultra-processed foods, increasing the possibility of lawsuits.
one Indiana Personal Injury Firm “We are actively investigating cases of ultra-processed food (UPF),” it says on its website. Trial lawyers in Texas are also considering potential legal action against federal regulators they say have failed to monitor ultra-processed foods.
“If you or your child has had health problems that your doctor has directly linked to the consumption of ultra-processed foods, we want to hear your story,” they say on their website.
Meanwhile, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced on January 14 that it was proposing to impose this requirement Label on front of package To appear on most packaged foods to make information about the saturated fat, sodium and added sugar content of the food easily visible to consumers.
On Capitol Hill, Sens. Bernie Sanders (R-Va.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), and Cory Booker (D) sounded the alarm about ultra-processed foods. sanders Introduce the legislation in 2024 This could lead to a federal ban on fast food advertising to children, a national education campaign, and labels on ultra-processed foods saying the products are not recommended for children. Booker signed the legislation with Senators Peter Welch (D-Virginia) and John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado).
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions held a meeting December session Study of the links between ultra-processed foods and chronic diseases, during which FDA Commissioner Robert Califf called for more funding for the research.
Food companies tapped into “the same neural circuits involved in opioid addiction,” Califf told the hearing.
Sanders, who chaired the hearing, said there was “mounting evidence” that “these foods are intentionally designed to cause addiction,” and stressed that ultra-processed foods have led to epidemics of diabetes and obesity, and hundreds of billions of dollars in medical expenses. Expenses.
Kelly Brownell, professor emeritus at Stanford University and one of the magazine’s editors, said Scientific evidence About this topic.
Attacks from three quarters — lawyers, Congress, and the incoming Trump administration, all of whom appear interested in doing battle — could bring enough pressure to challenge big food companies and perhaps spur better health outcomes in the United States, which has Lowest life expectancy Among high-income countries.
“Maybe eliminating highly processed foods from some things will flip the switch very quickly in changing the percentage of the American population that is obese,” said Robert Redfield, a virologist who led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the previous Trump presidency. Management, in statements in December event Hosted by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.
The allegations that big food companies intentionally manufactured and sold addictive and harmful products are similar to the allegations made against Big Tobacco by the teacher A settlement worth $206 billion It was reached in 1998.
“These companies allegedly use the tobacco industry’s rules to target children, particularly Black and Latino children, through integrated marketing tie-ins with cartoons, toys and games, along with social media advertising.” Rene RochaAn attorney at Morgan & Morgan representing Martinez told KFF Health News.
Martinez’s 148-page lawsuit against the food makers is drawn from documents made public in a lawsuit against the tobacco companies that own some of the food industry’s biggest brands.
Similar allegations were made against opioid manufacturers, distributors and retailers before they agreed to pay tens of billions of dollars in a 2021 settlement with states.
Eventually, the US Food and Drug Administration placed restrictions on tobacco labeling and marketing, and the opioid epidemic led to legislation increasing access to life-saving medications to treat addiction.
But the Trump administration’s zeal in taking on big food companies may face unique challenges.
The FDA’s ability to enforce regulation is partly hampered by funding. While the agency’s drug division collects industry user fees, its food division relies on a limited budget set by Congress.
Change may take time, because the agency is moving at what some critics call a snail’s pace. Last year, the F.D.A He canceled the list Allowing brominated vegetable oils in food products. The agency determined in 1970 that the additive was not generally recognized as safe.
Efforts to limit the marketing of ultra-processed foods could lead to lawsuits claiming that any restrictions violate commercial speech protected by the First Amendment. Kennedy – if confirmed as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services – may face difficulties in obtaining support from a Republican-led Congress that favors less federal regulation and a President-elect who during his previous term Serves fast food at the White House.
“The question is, will Robert Kennedy be able to make a difference?” said David L. Katz, a physician who founded the Real Health Initiative, a nonprofit group that combats public health misinformation. “No previous administration has done much in this area, and RFK is associated with a particularly anti-regulation administration.”
At the same time, United States population It is considered among the most obese countries in the world and has the highest rate of people with multiple chronic diseases among high-income countries.
“There is a huge grassroots effort because of how sick we are,” he said. Jerrold Mundywho served as deputy undersecretary for food safety at the Department of Agriculture from 2009 to 2011. “A big part of it is that people shouldn’t be sick at this age in their lives. You’re lucky if you make it to 18 without having a chronic illness.” “It’s wonderful.”