January 3, 2022 — GMO foods have been a source of fiery controversy for a decade. Today, the USDA has pulled off a regulatory miracle. Starting now, there will be no more GMO foods in the U.S. None. Instead, we will call them bioengineered. USDA even has a friendly little logo for food companies to slap on their products. […]
August 16, 2021 — A century ago, the iconic image of hunger was the bread line. Today, it is the line at a food bank, swamped by demand because of the pandemic. And for more than a decade now, the SNAP program has been inadequate for providing healthy nutrition to families facing food insecurity. But today, that will change. […]
August 13, 2021 — A decade has passed since President Barack Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act into law. In this time of great polarization, any big policy decision can generate controversy and this one is no exception. The purpose was to improve the quality of nutrition provided in school lunch and breakfast program, But some want to […]
December 30, 2020 — This happens only once every five years. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, along with Health and Human Services, issued new dietary guidelines yesterday. This is big news, but the reporting on it is pretty slim. In the 2020 guidelines for eating, we have some gains and some gaps in translating science into policy. In keeping […]
August 13, 2020 — Do you want to take a whack at expert opinions on the 2020 Dietary Guidelines? Then today is your last chance. USDA is accepting comments until midnight tonight. So far, it has a mere received 22,434 comments. Believe it or not, this reflects relatively little controversy. The main headlines from this round are all about […]
August 31, 2019 — Tough to solve an issue if we don’t talk about it. But a number of dietary issues appear to be off the table for the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Red meat? Too hot to handle. Ultra-processed foods? Nope. Sodium? Not on the issue list. The 2020 Guidelines may just skip over some of the […]
July 13, 2019 — The USDA opened up the process for developing the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for inspection and input this week. It was the second of five public meetings. Also, it was the first of two chances for the public to deliver live comments to the committee. The committee seems to be taking its task for the 2020 […]
May 10, 2019 — This is a pretty neat trick. Conflicts of interest are now officially dead. Lobbying for high fructose corn syrup isn’t a conflict of interest for drafting dietary guidelines. It’s a qualification. Evidence of expertise. USDA has put a high fructose corn syrup lobbyist in charge of overseeing new Dietary Guidelines for Americans. This would have […]
February 23, 2019 — We have an interesting climb ahead. Yesterday the USDA announced members of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. Clearly some groups are very happy. Unhappy campers – we know you’re out there – haven’t spoken up yet. Happy Bakers Among the happy campers was America’s Baking industry. The American Bakers Association celebrated with a press […]
December 9, 2018 — The plan to “make school lunches great again” is complete. The USDA has announced its final plans to lower the nutrition standards for school cafeterias. That means more sodium, more white bread, and more sugar-sweetened milk will be A-OK with the USDA. Completely Unsurprising Anyone who’s surprised by this needs to get out from under […]
