Letter from the Editor: Food safety policy changes and the MAHA agenda — both good and bad

— OPINION —

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…”

It’s hard to believe it was just more than three years ago when Washington D.C.’s Politico news posted a lengthy investigative report on how broken the FDA was regarding food safety. The report depicted warring bureaucrats, problems that had not been solved for years but were instead kicked down the road, and a crisis that led to a critical baby formula shortage being bungled.

Reorganization was the FDA’s response to the many policy questions raised in that report. Still, there was no urgency to address or resolve the policy debates being raised by Politico or others. The FDA was running as usual on its schedule.

Then, on Feb. 13, 2025, the date the U.S. Senate confirmed Robert F Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, all hell broke loose. The “Make America Healthy Again” agenda that RFK Jr. brought with him means everything is on the table. The slow-walking FDA policy days for some areas were over.

Ever since, it’s been like trying to drink from a fire hose — petroleum-based additives are out, Food stamps are being limited to purchase food with nutritional value, rather than candy and soda, and ultra-processed grains, sugars and fats are being targeted.

By Executive Order, a Making America Healthy Again Commission was formed with a mission that is hard to dispute. Americans, especially children, are suffering from a range of chronic diseases, including obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers.

Concerns about children’s health have prompted a thorough examination of various substances, including artificial sweeteners such as aspartame, sucralose, and saccharin, as well as colorings and preservatives like titanium dioxide, propylparaben, and butylated hydroxytoluene.

Even the FDA’s so-called Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) database is getting some long-deserved scrutiny. The GRAS database includes several hundred substances that, at one time or another, have been added to the safe list without any FDA review.

And in the most significant reformulation movement since cocaine was removed from Coca-Cola, the food industry’s response is a responsible one.  One after another, food companies are reformulating their products to eliminate artificial dyes and other ingredients, making them safer.

The list of major food companies joining what the industry calls “The Great Reformulation” grows longer by the day, including notable names such as PepsiCo, McCormick, Kraft Heinz, and Archer Daniels Midland.

These developments might be the “best of times,” but there’s plenty more to be concerned about. And if RFK Jr. has a partner in Making America Healthy Again (MAHA), it’s Secretary of Agriculture Brook Rollins. Is there a relationship, you may rightfully ask,  between employment levels and food safety?

If there is such a relationship, how do staff reductions of 16,000 at the USDA and  3,500 at HHS contribute to or hamper food safety?  These were numbers tossed about due to “waste, fraud, and abuse” earlier this year.  It’s unclear whether they remain accurate. The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) was supposedly mostly spared. We know some former FDA public information staff who disseminated information about foodborne outbreaks and food recalls aren’t there anymore as well as some who did lab work.

On the policy front, FSIS cancelled the Salmonella regulation for raw poultry, an action sought by the industry. The FSIS stated that it withdrew the rule because of the feedback received during the comment period.  

So, good and evil may come from all of this. But the slow, incremental change that usually marks food safety policy is over, at least for a while.  RFK Jr. arrived with the MAHA agenda. Can anyone remember any previous HHS boss who came with a public agenda? I can’t, and I must admit that I kind of like this approach.  

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Source: https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2025/07/letter-from-the-editor-food-safety-policy-changes-and-the-maha-agenda-both-good-and-bad/