The MAHA Commission Speaks

Plus grocery price gouging, a delicious new food memoir, and other May reads

The last time I remember a U.S. president talking about chronic disease and childhood health was the day Barack Obama signed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act in 2010. It was a memorable moment because it was the first time in some 30 years that the federal government had taken action to improve school meals and expand access to them, and because the president joked that if he hadn’t got the bill passed, his wife would have had him “sleeping on the couch.”

Then, last week, President Trump held court in the East Room of the White House to praise a new assessment of chronic disease and childhood health from the Make America Healthy Commission. “Normally I’d say you’re very progressive,” Trump said of the group of cabinet secretaries and others assembled. But as Democrats had taken ownership of the word, he added: “I’m not going to use it to describe you, but you are far forward thinkers.”

The 68-page report is … something. On the one hand, it’s a strong condemnation of the dangers of ultra-processed foods, environmental toxins, and corporate capture of government regulatory agencies. But just as interesting is what’s not in it. I found only one mention of glyphosate, the ubiquitous pesticide that sits near the top of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s list of public enemies.

The reason: According to The Wall Street Journal, “the White House made last-minute changes to the report, including cutting references to agricultural company Monsanto and details of corporate lobbying on ‘forever chemicals’ and food labeling, as well as conflicts of interest in chemical regulation.”

Whatever was cut, though, was apparently not enough. Helena Bottemiller Evich of FoodFix reports that the agriculture industry “came out swinging” in the wake of the report. (And — fun fact — she also noticed that, when she approached Kennedy to ask him a question, he was swapping out what appeared to be Zyn, or some other nicotine patch.)

There’s SO much to say about this report. If you’re interested, I hope you will check out our video conversation with Dr. Jessica Knurick, which we live-streamed on the Substack app last Friday. But the upshot is that the administration has laid down the rhetorical gauntlet but, unlike Obama, no new regulations or policy prescriptions. Those will be announced in August.

How Murky Grocery Store Tactics Are Squeezing Kroger Shoppers // The Guardian & the Food & Environment Reporting Network (FERN)

A real gumshoe story in which journalists across the United States revealed a pattern of overcharging customers by frequently listing expired sale prices on the shelves and then ringing up the regular prices at checkout. (Full disclosure: my husband works at FERN and did some of the shopping here in DC.) The average overcharge was 18 percent, or $1.70 per item. The story has made waves. Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jacky Rosen plan to write a letter to Kroger, and the city attorney of Los Angeles is considering legal action.

Keith McNally’s Guide to Making a Scene // The New Yorker

The New York Times once famously declared that Keith McNally was the “restaurateur who invented downtown.” McNally’s new memoir, “I Regret Almost Everything,” is his account of how a boy from East London did just that. And Molly Fischer’s review of the book in The New Yorker is the ideal cheat sheet for those of us who love Balthazar (or Pastis or Minetta Tavern) but have no intention of reading all 320 pages. Fischer provides the highlights with style, from McNally’s brief career as an actor to maître d’ who impressed Anna Wintour to his singular insight that “people want to feel like they’re in France.”

American Breakfast Cereals are Becoming Less Healthy // The New York Times

These days there’s a lot of talk about “reformulation” –– the way food companies are remaking their recipes to make them healthier and more appealing to consumers. And also to HHS Secretary RFK Jr., who is on a rampage against artificial dyes and other ultra-processed ingredients. But a new study in JAMA reveals that reformulation isn’t always for the better. Researchers analyzed 1,200 new or reformulated cereal products introduced between 2010 and 2023 and found they were filled with increasing amounts of sugar, fat, and sodium. Great job Big Food!

The good news? Our next Buying Guide is a deep dive into breakfast cereals … and what we found may surprise you. Stay tuned for our picks next week!

Fine-Dining Chefs Step Up to Support the Hungry // Eater

In the wake of the Trump administration’s cuts to social safety net programs, Chef Daniel Humm, of Eleven Madison Park fame, plans this summer to open a tasting-menu restaurant to raise money for New York’s food-insecure. In partnership with the non-profit Rethink, the restaurant, called Service, will feed 20 diners per seating for $100 each. Several other high-end restaurants also are offering pop-ups to try to help make up for the loss of funding.

The Golden Age of the Fried Chicken Sandwich // The Atlantic

“You would have been forgiven, in 2019, for thinking that America could not possibly get more fanatical about fried-chicken sandwiches,” writes Ellen Cushing. But you would have been wrong. Fried chicken sandwich consumption is way up –– 19 percent over six years –– and threatens eclipsing the mighty burgers’ dominance of the American diet.

Nestlé to ditch controversial Nutri-Score labels on Swiss products // Just Drinks

If you liked Liz’s story about the problems with the wildly popular grocery app Yuka, you may be interested to know that she’s not the only one raising questions about the values built into Nutri-Score’s algorithm. The headline here is Nestlé, but the (admittedly pretty dry) story reports that dairy giant Danone has also abandoned the system on some products, and both Portugal and Italy chose not to use the system for package labeling.

20 of the Best Italian Craft Breweries // Italy Segreta

Finally, if you are a beer lover and headed to Italy this summer, you’re in luck (in more ways than one!) Craft brews are exploding in the land of slow food. Italy Segreta has a recommendation for every region.